Inside 73: Holiday Rush

[Shadowcaller]

Jim’s Apartment

Jim answers the door after about a 13 second wait. He’s dressed in his usual green outfit and collared shirt.
”Hello, Jaahlyn. How are you doing?” he asks, moving aside to let her in.
Something seems different, but he can’t exactly nail down what it is.

Jim’s Apartment

Jaahlyn takes a deep breath, standing there in the entrance until Jim makes it absolutely clear that he's moving inside for her and therefore inviting her into his home.

"Hey Jim... uh, I'm doing great. In fact, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She closes the door behind her unless he's already done so. "See, I just got freed from some of those 'chains', you know, the ones I were singing about?" She smiles. "I'm not sure what it all means yet but I feel pretty thrilled." While Jim can't hear her heart beating he can probably tell that she's excited just be the sound of her voice alone.

[Deathkeeper]

Jim's Apartment

A wide grin spreads across Jim's face. Barnabas waves excitedly from his perch by the door.
"That's wonderful news, Jaahlyn. Good for you!" Jim steps forward to give her a gentle hug.
Being this close, he can tell at least one thing that's changed. Not that he'd say out loud that she smells like floral shampoo now. A lot of people would consider that really weird to say even though he has a faun nose and it's obvious to him!

[Ironsmith]

Whisper on the Wind
And Lizzie excels at bringing buried thoughts and repressed urges to the fore and convincing her victims to act on them. Not to mention that she's the one in this duel, if you can call it that, with actual psychic powers. She's exactly where she wants to be. She can just keep exacerbating these memories until they overflow this mental container. After all, people aren't meant to keep all these negative emotions bottled up all the time.
Also is Miranda sure she doesn't have latent psychic powers? Because that whisper of self-doubt was relayed through Miranda's memories and emotions, she should have felt like she thought it up herself. She certainly shouldn't be able to taunt Lizzie about it. Lizzie isn't being vocal about what she's up to anymore. That would be counterproductive.

[Whisper on the Wind]

Psychic powers, no. But many aspects of Miranda's training still worked to protect her against external influence and recognize intrusive thoughts not her own... the truth serum resistance training, for example. And psychic or not, this is still her brain, which comes with certain homefield advantages...

Extra context for those "secrets", for example. And a years-old resolution to not pursue that relationship, as it was unlikely to work out.

Of course, Lizzie's influence still eroded away at all that hard-earned discipline. It was rather childish of Miranda to taunt the succubus as she had; a sign that her barriers were starting to break down, and her more impulsive nature was starting to come to the forefront.

At least she seemed to have the demon distracted. Maybe she wouldn't yet notice that the poison had worn off and Miranda could get up again.

[Elsewhere]

As Hazel wanders further, the more apparent it becomes there are a lot of someones who can see her. It's still spooky season and as the natural light grows fainter, the spooks come out to play. Most of them pay no attention to Hazel - there's juicier prey around than her - but it might be a shock to catch a glimpse of all the things she was previously shielded from by her lack of spiritual power and belief.

On the plus side, it means she has someone to ask for directions. There's a ghost of a little girl who died in a traffic accident few weeks ago, playing alone with a ghostly ball at an intersection; on an alleyway, two cats, each with two tails, are holding a conversation, wisps of blue flame dancing around them; on the porch of an empty house, the landlady who died fifty years ago is still sweeping ghostly dust; along one street, there's a church... okay, maybe don't go to the chuch radiating misery and horror where people chant "All hail Magtok Prime, our Lord and Saviour!". That sounds like bad news.

If she turns the right corner, Hazel might even find herself at Trog's, or some other place where helpful and spook-sensitive people gather. On the other hand, if she turns the wrong one, she might end up on Arkham Street, which would spell nearly certain doom. The darker it gets, the easier is to spot distant ghost lights coming from other spirits - and, she can surmise, the easier it gets for them to spot her.

[Elsewhere]

Hazel wanders the streets warily, perturbed at just how many ghosts were in the area. Was it like this all the time, and she just couldn't see it? Eugh. At least most of them appeared to be... well, not friendly, but non-hostile.

The further along the day gets, and the more ghosts she can see, the more Hazel comes to the conclusion that she should find some place to hide out for the night. Wait... could ghosts sleep? She still felt kind of tired. Not physically tired, exactly, more... strained. Too much going on in her brain(?) and not enough time to properly process it. She needs to rest, even if she couldn't sleep.

That tavern looks like a good place to stop for now.

[Morty]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

Michalson decides that it's best to question the accused rather than wait for the autopsy report. There's not much he could see during the autopsy that medical personnel won't and it's better to focus on the accused - in case she is indeed guilty and has some other plan in motion. He will ask for a room in which to question her.

[Rebonack]

[Unwitchery]

Oh no.

No no no no way is Khannie going to go tumbling down a trapinch funnel.

There's always something nasty at the center of these things.

Unfortunately this means Khannie is being forced to ease off her offensive since she isn't sure where where her opponent is anymore. Drat.

The magical girl starts to tumble, but launches a grappling gauntlet that latches onto a near by crane magnet and yoinks her straight out of the pit.

Important Magical Girl Rule: Always have some way of enhancing your own mobility. If you can't get to your opponent (or get out of their way) then you may as well already be dead.

Whizzing off through the air, Khannie pulls a nice little aerial flip and lands atop the crane, eyes searching the junkyard for her foe.

"Where the heck did that creep go," she grumbles. It isn't the roaches, is it? Like she's literally made out of all the roaches and she would have to squash every single one to win? Ugh. Khannie is getting sick of fighting collective baddies.


[Wandering the Streets]

"Powers? What an odd question," the old woman titters. "What powers does a mother's love have, do you suppose?"

Just turning that question right back around on your, Sekhmet.


[Midnight Park]

Fine Thread has made clothing for standard humanoids before, just not one with hooves for feet and a tail. Obviously a dress or a tabard would have been simpler, but Fine Thread decided to tackle the challenge and fashioned a fetching pair of trousers for Jaahlyn that perfectly fits her contours and accommodates her tail.

How thoughtful.

"I'll make sure to let him know you appreciate his work," Lavender promises.

Then?

Once Jaahlyn is dressed it's time to set off through the palace! It's quite spacious and opulent in here, considering that it's all built inside a giant tree. Natural curves abound, artwork woven into the living wood. The amount of work that's been put into this place must have been truly monumental.

"It isn't very often that the Princess gets requests from non-equestrians," Sudsy points out. "Let alone non-equestrians who want to join the court."

Jaahlyn is something of a novelty in that regard.


[Verdant Depths]

Skidmark is dead.

All that remains, in that moment, is a heap of refuse, bones, and the abomination's massive club.

The goblin perished with an almost wistful sigh.

Finally, at long last, he found a worthy death.

The briar patch stands silent, its inhabitants slain or driven off. Around our heroes the brambles begin to wither and die before vanishing like dew in the morning sun. They'll find themselves standing in the courtyard of the Verdant Heights apartment complex, looking a bit worn but no longer a supernatural infestation.

Victory has been attained. Hopefully the badly injured Magical Girl will survive it.

[Shadowcaller]

Jim's Apartment

Yes, Jim can rejoice as last time they met Jaahlyn was actually trying to cover up her smell with perfume with must have at least been mildly successful.
She returns the hug eagerly, pressing them tightly against one another. "Good for us." She corrects with a grin. "I can do all sorts of things now! Everything really!"

[bc56]

Whisper on the Wind
Lizzie still has the connection she forged with Miranda's nervous system.
She knows Miranda can get up and move around, but she'll pretend not to notice or have any level of control for now.
Best to wait until the opportune moment first.

Wandering the Streets
"Uh, what kind of a question is that?" Sekhmet seems confused. "Normally, uh, an emotion like love has no tangible effect on the world. So, uh, clearly the being here isn't just the emotion of love, because she spoke to me."

[Ironsmith]

[Unwitchery]

Oh no.

No no no no way is Khannie going to go tumbling down a trapinch funnel.

There's always something nasty at the center of these things.

Unfortunately this means Khannie is being forced to ease off her offensive since she isn't sure where where her opponent is anymore. Drat.

The magical girl starts to tumble, but launches a grappling gauntlet that latches onto a near by crane magnet and yoinks her straight out of the pit.

Important Magical Girl Rule: Always have some way of enhancing your own mobility. If you can't get to your opponent (or get out of their way) then you may as well already be dead.

Whizzing off through the air, Khannie pulls a nice little aerial flip and lands atop the crane, eyes searching the junkyard for her foe.

"Where the heck did that creep go," she grumbles. It isn't the roaches, is it? Like she's literally made out of all the roaches and she would have to squash every single one to win? Ugh. Khannie is getting sick of fighting collective baddies.

[Unwitchery]

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Taharah teases from further back on the crane.

At least it sounds like Taharah.

It looks like a couple of brooms tied together with twine, wearing a soiled white dress shirt and with a garbage bag on top, complete with a hastily-scribbled pained face on it, eyes shut and mouth a wavy line.

"It wouldn't be these, would it?" The garbage scarecrow prompts, straw hand unfurling to reveal a collection of metal bolts, as the crane creaks precariously under Khannie's feet.

Whisper on the Wind
Lizzie still has the connection she forged with Miranda's nervous system.
She knows Miranda can get up and move around, but she'll pretend not to notice or have any level of control for now.
Best to wait until the opportune moment first.

[Whisper on the Wind]

Miranda isn't going to wait that long. As soon as the poison's worn off enough, she wakes up, vision swimming as she sits up groggily. "Ugh... eugh... bleh." She grumbles to herself, trying to get that nasty, unexplained taste off her tongue.

Right. What did she want to do? Lizzie was still in her, she'd probably sabotage any attempt at communicating with her friends and warning them about what had happened. But Lizzie wasn't going to stop her from leaving the building, surely? If she wanted to possess someone else, Miranda would have to step out eventually...

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

Michalson decides that it's best to question the accused rather than wait for the autopsy report. There's not much he could see during the autopsy that medical personnel won't and it's better to focus on the accused - in case she is indeed guilty and has some other plan in motion. He will ask for a room in which to question her.

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

And such a room he will have.

It's a pretty standard setup. A small, cube-shaped space with a one-way mirror on the back wall and most of the floorspace occupied by a simple metal table, firmly anchored to the ground by its feet. There's a notch in the center where a set of handcuffs can be locked in, so that the interviewee can't take the opportunity to try to escape or assault the interviewer. Cheap metal fold-out chairs sit on both sides of the table; one opposite the mirror, two nearer the door.

After having some time to familiarize himself with the layout, Michalson will be joined by a pair of guards, and the inmate he requested, who will be summarily chained to the table. With that accomplished, the guards will then leave, waiting outside the door in case anything happens.

[Shadowcaller]

[Midnight Park]

Jaahlyn couldn't help but to wonder why the equestrians had chosen to live inside a giant tree. Was it simply since it had been there and they happened to have tree-shaping powers? Since trees weren't usually associated with hooved people.

"Really? Perhaps not many people have heard about her outside the court." She speculates. "If its her wish then maybe I could spread her name for and wide."

[Deathkeeper]

Jim's Apartment

Jim nods. "Well, I wasn't sure what your rules were. You didn't seem to be able to talk about them. What do you want to do now that you're free?" he asks her.
He is curious what it was that she couldn't do. He had some ideas but couldn't really confirm much.

[Rebonack]

[Unwitchery]

Oh that jerk.

Khannie gives a cry of alarm as the crane teeters, dumping her right back into the funnel.
She doesn't, actually. She's not even standing on the crane.
Whoops.
Khannie is, in fact, crouched on a pane of shadow magic a good dozen feet away watching the exchange with her image like a hawk.
Looks like she's sliding around after all.
The sorceress' own magic is of a wildly different flavor from her Magical Girl powers, something dark and insubstantial and about as easy to grasp as a shadow.
The Magical Girl claws at the slick edges of the trap, but she's unable to find purchase! Down she goes.
Will the witch take the bait? Two can play at this game of doubles and illusions.
"Get out here and fight me you coward!" Khannie hollers at the witch, doing her best to control her tumble as she slides toward the center.
C'mon, you gross idiot. Stick your head out somewhere so I can knock it off.

[Midnight Park]

There is, in fact, a deep history of princesses ruling from a tree-palace, especially princesses of liminal times and spaces.

No doubt there are some ponies who could recount this history to Jaahlyn, but none of those who know of it are nearby at the moment.

"Well, we do lots of work around the City," Lavender admits. "Mostly volunteer work turning dangerous parks into safe gardens."
"Some of the ponies who were part of the guard joined Intersection, so they help keep the peace around town," Sudsy adds.

The police don't come up that often, though. Inside is arguably less hectic and dangerous than it used to be.

[Ironsmith]

[Unwitchery]

shlurp

Taharah sighs, cracking her broom-arms in half so she can bend them properly. That was... disappointing. After all the trouble Khannie gave her, she was really expecting a more satisfying meal. Not just as a matter of wishful thinking, no... it was clear this kid had taken on and beaten down quite a few witches. She was expecting to see a lot more dark energy built up. Instead, all she got was a smattering; not even enough to cover the effort of building a new body.

Phooey.

Well, it was fun, anyway.

"All right, fellas, looks like we're back on the prowl." Taharah calls as the garbage trees start rising again. "And bring me someone tastier this time. Like a surgeon or a divorce lawyer or something."

[bc56]

Whisper on the Wind
Lizzie won't stop Miranda. In fact, she's being pretty quiet.
Right now, she's trying to sample Miranda's memories and get to know these "friends" she's so concerned about. What are they like? How does Miranda behave around them? And, most importantly, are there any of them that might be more succeptable to Lizzie's possession?

[Vahnavoi]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

Michalson decides that it's best to question the accused rather than wait for the autopsy report. There's not much he could see during the autopsy that medical personnel won't and it's better to focus on the accused - in case she is indeed guilty and has some other plan in motion. He will ask for a room in which to question her.

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

And such a room he will have.

It's a pretty standard setup. A small, cube-shaped space with a one-way mirror on the back wall and most of the floorspace occupied by a simple metal table, firmly anchored to the ground by its feet. There's a notch in the center where a set of handcuffs can be locked in, so that the interviewee can't take the opportunity to try to escape or assault the interviewer. Cheap metal fold-out chairs sit on both sides of the table; one opposite the mirror, two nearer the door.

After having some time to familiarize himself with the layout, Michalson will be joined by a pair of guards, and the inmate he requested, who will be summarily chained to the table. With that accomplished, the guards will then leave, waiting outside the door in case anything happens.

Once Michalson is in the room with her, "Hazel" looks at her shackles, then at him. "Overkill if you ask me, but you do you." She scans the detective with a bored look on her face, but perks up when she notices his ears. The corner of her face starts twitching as if she'a struggling to supress a smile or to avoid saying something tactless.

[Morty]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

"Can't really comment on that, ma'am," is Michalson's only reply to her opening statement. "Let's see if I have this right. Your name is Hazel and you were arrested for kidnapping. Now you're suspected of killin' one of your fellow inmates, Bunny."

[Rebonack]

[Unwitchery]

Huh.

The antlion pit ate the double.

That's pretty weird.

That also means, Khannie will bet, that whatever the 'real' Taharah is it's something down in that pit. And Khannie had better do something about that in a hurry since her double was just destroyed which caused her sensory aspects to snap back to the real her. Which means Khannie just popped back into sight/smell above the pit.

She leaps off her little platform and hauls back, her right hand glowing with such magical might that it is as if a new star has been born.

Below her a swirly purple fabric portal appears.

And another below that, larger. And below that, larger still. And larger. And larger. AND LARGER!

"Wrath of Zeus! Divine Fist Descending Judgment!" Khannie yells as she thrusts her gauntlet forward through the portal.

Amplified by the first, the second, all the way through the seventh until a blazing fist the size of a sky-scraper blazing like a falling star aims to ram into the bottom of the pit with all the force of a meteor impact. There's a non-zero chance that a sizable portion of the junkyard will be reduced to smoking crater of slag.

Anything nearby will likely have a pretty bad time. At the very least, windows near the junkyard are probably going to get shattered from the pressure wave. That's why Khannie was hesitant to cut loose; collateral damage. But if this thing is going to keep eating people then it has to be stopped now.


[Wandering the Streets]

"Child, it's for a mother's love that the wheels of the world turn," the old woman replies softly. Then?

She looks puzzled.

"You heard a voice?"

Huh.

She looks pretty surprised by that.

[Morty]

[Verdant Depths]

Calm Reed wastes little time once Skidmark is dead. She picks Harley up and carries her away, hoping someone is at hand that can give her medical attention.

[5a Violista]

[Verdant Depths]

While Harley definitely looks badly injured, it probably just looks worse than it actually is because of all the open and gaping wounds, combined with the anemia.

With all this refuse and bones and stuff above her, Harley considers playing dead. Most people tend to avoid questioning dead people, so if she feigns death, there's a high likelihood she can just go straight home without getting involved in anything else this evening.
Sadly,
the curse on her makes her too restless. No way she can fake that at the moment. She just wants to get home, check on her baby, take a shower, sleep off the magic/curse, and never wear a blindfold ever again. And cut or tear off the horn if it it doesn't just go away on its own.
Also she's already feeling very lightheaded, so that's not helping.

Not to mention, Calm Reed doesn't even give her any time to pretend to be dead.

Being carried, Harley realizes she needs to act quick if she doesn't want to lose her sword. She blindly reaches out to it but can't find it even though it's nearby.
"Um," she says, weaker than she had intended, "Can...can you grab my sword? The one that glows orange. It was a gift from my boyfriend and it's all I have to remember him."



[Abandoned Hospital]

The half-succubus Carmen is definitely not going back in there right now. Besides, the master computer is probably elsewhere.

Besides, she still needs to also find the way out.

Carmen starts her search by going to one of the new doors; specifically, the leftmost one.

[Vahnavoi]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

"Can't really comment on that, ma'am," is Michalson's only reply to her opening statement. "Let's see if I have this right. Your name is Hazel and you were arrested for kidnapping. Now you're suspected of killin' one of your fellow inmates, Bunny."

"I am?", the woman across the table asks dryly. "Under suspect, I mean. Gal dropped dead on my lap, doesn't mean I had anything to do with it."

[Ironsmith]

Whisper on the Wind
Lizzie won't stop Miranda. In fact, she's being pretty quiet.
Right now, she's trying to sample Miranda's memories and get to know these "friends" she's so concerned about. What are they like? How does Miranda behave around them? And, most importantly, are there any of them that might be more succeptable to Lizzie's possession?

[Whisper on the Wind]

Following that impulse, Lizzie will find a few blocks of information about what friends she's worried about; Rose Verdoyant, who has quite a lot of baggage that might make her especially easy to manipulate, and Doctor Eun-Jung Bu, who she knows firsthand is extremely vulnerable to psychic activity. She has fond memories of both and doesn't want Lizzie anywhere near either of them.

Meanwhile, Miranda's stumbled out onto the street, still feeling groggy from the poison. Once out, she's going to try to leave town, heading for the least populated area she can. She doesn't want to be found.

[Unwitchery]

Huh.

The antlion pit ate the double.

That's pretty weird.

That also means, Khannie will bet, that whatever the 'real' Taharah is it's something down in that pit. And Khannie had better do something about that in a hurry since her double was just destroyed which caused her sensory aspects to snap back to the real her. Which means Khannie just popped back into sight/smell above the pit.

She leaps off her little platform and hauls back, her right hand glowing with such magical might that it is as if a new star has been born.

Below her a swirly purple fabric portal appears.

And another below that, larger. And below that, larger still. And larger. And larger. AND LARGER!

"Wrath of Zeus! Divine Fist Descending Judgment!" Khannie yells as she thrusts her gauntlet forward through the portal.

Amplified by the first, the second, all the way through the seventh until a blazing fist the size of a sky-scraper blazing like a falling star aims to ram into the bottom of the pit with all the force of a meteor impact. There's a non-zero chance that a sizable portion of the junkyard will be reduced to smoking crater of slag.

Anything nearby will likely have a pretty bad time. At the very least, windows near the junkyard are probably going to get shattered from the pressure wave. That's why Khannie was hesitant to cut loose; collateral damage. But if this thing is going to keep eating people then it has to be stopped now.

[Unwitchery]

"Go on! I want to see at least three junkers here before night...fall..." Taharah trails off as the skies behind her are bathed in a heavenly glow. "What... what the hell is th-"

"Wrath of Zeus! Divine Fist Descending Judgment!"

Oh, that didn't sound good.

Taharah looks up as a truly gigantic fist tears apart the skies above her, descending on her like an extinction-causing meteor.

"...Bugger."

Ka-THWOOOOM

The resulting cloud of dust and debris will be lingering over Inside for days, peppering the city with little flecks of ash and dirt and tiny bits of foul-smelling sludge.

And when it's clear enough from the hole for Khannie to see, there's a satisfying crater where there used to be a junkyard, its contents thoroughly obliterated, leaving only the infernal glow of molten everything in its wake.

Then the hole in the middle of the crater re-opens, and millions of tiny black roaches come pouring out.

Of course they do.

[Shadowcaller]

[Midnight Park]

"But what about outside the city? Since a whole lot of important people live elsewhere and I travel far and wide every day. There's plenty more that could hear about her."

Maybe she could even write a few songs about Sunder? The possibilities were endless!

There were a lot of punching songs...

Jim's Apartment

"Uh..." Jaahlyn let's go of Jim and steps back, starting to count on her fingers. "Well, let's see. I can be rude, swear, lie, own money, wash, live in an actual home, not have to obey the order of another fey, break a deal..." She pauses, considering. "...oh and not have rats around me all the time. But rats are cute so I don't mind that one."

[Morty]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

"That's what I'm 'ere to determine." Michalson seems to be avoiding voicing any kind of opinion of his own. "Tell me what happened, in your own words."

[Verdant Depths]

Calm Reed picks up the sword as she carries Harley out. Even worn out as she is by the fight, she doesn't seem to have a lot of trouble carrying both the woman and the sword.

"You are fortunate to still be alive," she says.

[Vahnavoi]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

"Well, I got to know her earlier that day. Apparently she was a recent arrival? Anyways. We had a quick talk of how we could be of help to each other. She asked for a kiss in exchange for running some errands. Gross, but I thought, such a minor thing that maybe I could put up with it."

"It was a really bad kiss, I tell you. Seriously not worth it. I was literally stunned by how bad it was. Then I noticed the gal had fallen unconscious. No idea why. When she didn't come to, I tried giving first aid, but clearly it didn't work, since I'm here and you're there."

[bc56]

Wandering the Streets
"Uh, is that not normal?" Sekhmet asks, "She invited me in and, uh, offered to, uh, fix my, uh... barrenness." She is a bit embarrassed about mentioning that.

Whisper on the Wind
Oh those two could be useful.
Now how to convince Miranda to call one for help? For now, Lizzie just pins the thoughts of them in place, so that she can keep Miranda coming back to them while she spreads her influence from there into neighboring memories and gets to know the two women a bit better.

Abandoned Hospital The room beyond the door does not at all belong in a hospital. It's a machine shop, littered with parts for the robots. A frayed and worn out blueprint hangs on the far wall, just above an oversized buzzsaw that's attached to the remnants of a robot arm.

[Ironsmith]

[Whisper on the Wind]

Well, Rose is a-

Mm, roses smell nice. Miranda remembers them being everywhere at her quinceanera. Not just during, either; the house smelled like roses for weeks afterwards. Her father truly went overboard with them, and-

Falling overboard. That wasn't a pleasant experience. Having the "floor" slip out from under her-

What does that have to do with Rose? She didn't have the highest opinion of her, sh-

College was an experimental time, okay? She's sworn off the stuff. Never touching it again.

It quickly becomes apparent that, despite the thoughts being pinned in place, Miranda was trying to avoid thinking about either of them, using a little free association to throw Lizzie off the scent. There's no telling how long she could keep that up, but she's still putting up a fight.

[bc56]

Whisper on the Wind
Tricky mortal. But Lizzie is patient. She can wait. In the meantime, she might as well play a different game Miranda. If her mind won't cooperate, at least her body will. Normally, it takes several days before the possessed begins to transform. But she can exert a bit of magic, maybe more than she should use right now, and get part of what she wants. Horns and a tail will mark her victim as fiend-touched and maybe make her panic a bit more about losing control... And a panicked human is easy to manipulate. She'd be shocked if Miranda had the magical defense to resist the transformation. It's a pity any changes she makes won't last once she's gone into a more suitable host. If the spell succeeds, the new anatomy will sprout over the course of a couple minutes; without complete control of the body, she has to work the slow way, she can't just change shape at a whim. If the spell fails, Miranda will be very aware that Lizzie just tried to transform her, and, more to the point, that Lizzie is capable of altering the physical world even while within the recesses of Miranda's mind. (Of course she'd be aware of those things the moment she noticed the results of the spell's success as well).

[Ironsmith]

[Whisper on the Wind]

Miranda's body is almost comically easy to manipulate with magic; being only a few hours away from her sleeping pod, she's immaculately healthy, unmarred by any scar tissue or complicated growths; perfectly supple clay in Lizzie's proverbial hands. At the same time, she comes from a world where magic simply doesn't exist; until recently, she's had no need to build a defense against it.

The end result is that the transformation goes off without a hitch. Well, without a hitch for Lizzie; Miranda's resolve falters when she feels horns grow out of her skull and her tailbone mould itself into something far less vestigial, neither of which are exactly painless, pleasant experiences. Nevertheless, she keeps up her journey away from the town, not letting her new features distract her from her mission.

[bc56]

Whisper on the Wind
"You don't even want to find a mirror? What a shame." Lizzie comments. "What should I do next? Maybe I could make you so your friends wouldn't even recognize you when they saw you? Or I could turn you into a misshapen freak? Or oh, I could make you so beautiful, everyone would constantly fall for you... Or be murderously jealous." Lizzie doesn't do any of these things. She's just throwing suggestions at Miranda and trying to gauge her emotional responses and related thoughts.

[Ironsmith]

[Whisper on the Wind]

Not being recognizable actually seems to come as a relief to Miranda; that reduced the odds of one of her friends coming up to her. Same with being made a freak.

Ironically, it's not until Lizzie starts suggesting a glow-up that Miranda seems disturbed. She's never been incredibly invested in her appearance before, but still crossed paths with the occasional creep who would throw themselves at her anyway. She didn't much like the idea of having to deal with more people like that.

Regardless, Miranda has an answer to Lizzie's taunting.

"Yeah? Why haven't you, then?" She asks. "Can you just not? Or did you need me to look like myself for some reason?"

[Morty]

[Glass Lake Penitentiary]

Michalson is writing down what he's hearing in a notebook. He's using his left hand. And it looks like his right hand's mobility is seriously impaired.

'"What kind of errands were they?"

The question is brief and to the point. Whoever this man is, gathering information and not showing a strong reaction are second nature to him.