Was It All Worth It?
One and a half weeks later.
Margaret was looking over recent reports for Blaidd Drwgg.
The project was going well… so how come there was no passion to see the project complete anymore? What was wrong?
Surely there had to be something as she kept looking at the photos more clearly, looking for anything that made her lose the praise she used to give to it.
She didn't want to believe it, but she started to think she was right. Perhaps this project was just not worth it anymore. But she couldn't just think of this herself. She needed a second opinion.
There was one person she wanted to call, her publicist, Cathy Salt.
Except. She looked at a clock in the room. 35 minutes past midnight.
Perhaps it was a little too late to call her up to come in.
Maybe in the morning, she thought. So she waited.
7:25am.
Cathy woke up from her bed. She was able to have fewer nightmares because she felt more safe without thinking that Margaret, her friend, had hired one of her family to kill her.
She walked towards her bathroom. Doing her usual business.
Brushing her teeth. Checking her forehead to see a hidden zip, just in case one or two of her past nightmares were coming true.
Getting dressed.
Coming downstairs for breakfast, Jeffrey and a cup of tea.
The three things she valued in the morning.
"Morning. How's things?" She asked her fiance, who was reading the paper, a different one to the one which Cathy worked at. He'd given his reason for being that he just wanted a different side of the news which wasn't reported by someone he knew.
"Fine. Your mum called while you were out yesterday." He said.
"Don't tell me. Another nagging session about the wedding?" Cathy asked him, knowing her own mother like the bag of a well worn glove.
"Yup. You can answer it if you want to. Though, knowing her, I wouldn't mind if you didn't answer her." Jeffrey noted, smiling as he said the second half of the sentence to Cathy.
He knew her mother as well, she was a bit of a nuisance to the both of them, but the problem was, she was family, so they had to get used to her.
"I'll think about it." Cathy said she just wanted to get her cup of tea finished as she grabbed the cup and placed it onto the table.
The landline phone then rang in the hallway.
"I'll get it!" Cathy shouted, as she quickly walked to the hallway, where she picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Miss Salt. I was actually hoping you would answer." Margaret answered.
That sinking feeling returned within Cathy. Despite the fact that she had gotten used to being Margaret's publicist by this point, only a week had passed, but possibly due to the two not needing to talk with each other on a daily basis.
"I'd say you did catch me at a good time." Cathy noted. "So is there anything you need me for?"
"Well. I need a second opinion on something and I think a reporter's eye. Yours preferably would be best." Margaret explained.
"I see. You want me in Town Hall today?" Cathy asked.
"That would probably help, yes." Margaret added to her question.
"Right. I'll just have to make a phone call to my boss and-" Cathy began to say before Margaret stepped in.
"No worries. I'll send him an email. Don't want you wasting a phone call just so you can help me."
"Oh, okay then. I'll just be half an hour. That's okay, right?" Cathy asked Margaret.
"That will be fine. Just don't get yourself into any accidents coming in." Margaret replied, hoping to actually have her in the office.
"I'll try not to." Cathy added. "See you later, Miss Blaine."
"You too, Miss Salt." Margaret replied as both of them ended the call.
Margaret began to write that email, to create the authenticity of Cathy being needed.
Cathy went back into the dining room with Jeffrey, now having to drink her tea quicker than she would have wanted.
"Sorry. I've got to head off. The Mayor wants to see me." Cathy told Jeffrey, who was beginning to finish off reading the paper.
"Oh. Well good luck. And don't run into any accidents on the way there." Jeffrey said, worried that the curse Cathy kept going on about would actually occur.
"You're not the first person to say that actually." Cathy told him, before giving him a kiss goodbye as she emptied her cup into the sink.
She grabbed her jacket and bag as she made it out the door and to her car, which was in the driveway, along with Jeffrey's.
She entered it and began to drive off, away from her home and off to Cardiff Town Hall.
Not exactly half an hour later, but more 25 minutes later, she arrived.
She entered the same way she entered the first time coming in, only she didn't have to be a guest anymore. Another thing of being the publicist for the Lord Mayor meant that she would get more privileges, which was slightly good for her, but it didn't mean much.
She entered the press room in where she was originally, back when she was just a reporter and Margaret was just a Lord Mayor.
Back when everything made sense.
She stared at the Blaidd Drwgg model. It was the first time she'd seen it since that day.
"I need to get rid of that." A voice called from the other end of the room.
Cathy turned, it was Margaret in space of the open doors.
"Why did you have it done in the first place?" Cathy asked Margaret.
"Because I had a design of it in my head. I thought it would go well with some visual representation, so I had someone create the model." Margaret explained, moving towards the model.
"What do you think of it now?" Cathy inquired.
"A waste of a good idea." Margaret plainly said. "But that's why I brought you here, Cathy. I want you to judge if it's a good idea or not. Was it all worth it in the end?"
This was hard. Easily harder to answer than some of the other questions Margaret had asked her in their previous talks. How do you say the right answer?
Do you say, "Yes it was. You are truly bringing Cardiff into a new age." or perhaps, do you tell her that "No, it wasn't and perhaps you should try something else." to satisfy her instead.
It was hard. But Cathy felt like she had the right answer.
So she told Margaret her answer,
"I don't think it was. I think you've got a true potential elsewhere, Blon. Why design a nuclear power station when you could design stuff that would truly benefit everyone else."
There was a pause for both of them before Cathy said.
"Although, you should keep the major population centre. That was a good idea."
Another pause happened.
Margaret honestly didn't know what to say.
"Well, that wasn't completely the answer I was thinking you were going to say, but alright, I can deal with that." She finally said. "You really want to keep the population centre?"
"Out of the two, it just seems like the best idea in general." Cathy said, given her reason. "Can I just ask… why is it called the Bad Wolf project?"
"I chose it at random. Hoped for the best." Margaret told her.
"Of course. I think we all did." Cathy noted.
The two of them walked into Margaret's office, Cathy closed the door behind her.
"Thank you Cathy. It's nice to get a second opinion from someone who cares." Margaret told her, giving her a nice smile. "Now I guess that's it. Is there anything you want from me before you go back to your office?"
"Yes. There is something I would like for you to do. However… I want to ask if you would be alright in doing this." Cathy said.
Margaret was a little confused. Why would she need to ask permission for something?
"Yes. You have my permission. What is it?" Margaret asked, curious to answer Cathy's question.
"I want to see… how you unmasked yourself. The first time we met. It's been going through my mind. I told you about the nightmare I had. I just want to see it for myself. To answer everything." Cathy explained.
"That explains the permission asking. Are you sure you want to see everything?" Margaret asked her, knowing that what would happen next would finally change everything for the two of them.
"Yes." Cathy answered plainly.
"Alright. You better stand back. I need some space whilst it happens. Just in case I knock anything over." Margaret told her, as Cathy began to step backwards to make sure Margaret had space.
"This enough?" Cathy asked Margaret, she was a couple of steps away. Enough to be safe and enough to watch.
"Just enough. Right. I'll see you on the other side." Margaret said as she took a breath. It was better to take one now than to do it later.
She began by unzipping her forehead, from right to left. Whilst doing this, she remembered to close her eyes as she knew that she wouldn't be able to open her human eyes again.
After this, she used her hands to pull the forehead back and allow the Slitheen head to escape. She began pulling down Margaret's face as the Slitheen used it to escape. When it got to the point where the mouth had been unveiled, it knew that this was the chance to escape as it pushed out of the skinsuit to escape.
The hands continued to pull down the face before then then had to deflate as the Slitheen's arms would pull out of the arm sockets. This unveiled the long claws that Margaret had. This now meant that the rest of the body moved by itself as the Slitheen shook about, lowering the skinsuit as it slowly fell to the floor.
"There. I suppose that's everything out in the open, isn't it." Margaret/Blon said, with her warbled voice as she picked the suit up and put it on the chair.
"I suppose it is. Thank you. I never realised how hard it was to do everything." Cathy noted.
"I'm used to it by now. I think it was harder the first time I had to do it. Especially with my brothers." Margaret/Blon said as she sadly started to remember those who she lost.
"Your brothers. You spoke about them the first time we met. I assume they were like you?" Cathy asked.
"Yes. They were." Margaret/Blon said, only saying those three words because she didn't want to almost tear up in front of Cathy, to show a sign of weakness to her.
"Tell me more about them. You didn't tell me much last time." Cathy said, as she walked to her chair and sat down, wanting to hear about Margaret's bold brothers.
"There were three of them. Jocrassa, Rup and Sip Fel Fotch. We were so wonderful together." Margaret/Blon started to say. "Jocrassa and Rup were determined, loved hunting because it always purified the blood. Kind of like your jogging, except… we ran and killed so much in our time. They were older than me, but sometimes, you could see them like they were just young boys."
"And Sip, your other brother?" Cathy asked, she was really interested in this.
"Oh he usually liked to go out on separate hunts. But he was ever so faithful to them. Almost like a brother who always wanted to show you his achievements." Margaret/Blon explained.
"I never knew you could have such a human family." Cathy commented. It really wasn't out of the ordinary to find such a family bond, but it seemed it was perhaps the same, in an alien race.
"Perhaps you are right." Margaret said.
However, just at that second.
Someone started banging doors as they entered the Town Hall.
"What the?" Cathy asked, inquiring about the banging.
"Oh no. It might be her. She's been calling for days and I forgot." Margaret/Blon noted as she slightly remembered something that she should have dealt with.
"Who? Who are you talking about?"
"A long story short. Remember the photographer who took a picture of me for The Western Mail?"
"Kind of, yes?"
"Well. I had to get rid of him to make sure he wouldn't come after me again. What I didn't realise was that he had a girlfriend and I think she's been calling, because he was last publicly seen at the Town Hall." Margaret/Blon explained as she then turned to Cathy. "There's a cupboard, in the room over there. Go in it and stay safe."
"You sure I should do that? I could try and help you." Cathy suggested.
"Trust me, I'm fine Cathy. I will be fine. I promise." Margaret/Blon told her. "If I need any help, I'll ask for it."
Cathy followed her words, she trusted Margaret/Blon at this point, because it was either get killed in the fight by this woman or accidentally get in the way. It was best to hide for the meantime as she hurried into the next room, into the cupboard that Blon had mentioned to her about.
She did this just as the woman about to attack the two of them burst in.
Cathy couldn't see them, but she could hear them.
"I want to speak to the Lord May- Oh my god. What the hell are you?!"
"The Lord Mayor's protector."
"You? Some kind of freaky alien thing?"
"Yes."
"Hold on, you sound like her. You killed her, didn't you?"
"Yes. A long time ago, before you ever came around."
"Right. So I'm guessing you're the THING that killed my boyfriend."
"Yes, and what exactly are you going to do about it?"
"This."
She whacked a frying pan that she had brought from home to the arm of the Slitheen. It broke off.
"Not exactly wise to bring a frying pan to this fight, is it?"
"It was the only thing I had. Look. I just want you gone."
"Unfortunately. That isn't an option here. So it looks like we'll have to agree to disagree, won't we?"
Blon roared as the woman nearly had the chance to scream before she was silenced. Her body fell to the floor.
Cathy didn't exactly want to get out immediately, so she gave it a couple of minutes.
She left the cupboard just as everything was cleared up. No body. Just Blon.
"Is that it?" Cathy asked as she walked towards the other room.
"Yes. That's it." Margaret/Blon told her, reassuring her that all was over.
"So. Do you want to go out for lunch?" Cathy asked, just trying to get something normal into this conversation.
"Yes. Why not? It would be nice. I know a good place on the bay." Margaret/Blon suggested, as she remembered.
"Sure. Why not? That would be nice." Cathy commented.
Blon walked towards her Margaret skin-suit.
"Are you alright? Are you sure you're not going to run screaming?" Margaret asked her, worried that she would crack at any point.
"Yeah I'm alright. I think I'm finally making sense of it all." Cathy said, laughing to herself. "Thank you for protecting me."
"You're welcome." Margaret/Blon said, as she started putting the skin on again. Cathy didn't watch this time, there wasn't any need to. She knew what happened. She was a part of this now. The whole damn thing.
The last thing she heard was Margaret zipping up the suit as her stomach rumbled and she let out some gas exchange.
"Sorry." Margaret apologised.
"There's no need to, Blon. We're friends. Plus, it's part of you. What am I going to say?" Cathy told her as the two smiled at each other. They knew that truly, this shouldn't have happened. But they were glad that it did. "Anyways, this place on the bay. Shall we go to it?"
"Yes. We shall." Margaret replied, as she and Cathy walked together, out of the room. "I hope you have a big appetite"
"Probably not as big as yours." Cathy commented.
"Well. You'll see later." Margaret said.
The two of them produced a big laugh as they walked out of the room.
They closed the door. Showing now that a human and an alien could work together.
What were the odds?