The headache kicked in when Lae'zel was halfway through accusing Belle of being a clairvoyant, something she called a 'senja'si'.
"I'm no ones' sensei" she shot back, pointing at the giths chest.
When they'd both figured out what the other meant (lots of mouthing of words & eye rolling's later), she conceded lizard lady had a point. How mighty convenient of her to have raised it, in fact. Made it possible to gloss over future knowledge she might let slip.
Lae'zel wanted her to convince the others to head straight for the creche. Belle rubbed her temples, the ache reaching out into her upper jaw.
"We'll get there. But other things have to come first. The, uh, the visions said so."
"Then we survive ceremorphosis that long?"
It was the first time Belle had heard something else other than scorn or downright contempt in the warriors voice. Hope?
"What is wrong?" Lae'zel immediately went on alert as Belle starting working her jaw, fingers digging into the joint as the ache worked its way down into her molars.
"Headache. Started when you came over." The gith could interpret that how she wanted.
"Is there any nausea? Sweating? Aches or pains?" The concern was clear.
"No, Lae'zel, it could just be coming up to 'that time of the month." She often got migraines coming up to period time. Just one more thing to put up with & grin through being a woman, because taking a day off work for period associated symptoms wasn't recognised as a reasonable excuse.
"I don't know what that is."
Fuuuuuck, she really needed to write an encyclopedia for these people. Maybe Gale would help?
She was in no mood to discuss the ovulation cycle with the gith.
"Periods. Bleeding once a month. To have a baby."
Lae'zel wrinkled her nose.
"We gith – "
"I'm aware you don't. If you don't mind, I need to talk to dad."
Lae'zel closed her mouth, concern etched in her eyes as she turned away.
She'd spotted Gus on his way over while talking with Lae'zel. He'd poked his head into Astarion's tent & had been there an awfully long, awfully suspicious amount of time. What on earth was he discussing? What on earth was Astarion replying with? She narrowed her eyes at him as he approached.
He held his hands up placatingly before reaching her.
"Before you say anything, I just had a chat, a nice, friendly little chat. Set some ground rules … & some boundaries."
"What'd you say specifically, old man?" she was gonna flay him alive if he'd upset her little vamp. She was the only one with that privilege, because he was an asshat & needed to be pulled into line occasionally.
"Nothing bad, Belle. Simply stated that we all knew about his nature, & that he shouldn't feel like he's not welcome because of it. And, that he shouldn't feed on any of us, without explicit permission." He hesitated. "A couple of other things, but that's between us." He looked back at Astarion's tent. "What other powers has the tadpole granted him? Because, frankly, he doesn't act like any spawn I've ever come across before."
"You think he acts like that because of tadpole powers? Dad, that's just him."
"He's very …"
"Bitchy."
He nodded.
"As far as the taddie is concerned, in his particular case, it's been a blessing. It broke him free of his master, allows walking in the sun, access to running water & to peoples' homes uninvited. I did a bit of digging into it, & all his teeth may have been sharp before being infected, now it's just the fangs. I think he also may have lost spider climb & regeneration."
"Are you telling me he's basically human?"
"I think so? You know, apart from being undead & needing to drink blood?" Her headache spread to the base of her skull. She shifted, acid reflux kicking in, & she gave voice to a deep burp.
"Ugh, sorry, must be something I ate." She rubbed her head again. "Got anything resembling Panadol here dad? Aspirin? Nurofen? Any pain killers that don't use the weave?"
"Belle? What's wrong?"
"I think it's that time of the month coming on."
He looked her up & down.
"You've gone pale, hun."
"That happens, dad."
"Hang on, I'll go get you something, hang on." He zoomed off, returning in record time with a cup full of water he was stirring something powdery into.
"Get that into you."
Trusting her dad, she upended the cup, chugging it. Vile, musty & almost pissy tasting water coated her tongue. She gagged & it took all her effort to get her gorge under control.
"What in the fuck was that?" she spluttered, licking her sleeve to try & get rid of the taste.
"A fungi concentrate. Better than Panadol. It'll hit you hard in about 20 mins, so we need to quickly sketch out our plans now before it does. After that, you're out for the night."
He sat her down, grabbed out the map Wyll usually carried around, & got her to quickly fill in the quests on the other side of the bridge, & the position of enemies. Her eyes were growing heavy before they finished, her headache floating off somewhere, hopefully to annoy Withers. Reality started looking mighty watery at that point.
"Tha's good shit" she slurred at him.
"I know. Go lie down, I'll fill the others in on what to expect."
"He's not gonna run off, is he?"
"Who?" he helped her to crawl back into her tent.
"Ass-tarion." She collapsed onto her bedroll.
"No, Belle. He's stayin'."
"Good, cause he's my asshat."
"Ummm, good to know? Should I be worried?"
"Naaahhh, all good da."
"Get some sleep."
"Nigh'".
She fell into a daze, where high pitched ringing kept turning into people's voices, only to fade off again. Her fingers, toes & tongue felt all tingly. She tried to move them, for them to only twitch at her command. Her stomach churned.
The ringing became clearer after a while. Morphed into some sort of new age hippie music. The grass under her face was soft, but tickly. She didn't remember going to sleep on grass. Her eyes flew open, & she saw some old Greek (or Roman, it could have been Roman) ruins. Columns & broken stone walls. The grass beneath her was purple. Oh wow, Gus had given her magic mushies to chase away the pain.
Rolling over & sitting up, she froze as she realised she wasn't alone. About ten steps away was a figure, standing there, arms crossed & regarding her silently. It looked like someone had drawn a human charcoal subject, then smeared it everywhere, obliterating any details. Once it saw she had sat up, it drifted toward her. She watched, bemused, high as a kite from what Gus had given her.
Very quickly, the charcoal figure changed. A long, red cape unfolded behind it, billowing gently. Then a dark blue body suit grew over its skin. Black hair sprouted from it's scalp, it's skin became pale & the bluest eyes she'd ever seen watched her serenely. An 'S' symbol bloomed on its chest. No. Fucking. Way.
"Superman?"
There in the mental flesh was the man of steel, gliding toward her, wearing a smile that could melt the knickers off any granny.
She leapt to her feet, raced over to the figure, & buried her face in his pecs. For a mental projection, he felt solid enough.
"Don't you dare sprout tentacles!" she growled at him, voice all muffled in between the giant chesticles where she'd buried her face.
"I have no intention at this stage. You wouldn't like it."
Eeeeek, he sounded just like him!
"No, no I wouldn't." She looked up at the cerulean blue eyes. Day-um if the emperor didn't get it right!
"Fuck me" she whispered quietly, reaching up to touch the jaw line that could cut paper.
"We really don't have time for that" he replied, grasping her hands which had started their exploration over the rest of him.
"Uh, you could call on me every night, in this form, you know?" What was a little wet dream between friends?
Superman chuckled.
"You work quick. But, honestly, that's not why I'm here." He guided her over back to the grassy patch.
"I've said this before, & I'll say it again. You know I know you know I know, yeah? I mean, you can read the depths of my mind, so you know I know everything? In which case, there's nothing hidden from you anymore, & with the pathways available, you've got a lot of ammo to work with."
"I admit, your mind has been more … convoluted … than the others. All those pathways. It made for an interesting read."
"It makes for an interesting game. Won game of the year! You should be proud!"
"To think that Earth has somehow developed a type of clairvoyance is, indeed remarkable. My kind do not usually bother with such backwater worlds, especially one's so inaccessible."
Was he dissing Earth? Ex-queeze her very much!
"Who you calling backwater?" Her jaw jutted forward.
"Not Earth, at least, not anymore. The fact they've reached the realm of studying quantum physics in such a short amount of time….remarkable! You should make sure that no other illithid finds this out. It would not be … good … for your planet."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
He shrugged.
"That's helpful."
"I am sorry. All I can offer is, help me put a stop to the elder brain & the dead three, & I promise to help you find a way to protect Earth from other illithids."
Oooo, he was good! He presented a problem & a solution. While getting her to help him. Hat's off, Balduran!
"I'll help, as long as you consider freeing Orpheus sooner, letting him guard us all instead of keeping him a slave in here. If you read my mind, then you'll also know it's a win-win situation. You get what you want, the gith get what they need, we all go home happy."
Superman's brow furrowed while he rubbed his chin.
"I did encounter that scenario while in there. I personally would never have entertained it, never thought Orpheus capable of working with an illithid. Your mind shows otherwise."
His expression cleared, though his eye remained troubled.
"I will consider it more, before making a decision. For now, I have halted your ceremorphosis – "
"Why was it so much like period symptoms?"
Superman balked at the question. Honestly, he'd just plumbed her mental depths & not expected something like that? Just how good a mind flayer was he?
"I – I cannot say. Only, it is now halted again, with the mental shield in place. I will come to you to discuss more strategy as needed, when I can."
"Nah, go to my dad, he's better at that sort of thing."
"You're the one aware of my true identity, as well as access to knowledge of many pathways that will yield success. It makes more sense to come to you."
Shit, really? She hated this sort of responsibility! She barely coped owning & running her own small business, let alone getting in the pilot seat of stopping the Grand Design.
She huffed. Crossed her arms.
"Fine" she allowed. "But only if you continue to look like as you are now."
"Up to a point; it becomes inconvenient after awhile."
"Five more times then."
"Three."
"Four."
"Done."