๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ 2021_Day 15 [Trick]
~Elements from Terry Pratchett's works~
Category: Mystery, Haunting, Misfortunes, Small Blessings.
Trigger Warning: Mention of a gas explosion with serious injuries (but no deaths).
๐ฏ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ โ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Rhianna knew she wasn't going crazy.
Barely a year ago Amity had started being pestered by ghosts, so it was only natural that at least one of them would haunt random people.
But this one, unlike the casuals that plagued the town everyday life, had took the traditional route, with autonomous moving objects, flickering lights and statics in the electronic devices in her house.
That was fine! Sometimes a minor inconvenience, like when the lights turned off while she was cooking, but otherwise manageable.
What she couldn't deal with were theโฆ side effects.
In every ghost fight she came across, she would end in the goo "splat zone", but always coming out without a scratch. Not even a bruise!
No, the true victims of all of this were her clothes.
At this point the dry-cleaner was giving her a Premium Discount, given how many times she had to require their assistance! At least they had found a way to completely remove ectoplasm stains (kept jealously secret), so that was a small blessing.
However, it was clear that she was absolutely cursed! And if that wasn't enough, whatever was haunting her was also teasing her by blinking into existence only at the corner of her eye!
She couldn't even tell what it was, since all she could perceive was a green flicker.
What made Rhianna finally snap was the day she was heading to work for an important business presentation, but both her clothes and the change she had brought with her in case of emergency were drenched in ectoplasm. The woman had almost a meltdown when she called her office to warn the secretary of her accident, promising to hurry back with another change of clothes, but the answer had been "Don't bother, you're fired."
After the initial despair, wrath replaced it and Rhianna marched back home, ready to contact the Fentons to exorcise her house. Once arrived, she discarded her suits in the assigned laundry basket, showered, put on casual clothes and then, and only then, she called the Fenton Hotline.
After explaining Madeline her curse, they promised to come immediately, ten minutes top. That made her feel oddly reassured, so, after hanging the phone, to idly pass the time Rhianna turned on the TV, meeting a Breaking News, which claimed that a building basement had exploded due to a gas leakage.
All the people inside had been rescued by Phantom and the firefighters, but there had been several injured workers.
The time of the conflagration was the same of when Rhianna would have arrived at work and the buildingโฆ it was the one of her (ex) job!
Epiphany washed over her, filling her with horror: had not been for the ruined suits and consequently being fired, she could have died!
That circle of denial broke only when the doorbell rang and she got up to let the Fentons in. Rhianna numbly explained what happened and what her misfortune had made her avoid.
Bewildered, the Fentons searched the house with their radars, until they came up to an old turtle shell hanging on a wall as decoration. They said that the readings were compatible with a Stage 2 ghost, but Madeline couldn't see it even with her special goggles, so it was either asleep inside the artifact or out of the apartment.
Depositing the carapace on the dinner table, the scientists asked their host for the object history.
A little more than a year ago, before ghosts started manifesting in Amity, Rhianna's uncle had left to the woman many relics in his will, since he had no heir. Most of them had been sold because they were too big for her apartment or she had no use for them, but this shellโฆ had "called" her, so to speak, because of how gorgeous it was.
The green keratin surface of the back had been carved with the shapes of four Indian-styled elephants, each on a corner of the shell, as if forming a square surrounding a circle, which had been inlaid as a sort of map. The highest peaks had even the top still a bit green from the initial surface!
While the grooves had once been white due to the carving process, an infusion process had injected pigment inside the material; though, due to the age of the shell, they had paled to look like watercolor paint.
On the belly-side there had also been carved and inked (with a still deep black tint) the words: "May you live in interesting times."ยน*
Had it been a blessing? Or had it been a curse?
The Fentons convinced Rhianna to let them borrow the piece of art for a couple of days for more detailed tests, swearing not to damage it in any way.
The two shell-less days went on almost boringly, aside from recovering from the shock (this was partly why Rhianna had let them take away the possessed item, a capricious spirit would be the least helpful presence).
(In her self-imposed isolation, she somehow missed the plants-invasion, but, given that she didn't open the windows or turn on the News, since she had been binge-watching her favorite series nonstop on VHS, she couldn't really have noticed.
The plants would have never targeted her, now that she wasn't haunted anyway.)
On the third day, when the doorbell rang, Rhianna had already retaken hold of her life by cleaning the apartment and getting ready to receive the Fentons with the verdict.
What she didn't expect was finding Phantom standing awkwardly on her doormat, along with a huge white yeti, with ice horns and an arm made by frozen water.
Hadn't been for her carved shell in the teen's hold, Rhianna would have already slammed the door shut due to the surprise.
โ Greetings, Lady Rhianna! I am Frostbite, Chief of the Far Frozen and expert of Infinite Realms artifacts. As I was accompanying the Great One home, I noticed in the Fenton's abode this peculiar shell. Am I correct to presume that this belongs to you? โ The yeti smiled reassuringly, making her relax a fraction: if Phantom wasn't scared of him and he was so polite, why shouldn't she offer the same courtesy?
โ Yes, it is. Please, come in. We'll be more comfortable. โ The woman made way, allowing the teenager and Frostbite inside. The duo settled on the couch, which groaned under the weight of the yeti, but held. โ Chief Frostbite, I guess you recognized that turtle shell since you're here. Can you tell me what it is? โ Rhianna went in business-mode, sitting before them on a chair taken from the dinner table.
โ Certainly. What the Fentons have called the Ghost Zone, as I imagine you already know, โ she nodded in response, โ had many names and among them exists the title "Infinite Realms", which describes more aptly its nature. While it is commonly inhabited by the spirits of the deceased, it's also connected to infinite other universes. This shell comes from one of them and, after being imbued with ectoplasm of the "Zone", it manifested a free will of sort, which is the ghost I was told you see at the corner of the eye. Normally a spirit like this would just haunt peacefully the area surrounding his "lair", id est the carapace, but the phrase on its abdomen gave it a passive power as well. "May you live in interesting times" is both a curse and a blessing. The former is "being jinxed with misfortunes", while the latter will allow the holder to "live a long life full of remarkable events". You won't certainly get bored, that's for sure! โ Frostbite chortled.
โ That's for sure. Nothing happened in these two days while the Fentons had the shell, not even the flickering lights! โRhianna sighed with a mock-pout. โ I was so used to them doing so that it felt strange seeing them work normally.
โ Wait, wait, wait. โ Phantom interrupted, agitated and bewildered. โ Are you telling me that you didn't notice that Undergrowth invaded the whole Amity and kidnapped its population to be fed to the plants?!
โ The town was invaded and I missed it? โ The woman straightened (realizing with a small part of her brain that she was actually disappointed by the fact). Then hummed pensively. โ Well, I didn't get out even once and I watched some VHS, so maybe this Undergrowth just didn't notice me, like I didn't notice it?
โ Great One, this is probably due the intense exposure the carapace had on her before the last two days. The sudden removal of the artifact negated every oddity that may have happened to her. โ Frostbite explained, soothing the younger ghost. โ โฆHowever, it's more likely that the past two days events have been caused by shell being near your lairโฆ โ The horrified realization that painted Phantom's face would have been priceless if the matter hadn't been so dire.
โ Are you telling me that this shell almost caused the Apocalypse?! โ The boy almost shrieked in distress, staring frightened at the object in his hands.
โ Better take it back, then. โ Rhianna stood and carefully pried the artifact off from Phantom's grasp, getting its possession once more. As soon as she did that a greenish silhouette slipped out the carapace, materializing into an intact sea turtle. As they watched, the carving on its back rose up, stabilizing into four back-to-back elephants with a disc on their shoulders. The geography that had been displayed in the shell-carved circle was reproduced in perfect details, but with the added bonus of a sun and a moon orbiting around the disk, along with clouds and an endless waterfall around all the edges (thankfully the "water" dispersed before it could make a puddle on the floor). โ Oh. Finally I can see you! โ The woman breathed. โ You're gorgeous!
The sea turtle seemed to preen at the compliment as it lazily swam around her in circles.
โ It's probably due to all the ectoplasm Undergrowth dispersed in the air to make his offspring prosper. I gather that this is a fortunate event for you, Lady Rhianna. โ Frostbite smiled.
โ Yes, it is. Thank you for your answers Chief Frostbite. โ The woman shifted the artifact under her left armpit to shake hands with the yeti, who seemed thrilled to be on the end of such the gesture. His paw was callous and soft against her hand as he enthusiastically greeted her back. After "freeing herself", she turned to the other humanoid ghost. โ And thanks to you, Phantom, for saving my assholes ex-coworkers three days ago. While I hate them, I didn't exactly want them dead. โ She offered her hand to the boy as well, who seemed overwhelmed by the onslaught of information, but accepted the gesture.
โ The gas leak? โ He asked softly.
Rhianna nodded. โ This blessing/curse thing ruined two of my best suits and made me lose my job, but if it hadn't done it, I would be dead, soโฆ I'd rather live in interesting times. โ She smiled, scratching the head of the sea turtle as it passed before her. โ At least now I can see it. Does it have a name and gender? I don't want to presume wrong. โ She asked the duo who could translate.
Static words were exchanged, before an agreement was reached.
โ You can call them Tiny A'Tuinยฒ*. โ Phantom relayed. โ And they're looking forward haunting you.
ยน* While Terry Pratchett didn't "invent" this quote, he successfully implemented it in one of his novels, "Interesting Times" (Discworld Novel #17, 1994).
ยฒ* "Great A'Tuin" is the name of the sea turtle represented in the Discworld series, so a Tiny version of it was legit. (Uฬ_ฬU)
A/N. All of this started when I crossed path with a random stranger with a T-shirt with the quote in question and it reminded me of a post I probably read somewhere (but I forgot) about how it could be considered both a blessing and a curse. Given that Day 15 was former VS the latter, how couldn't I combine the two into one?
I dived into Wiki search to find the origin of the quote and I came upon Terry Pratchett's works.
I already knew about the Discworld from when I read the "Reaper Man" (and I absolutely loved it, by the way), so this story seemed the natural consequence of the prompt and quote.
Rhianna here is a mere civilian, but do you know who holds this name in real life? Pratchett's daughter! So, yeah, this was a homage.
(Did the Shell cause the "Urban Jungle" episode? โฆYes, it did.)
Hope you liked this, type ya tomorrow!
Will Day 16be Bloody Mary or Stingy Jack? Check in "Domestic Phantoms" and you'll find out!