Chapitre 94: Earrings of Dissociation
Veronica smiled as she looked up at Michael, but it waned when she saw his surprised and bit scared expression.
She looked down at herself with confusion, but everything looked normal to her. The dress she wore was different, much better than the blue flowery one. Her hands looked the same and her body seemed unchanged too.
"What's wrong?" She asked after spending a minute trying to figure it out on her own.
"You... You can't see yourself?" He asked. The fear was gone and only confusion remained.
"Yes I can. I look normal... What are you seeing?" Michael took a deep breath calming himself further. He had to look away, because watching the formlessness of Veronica made his head ache.
"For me you look strange... Shapeless and hazy. Your form constantly changes, it makes my head hurt." He tried to say it non offensively, but Veronica didn't really care.
She was preoccupied with the implications of what he saw. Veronica clearly remembered the first time she was here. That time she saw something similar too, it was dancing right here in the middle of the stage.
For a long moment she tried to figure out what all this meant, but there was no use. She still had a lot to learn, and there was simply too much mystery surrounding this Theater.
Eventually she placed this information in the ever increasing list of 'things she had no idea about, but what wanted to know'.
Veronica closed her eyes and concentrated on herself, trying to imagine and change everything. She felt her body change. Some parts grew, while others shrank. After a few minutes she felt comfortable in her own skin again.
Michael was silent all this time, but from the corner of his eyes he saw Veronica change into herself. She looked pretty much the same, with the only noticeable difference being her height, which was a bit taller than her real self's. She noticed it too and quickly fixed it.
"Is everything normal now?" She asked while doing a small spin, so Michael could judge her whole body.
"I think so, but I can't see under your dress, so I can't judge that!" He said with a mischievous grin, but he had no idea how immodest Veronica was.
She stepped close to him and planted a small kiss on his right cheek. After that she whispered into his ear... "You have to earn that!"
She then stepped away giggling, while Michael just stood there with a bashful expression.
Somewhere or more like everywhere music sounded. It was only a few notes that went from high to low. Michael had no idea what it meant or where it came from, but Veronica fully understood it and she laughed.
"Don't worry, we won't do anything inappropriate inside you!" She said while looking towards the ceiling.
The music sounded again, this time in a triumphant tone. Michael turned towards the ceiling as well, while Veronica laughed, bent down and petted the wooden stage, causing the music to change into something that loosely translated to a purr.
While they toured the inn earlier, Veronica spoke about the Theater and its semi-alive state. The warning helped a bit, but it was still quite weird to hear a building communicate through music... What was even stranger is that Veronica seemed to understand it!
With a bit of curiosity Michael bent down and was about to pet the wooden floor as well, but at that moment the music turned fast, almost like it was angry. Veronica looked up confused, then as she turned towards Michael. She quickly understood what was happening.
"HEY! Be nice to Michael! He is our guest!" The music stopped abruptly, then turned a bit sad. Veronica rolled her eyes and continued to pet the floor.
"I'm not mad at you. I was just shouting for emphasis." The music changed again, this time it had a faster tone, which caused Veronica to giggle.
"Yeah, sure. But only if you act nice!" The music changed into something joyful.
Michael stared at all this with deep confusion and just pure bafflement. In his 25 years he never once imagined anything even remotely as weird as what he was currently witnessing.
"What are you two talking about?" He asked, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.
Veronica stood up with a small smile. When her hand left the wooden floor the music made a sad sound, then continued its merry tune.
"It's nothing. I asked It to be nice to you, and as a reward I will dance for It!" She sounded genuinely happy, so Michael didn't say anything about how weird everything about that sentence was.
Instead he began to look around the place. Everything felt real and perfect, a bit too orderly maybe, but nothing out of the ordinary.
He walked towards the large maroon colored curtains and with a bit of hesitation touched them. The material felt silky smooth, like a real curtain.
He spent the next few minutes trying to find imperfections or signs that this place wasn't real, but there was nothing. He even started to second guess himself. While wondering if this place actually existed somewhere or not, he spoke to Veronica.
"I didn't know you had a child. Or something that acts like one." He tried to whisper the words, but it was impossible to hide anything from the Theater, when you were inside It.
Suddenly a piano's every key got pressed at once, which was the building's equivalent of shouting 'HEY!'. Veronica looked away with a small blush, causing Michael to giggle.
"It's kind of like a child, but also a lot different... Anyway let's begin the divining or we will miss dinner!" As she spoke suddenly the box with every objects appeared in her hand.
She opened the Material Box and took out the first item she wanted to divine. It was the pair of golden earrings with different gemstones.
Before leaving, Cory tried to divine what it could do, but its anti-divination was way too strong to get anything accurate. The only real information he acquired was that it wasn't an Ethereal Item, but a Relic of the 5th Order.
The two different gems represented the two paths the earring was made out of. The brown one was for the Lunatic path, while the dark blue was for the Knowledge Pursuer path. They couldn't figure out what Order characteristics they were made with, but they did warn Veronica about it.
Relics were much stronger than Ethereal Items. The combination of properties could cause very unique powers, but it would also have an equally bad side effects. They were just as powerful as dangerous.
Hearing that the three Unbroken offered to take the Relic and they would give something equal in value. It was a great offer, and she trusted Michael enough to know they weren't trying to rob her, but still... The earring was given to her by Floyd, and she didn't think he would give anything too dangerous or useless.
Instead of taking the offer she asked for time to consider, which loosely translated to her divining the earring before deciding if she wanted to give it away or not.
Michael took a few steps away, and he watched her ritual dance with great interest. He had never witnessed it with his own eyes. His knowledge only came from other Unbroken or books, but seeing the movements Veronica made was nothing like the others said.
It was elegant and ferocious, combining quick steps with spins and jumps. He watched her move for a few seconds, and only then did he realized that her eyes were closed and she was muttering to herself. The earrings were in her hand, as she divined.
Her movements increased in speed, until eventually she abruptly stopped. She stood in the middle of the stage seemingly asleep, but Michael spotted the movement of her eyes under her eyelids.
In the divination Veronica didn't see anything too interesting. She just heard Floyd's voice relay everything about the Earring of Dissociation, as he called them.
There was no picture, only sound. The whole experience was very straightforward and kind of boring. After a minute he finished the monologue with something that sent a shiver down her spine...
"Good Luck, Veronica!" He said then giggled to himself. In the next moment the divination fell apart.
On the stage Veronica stood still for a long time. She stared at the earrings in her hand, while thinking about Floyd.
She still had no idea why he done everything, why he made Veronica kill him, but at this point she wanted to know everything.
There must've been a reason. By all these small messages and hints, she put together part of his past. Floyd was the member of the group, which was lead by the man who wanted the Theater. This was something Veronica figured out a while back.
What she didn't know was the reason. Why he turned against the organization?
He didn't seem to be morally good, and he would've probably killed Veronica if she didn't manage to do it first. Everything about Floyd was strange and unnatural. His actions didn't make any sense to her.
As always she tried to figure out more, but couldn't since too many information was missing.
Instead of getting held up on this fact, she turned around and began explaining the earrings' properties to Michael.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone