First came the interview with Bluff Dunder. Seth was one of four mutated people who ended up being interviewed when the City of Monsters thing cleared up, with the others being Kei, Orso Knox, and Mr. Sparkles. Seth got along pretty well with Kei, but they were not a fan of Mr. Sparkles.
The main point of the interview was to discuss the mutation process and talk about any lasting side effects, I.E. the wings. Of everything that had happened to Seth recently, the wings were the easiest to get used to. Yes, sometimes their back ached terribly and yes, Seth wished that they could just be normal, but it wasn't all bad. It gave them a reason to get their clothes properly tailored, which they did with the Sycorax settlement money. Sometimes they got stared at but people had always stared at them.
It wasn't like they were going out much these days, just the occasional errand and that interview. Seth had a hard time finding the motivation to leave the house, with some days being harder than others.
But it wasn't the wings, it was everything else. The mountain of trauma they were buried under. The torture they'd endured at the hands of Di and Chris. And all of those terrible thoughts…
Seth woke up crying in the middle of the night, their head resting on Morgan's chest and Morgan's arms wrapped around their torso. Since the wing thing had happened Seth had found it best to sleep on their stomach, and this arrangement worked best for both of them. Especially since it allowed for Morgan to wake up as well whenever the terrible thoughts took over.
"Hey, it's okay, I've got you."
"I'm a monster," Seth sobbed.
"That's not your fault, babe, you were mutated…"
"But my thoughts weren't, Morgan. And I would've killed anyone to get back to you. I'm a fucking monster."
"No, no," Morgan said soothingly, "I know you, Seth. I know your passion, your drive. You were motivated by love and fear, it's not your fault Di had you doing terrible things. No one blames you."
"But I would have done those terrible things on my own accord if I thought it would bring me power or make you happy…" Seth fell silent then, soon falling into a restless sleep. That's how things went. Guilt would grip them for a little while and then float away, only to come back at some other inconvenient time.
Like one morning in the basement. Morgan had woken up and, unable to find Seth, suspected they'd be down there.
"I have to get ready for classes soon," Morgan warned, "How are you feeling today?"
"I think I should just lean into it."
"Lean into what?"
"The creepy batsona thing. I could be Doctor Crime."
"You don't have a doctorate, babe."
"How hard do you think it would be to get a doctorate?"
"I don't know, but it would require you going back to school."
Seth frowned, "Yeah, no. Crime Bat? Ooh, Vampyro."
"Uh uh."
"Angel of Vengeance."
"No stealing."
"Angel of Wrath. Destruction. Pride. Gluttony."
"Gluttony?"
"Okay, maybe not gluttony. Angel of minor inconveniences."
"I think that's the one, babe. Anyway, what're you working on?"
"I'm working on making an invisibility suit that'll cover my wings, so I can go flying without scaring people or becoming the local cryptid. Ooh, Crime Cryptid, that's a good one."
"Sure it is, babe. Anyway, if you have a suit we can go flying together!"
"Exactly. But until then, I need more buddy guards, m'kay?"
Morgan laughed, "Sure, babe. Need anything else, while I'm out?"
"Uh, no, I think Booker went grocery shopping yesterday."
"Alright! See you later! I love you!"
"Bye, Sugar! Love you!" They sat there, alone, for a little longer before giving up on the buddy guard and going upstairs.
Morgan was gone and Booker was in the kitchen when Seth got upstairs.
"Have you eaten yet?" Booker asked.
"No, not yet."
"I'm making avocado toast I can whip you up a piece."
"We have avocados? Fancy."
"I got some good tips the other night. Figured I could start my daughter's college fund or I could buy avocados."
"Avocados are the way to go, man. Who knows if Maya will even want to go to college."
"Exactly what I thought."
"Did you go to college, Booker?"
"I did, I went to San Fransokyo State. That's where I met Maya's mom, actually."
"What did you study? Other than Maya's mom."
"I studied a bit of everything but I ended up with a psychology degree. And a lot of good that did me," Booker laughed out loud.
"Well, are you happy as a bartender?"
"Mostly. I'd love to be able to work on a couple of creative projects as well, but I like working at The Queer Bait."
"It'd be nice to go out for drinks again…" Seth said thoughtfully as Booker came out with two plates of avocado toast and took a seat next to them on the couch.
"You know your sister or I will hook you up with free drinks if you come," Booker said with a grin.
"You're a dangerous friend to have, I love free drinks."
"I think I remember you coming into the bar in the past… And Sadie calling a car for you by the end of the night."
"Those were the days." Seth took a bite of toast, holding it with one hand and absently running their other hand over their wing.
"What about you?" Booker asked after a moment of eating and watching them.
"What about what?"
"You graduated college, where do you want to go from there?"
"Goddamn, that's a hard one. I don't mind monotony but I want to find a job that actually utilizes my skills. I've done retail, I want to do something else, something real. Crime, if it comes to it."
"Oh, speaking of, Bob asked me to give you his number."
"Obake has your phone number?"
"Yeah, he came to the bar the other night to thank me for helping save Kei. He left me like, a hundred dollar tip and his phone number. My co-worker thought he was hitting on me."
Seth laughed, "Pretty sure he only has eyes for Kei."
"Yeah, true. But he also has an eye on you- for a job. So if you're down to do crime, a crime lord is hiring."
Seth leaned against him thoughtfully.
"Huh. Yeah, maybe… I'll have to talk to Morgan about it, of course…"
"Of course."
"This whole thing doesn't bother you?" Seth asked.
"No, you can lean against me, I don't mind."
"I meant living with criminals."
"I knew what I signed up for. Just don't make me complicit in murder and I'm good."
"I'm trying to avoid murder myself."
"We're on the same wavelength, then."
"When I was mutated, and I didn't know what was going to happen to Morgan… I felt like I would do anything. Like I would have destroyed the city and everyone in it just to get back to her."
"I think it's normal to feel like that given the circumstances."
"No, you don't understand, Booker… Everyone. I would've killed everyone who's ever been important to me, my siblings, Bennet, Dalton, my friends. I was a monster, not just 'cause of how I looked but because of what I knew I was willing to do. What I was willing to call love."
"And how do you feel now?"
"Well, like how the wings didn't go away, not all of those thoughts have gone away either. I know I'm not a good person, I don't need to be… But I want to have a code, I want to have a line I won't cross."
"You're not a monster, Seth. You're a person who cares very deeply about another person. And you realized you crossed some lines in the process and took a step back."
"Maybe that psychology degree wasn't wasted after all."
"Maybe. Maybe you should talk to some of the other people who were mutated. They might be able to better understand what you're going through."
"Yeah… Thanks, Booker."
"Any time."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, until Lulu got stuck behind the bookcase and needed rescuing. Seth already couldn't remember what it was like to not have Booker around and was still mulling over his advice when he left for the day.
Maybe if they talked to other people like them they'd be able to get their head on straight. And then it wouldn't feel so wrong to walk the streets. They'd just be the person with wings instead of the winged monster, the crime cryptid. Other people might know what they were feeling…
So Seth made some calls.
The first person they reached out to was Karmi. They'd meant to reach out earlier, feeling guilty about the whole thing. There hadn't been anything they could have done when they were mutated, but they couldn't help feeling guilt that Karmi had gotten caught up by this whole thing too.
"How are you doing?" Seth asked when Karmi agreed to do a video call, and immediately regretted the question.
"Well, not great. Despite everything, I never wanted to leave SFIT and San Fransokyo, but my parents insisted."
"Well, they care about you, at least. In a couple of years, you'll be old enough to go wherever and do whatever. How are you handling the whole mutation thing?"
"I got lucky," Karmi said, sounding like she was harboring some guilt herself, "I didn't have any lingering side effects…"
"Hey, no, don't worry about me. We both went through hell, you don't have to downplay it just because I got a souvenir. The wings are the least of my problems, anyway."
"What Di did was horrible," Karmi agreed, "I trusted her. She was my role model and she made me feel smart and special… Just feeding my ego, I guess."
"You and me both. It's okay to have a bit of an ego if you're brilliant, and you are brilliant, Karmi. You just have to watch out for people who might take advantage of that brilliance. If it's too good to be true it probably is." If Seth took this job with Obake, they were going to make sure it was on their terms.
"Yeah… I'm going to take some time for myself. No school, no internship. Get used to living at home again, get used to the therapy my parents want me to go to, and get used to nothing being the same. Maybe I'll pursue something creative."
"Like those fanfics you write about Big Hero 6?" Seth had to catch themself before they brought up Hiro.
"Exactly."
"I think that's a great idea. Best of luck, Karmi. Feel free to reach out any time if you need someone to talk to. Someone who's been through it too."
"I will. Thanks, Seth."
While Seth was getting up the nerve to make the next call, a couple of days passed. Mostly it was just the three of them, five if you counted the cats, but they had a couple of visitors pass by. Usually Sadie or one of the boys with food, flowers, cat toys, and cards. Connor Drake had sent five separate "Thinking of You '' cards, but Seth hadn't heard a peep from their mother. Kei popped in as well, acting as a go-between for Seth and Obake and just generally hanging out with them. Kei was a lot of fun, actually, playing board games with Morgan and Seth, and Booker when he was there, and teaching them some tips and tricks she learned from years of performing. Kei was like the cool mom friend who always had snacks and tissues in her purse and who always had a piece of advice, whether or not it was good advice. By the end of one such hang-out session, Seth and Morgan had vague plans to go on a double date with Kei and Bob.
Having completely given up on their own mom and decided to set up Kei as their new mother figure, Seth finally decide it was time to reach out to someone else's milf, er, mom.
Barb and Juniper were on probation, sentenced to community service because technically they'd been manipulated by Di and so they weren't quite as culpable for their crimes as they could have been. Seth was actually able to get ahold of them quite easily once they put some effort in.
"Hi, you don't know me but-"
"You're Seth Drake, the wing dude."
"The wing person, yes. And you're High Voltage, the crime dancers."
"Just dancers now, hon," Barb said with a smile, "Let's say, for the sake of listening ears, that the crime is behind us now."
"Of course. I'm not accusing you of anything. I simply wanted to talk to you two about the mutation process."
"Oh, it was awful," Juniper bemoaned, layering on the theatrics, "That woman turned me into a slimy thing without my consent."
"Yeah, Di was a big piece of work. I'm sorry you both had to go through it."
"It was nice at first, having our powers without having to rely on technology… But then it kept going. Then it got worse. I can't imagine how you must feel, Seth. To have remnants of the mutation…" Barb smiled sympathetically at Seth.
"Honestly? The wings are nothing. I've gotten used to the wings. I had to find a way to make my clothes fit around them but now that they do it's less of a big deal than all the, y'know, trauma."
Barb nodded, "Yes… That does make sense."
"Listen… Listening ears and all that, I'm not a criminal. I was mutated because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And no one deserves to be mutated, not even criminals, but… When I was under her control, I knew deep down that I'd do whatever she wanted me to do if it ensured my partner's safety. And those feelings weren't any of Di's trickery, they were 100% me."
"And you think that makes a villain?" Barb said.
"Well…" Seth rubbed the back of their head.
"Juniper, dear," Barb said, glancing at her daughter, "you know I love you more than anything else in the world, right?"
"Of course, mama."
"Even when we fight, that love will never go anywhere. And I'd do anything to keep you safe, no matter what it takes."
"I love you too, mama."
"That's what love is, Seth. Putting the person you love above the rest of the world. Devotion without brakes. You love your partner, I love my daughter, sometimes that means we do or think bad things. But it's still love. And I don't think someone motivated by love can ever truly be bad."
"Maybe you're right."
"Maybe. You're welcome to reach out any time, hon, if you have any questions about the nature of love and evil."
Seth laughed a little, "I don't have much advice, but the same offer's open to both of you. We could start a little mutated club."
"I think that's a good idea, Seth. Me and June are running dance classes as part of our community service, you're always welcome to join."
"Hm, yeah. I actually might."
Seth ended the call and went out on the roof to think about things. It felt nice to stretch their wings. The sun was beginning to set as Seth gazed over their yard and their garden.
"Want some company?" Morgan called up.
"Yeah, I do. How was work?"
Morgan climbed up before answering, settling into the spot next to Seth, who immediately wrapped her in an arm and wing hug.
"Oh, you know, I spent most of it gossiping with Ian and avoiding Krei's ego."
"I'm glad you have a job you like," Seth said.
Morgan smiled, "I guess I do like it. How was your day?"
"Good. I did some weeding in the garden, took a very long shower, and had a call with Barb and Juniper. I might join their dance class? That could be fun. And I need to get back into training with GoGo…"
Morgan beamed, "That's great, Seth."
"I know you want me to get back into the world. I want to, as well. It just might take a while for me to really build up to it, you know?"
"That's okay, Seth. There's no rush. You're allowed to heal in your own time. We'll go at your pace."
"Thanks, sugar. Talking to people helped, talking to a therapist might help too, I don't know. I don't feel as bad about myself anymore. As evil. Well, like, not any eviler than I was before I got mutated."
"Good. Because you're not a monster, Seth."
"Just a crime cryptid."
"Is that really the one you're going with?"
"No clue. I'll talk to Obake about it."
"You're taking the job?"
"I think so. I still want to be a little evil. I just have to draw my line and make sure I never cross it. Maybe a little chaos, but no catastrophes. And if Obake goes too far, I know good people who will have my back to take him down."
"Always." They sat there for a while in silence, watching the sunset.
"You want to go to Yaki Taco for dinner?" Seth asked after a bit.
"You really want to?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah. I want to get back into the world. For now, that might just mean Yaki Taco but…"
"We'll go at your pace. I'm proud of you, Seth. And I love you more than words can say."
"I love you too. Always." Seth chose not to be dragged down by the lengths they'd go for that love. That was just a part of feeling love, something that made them more of a human rather than more of a monster.
I had fun with this one! Seth's having fun too- outside of all the trauma and nightmares and stuff. I love how Seth just has all these hobbies it's lots of fun lol. The next few chapters might be super self-indulgent so bear with me.
Question Of The Week- Who gave the best pep talk in this chapter?