It took quite a bit of courage to don the demon's cloak and mask. But this was a Masquerade after all. How ironic to show up as something I was, but no longer am. What if someone still had a vendetta against the Demon and was ready to unleash their anger on me? What if some of the madness in Caledon had followed me back to Steelhead, and a poisoned dagger from one of the Colonel's agents lay ready for me as well?
I was ready to remove the red garb and put it away when my doorbell rang. Miss Christensen was checking up on me. I always found her down-to-earth demeanor quite soothing. She just happened to have a mask in her purse, and was asking for someone accompany her. Who am I to refuse?
I looked about nervously as I entered the ballroom. Some called me Doctor, a few Mr. Masons, and the occasional Darien. All of them thought they knew me, but except for the Sheriff, I barely knew any of them except through vignettes in moment's of the demon's calm or weakness.
I could see tears welling up behind Lady Darkling's mask as I walked past her. She obviously missed her immortal friend, but I hope there is time to start friendship again. Miss Orr was in calico fur and a brown dress, her enigmatic movements giving her away behind her mask.
The masks they slide to reveal a new disguise
As I danced with Miss Christensen, she offered to work for me as a Nurse. She would even sew some uniforms the staff! I was overjoyed! The more we talked, the more it seemed like she had always known me, beneath the Curse.
During a break I had a sidebar with the Management..they were more than happy to set up a doctor's office downtown!
The next morning the postman delivered a letter and a package at my doorstep. The crate had the Caledonian seal stamped on it. The address listed as UNDISCLOSED LOCATION. My heart sank. The remains of my daughter who tried to reweave the Loom of Fate, despite any plea to sanity, lay interred therein.
The second was a letter from Mr. meQal. I'll save you the colorful language he used inside, but the gist of it was..due to a series of blunders by the Linden Bank, he would be unable to continue operations in Steelhead. Beauty & the Beast will soon be closing his doors.
A one-two punch..one of two people left in the world who knew the real me was gone..and the charred wreck of the daughter scarred from the Dark Future lay in a coffin at my feet!
~Dr. Mason
3 comments:
What? What? I'm confused! I thought Qli was better?
*takes a deep breath*
OK..from the top..
Qlippothic Projects is fine. But her double from a future timeline, (who originally came back to patch things up when the Qli we knew was quarantined in Toxia). With the best intentions this future-Qli tried change the natural flow of history to prevent a war..
this war..
but got reprogrammed by an evil scientist. By the time she got back to the 20th century, she said things were far worse than before she visited us.
Qlippothic Steel, as she calls herself, was in cahoots with Colonel O'Toole and was probably going to participate in the Reconciliation Day kidnapping..
But when the Demon was exorcised from me, that had some disastrous effect for her. First I believed from my Qli's theories from future-Qli's rantings about "General Mason fighting the Martians" that since the Incubus no longer exists in the 19th century, the chances of her returning to her own future became impossible, causing her to be paradoxed out of the timeline.
But because I'm wearing a bandage right now, I need a whole new theory..
hmmmmm....I think I follow *gives the mystified and sapid smile look that belies the fact she probably doesn't follow*
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