Blessings of the Nephilim

I stare at Blobby while we sit in our cell, idling the time away. It had been a few days, and the two extra 'threads' have continued to tug at my mind. There'd been some kind of fight recently, so everyone has been confined to their cells for the past half-hour, and probably will be for another hour or so. I sigh. "Only one way to find out... Keep an eye on me for a bit, okay?" I pat Blobby as I lie down on my bunk. Alright, that thread's Cap, that one's Kara. This one's Blobby, I think. Who's number four? I tug on the connection, pulling my spirit toward them.

I blink, suddenly finding myself face-to-face with Kristhyra, the brunette elf with somewhat bronzed skin. "Uh-"

"Eve, are you alright?" The elf's face grows concerned. "Your eyes..."

'My' hand reaches up, touching 'my' cheek as words leave 'my' lips. "Huh? Yes, I'm well. What happened to my eyes?"

"They...look like-"

"Hi, long time-" 'My' hand claps over 'my' mouth as I speak, 'my' eyes wide.

"-They look like Dusk's..." Kris takes Eve's other hand in both of her own. "Are you sure you're alright?"

The goblin nods, before looking around at the church the pair had been speaking within. "Let's speak outside for a moment." She stands, leading the priestess out the stone archway and around the corner of the church before continuing, and I let her, since it wouldn't be good if Kris made a fuss in the middle of the building. All the while, Eve is muttering under her breath. "Is this really happening?"

Eve pauses, and I take over. "Eve, let me do the talking for a bit." I feel her eyes widen before I turn her around to speak to Kris.

"Eve, what is happening?" The elf looks concerned, lightly setting her hand on 'my' shoulder as she bends down a bit.

"I'm not Eve." I hastily correct myself. "I mean, Eve is here, and she can still hear and talk and do stuff, but I'm Dusk. I don't know why, but I have an ability that lets me possess certain people. Before now, it was just Camilla, but it looks like Eve is included, too." And Blobby, but that's not important right now.

Her face goes through multiple stages of and confusion and realization, before Eve starts speaking up again. "Dusk is in my body, and we seem to share control. It is not forever, but..."

"An hour."

"One hour." I'm not sure what is happening, but when Eve speaks to Kris, her mouth moves...differently than when I speak. Not the same as the difference between myself and Camilla, almost like the words I'm hearing her say aren't the words I'm feeling leave her lips.

Kristhyra nods, absorbing the information, when suddenly her face turns a bright red. "Y-you mean...he can..."

I can feel Eve's cheeks heat up as she looks away. "N-no! Dusk wouldn't do that!" And then, under her breath, "even if it would be hot..."

The pair avoid each others' gaze for a moment, and as far as I can tell, both are extremely embarrassed at the implications of what I can or cannot do while within Eve's body. I clap Eve's hands together. "Anyway! How are things for you two? I haven't been able to check in too much with either of you since the big fight."

Eve is the first to respond, rubbing the back of her head. "As I was saying before you came, it's been hard, between the barn and the kids, but Torch and the Empress helped a lot. It was Torch that actually encouraged me to come here. Oh, uh, some of the goblinoids are in town." Her voice changed at the end, somehow... Eve rapidly attempts to calm down the now-panicking elf, taking her hands in her own. "They're on the north side of town. You'll never have to see them, I swear!"

Kris takes deep breaths to calm herself. "Yes...yes...I am...alright." Another breath later, "Eve, why do we not meet later? The caravan embarks tomorrow, but I do not want to detract from...this unique experience." Her mouth is doing that same thing...the words don't match what she's saying... Her face hasn't quite returned to its normal, somewhat bronzy color. "I will be at the inn for a brief rest." She wraps her arms around 'me' briefly.

"I will see you then, cousin." Eve hugs her back before the elf speed-walks away.

I pause a bit, staring at Kris as she walks away. "Was she always so...eloquent(?) with her words? I thought she didn't know the human tongue that well..."

'My' head tilts to the side. "Huh? She doesn't. What makes you think that?"

I squint 'my' eyes. "Didn't she just... Nevermind. How has the Empress been acting?"

Eve begins walking. "She's been...weirdly compliant? Can she talk? She hasn't spoken at all, and it's sometimes hard to tell if she can even understand me. I've tried Humish, Goblish, and Elvish, and she understands a few words now, but barely understood anything when we started out."

I hum. "I told her to keep quiet; I guess she took that as being silent. As for language..." Shouldn't she understand Humish? "...I'll have to see for myself. I've been able to speak to her fine."

"Do you know languages other than Humish?"

I scratch our shared head. "I don't think so? Did you know Goblish before you became a goblin?"

We stop suddenly. "Now that you mention it...no. I didn't..." She shivers, bringing her hands up to her arms. "That's creepy..."

"Yeah... Maybe I do know another language?" I think back. Could Graul have taught her something? Or did she learn it herself? Now that I think on it, that first queen spoke a bit of something, too... "I'll see if God's Eye has any info on languages."

"Oh! I finally get to see how this works!" Eve begins rushing over.

. . .

We approach a small log cabin on the north side of town, around the same size as most of the rest of the houses, and by my estimate, it's just got the one room. "It's not much," Eve leads as she presents what is apparently my new home, "and it doesn't have any furniture, but it's on the edge of town, so it's quiet and you could add more rooms if you want."

"It's nice. Cozy." I take control and open the front door, finding a very not-cozy sight: two orcs butchering a deer and a big goblin cooking the meat in the fireplace while Torch and the Empress sit to the side, each holding a young toddler in their grasp and feeding them some (hopefully cooked) venison. "Hi..."

Eve takes over as the big goblin offers up some cooked meat. "Thanks, Cooker." She walks over to the only other women in the room. "How're they?" While she's doing that, I activate God's Eye, targeting the hornet.

Torch looks up. "They're fine. Could use some more time with their dad, though. Any idea when he's coming back?"

Eve sits cross-legged in front of the pair as I read the Empress' sheet. "Well, I have some confusing news. His spirit is here." She points to her eyes. "He's...also in my body right now..." Then, under her breath: "Yeah, those are the right words." Again, her lips aren't matching the words she's saying...

Torch seems confused as she stares into 'my' eyes. "You're...serious..."

Eve nods as I finally find 'Languages'. "Remember how we couldn't talk to Hornet before? She doesn't speak Human, Elf, or Goblin. She speaks Devil. Chief?"

I take over and nod. "Empress?" The hornet looks shocked, but quickly returns to her squinting. "You can speak now, but keep it quiet."

She looks confused at first, squinting her eyes a bit more, but she seems to understand that something is going on. "Why-" She coughs, clearing her throat. "Why am I being reduced to such mediocrity? I am a ruler, not some...midwife."

I almost growl at her. "These are your kids. The least you could do is help raise them." I look to her severed arm and antennae. "And the less you play nice, the worse it'll get for you. I'll be checking in daily, now. You'll be allowed some extra permissions. If you do good, you'll get more. If you do bad, you'll have more restrictions, instead." I take what is now my third look at my first two children, setting a hand on each of their heads. "They've already grown so much..." Going based on the blond child, they seem to be around two or three years old. It's been, what, five days? That's around half a 'year' each day...

Eve takes over. "Yeah. They haven't spoken much yet, but I've been trying to teach them Humish."

I sigh. "Thanks. I'm gonna try to get back soon, but I should be going, now. Torch, good job. Empress, remember what I told you. Eve, thanks."

With a breath, Eve nods as I drift back to my own body.

. . .

I open my eyes, my own eyes, to see the stone walls surrounding me. Sitting up, I feel the weight on my chest slip downward into my lap. "Thanks for keeping an eye on me." I pat the blue blob before stretching and twisting my torso. "I've got one more thing to test, but you're gonna be involved this time...I think." She vibrates in my lap. "But...we should probably wait until night."

. . .

As most of Monsquad disbands for the night, I leave Blobby with Bel before heading to my cell. I'd told the dullahan about Oversight in private, so she expected my intrusion. As I lie down on my bunk, the barred door shut for the night, I begin tugging on the thread that I suspect to be the slime.

There's no 'eye opening'. I try looking around, only to find...I can look all around me. We're in the yard, and I can see the light of the moon rising in the distance, but...it's all blurry. I can mostly see Demona...a few yards away? She's fuzzy, but there's only really one gargoyle around, so it's easy to identify her.

Something else I notice is that I'm feeling a lot of...flesh, and a lot of pale skin seems to fill my vision. Is Blobby...wrapped around Bel, right now? I try to move around a bit, finding myself lifting up the undead's arm and flexing her hand and fingers. It's odd, but at least mostly similar to lifting up my own arm, albeit a lot more...indirect. I'm not lifting an arm, I'm moving the slime around, almost like an external set of muscles around Belinda's arm.

"Is something the matter?" I feel Bel's speech vibrate through 'me' more than hear the speech itself. Looking around, I don't see Bel separate from Linda, so it seems like she's still whole.

As the dullahan's left hand curls into a fist and nods, I give a thumbs up with her right hand.

She stares at her right hand. "Sir?"

I unclench and then reclench her fist, reinforcing the thumbs up. Almost immediately after, I feel Bel's arms wrap around in a self-hug.

"This is...odd..."

"What, did Dusk finally get you wet?" Demona's gravely voice reaches out with a chuckle.

"In a literal sense, yes." Bel chuckles, herself. "How does it feel?"

I lift up her right arm again, only to realize I don't...actually know how to communicate well without a mouth... I really should have thought this through, more...

"[SL] He doesn't know ASL, remember?" The dullahan's hands move on their own.

Bel hums, bringing her hand to her chin. "True. I should have considered that..."

Did...did I just understand Blobby? There wasn't a voice, but it was like...just like with Eve... Is Oversight more powerful than I thought?

"[SL] It's okay. Having him here is enough. We might be able to teach him some, with time."

"That's also true."

Demona speaks up again, not stopping her weightlifting. "Who's to say he isn't already learning? Possession's weird, but some of the ghosts at the castle could use the know-how of the ones they possessed. Maybe Dusk is like them?"

I quickly nod Bel's right wrist.

It's difficult to say, but the gargoyle seems to squint. "Which one of you was that? Dusk, or-"

I nod my self-designated wrist again.

Bel nods. "That makes sense. From your previous description, the ability is called Oversight. If you couldn't understand what the target was saying, you wouldn't be capable of performing the act implied by the name of the ability."

Huh...that does make sense...and I think I was able to understand what Torch was saying before, too... I give another thumbs up.

. . .

"Before you go, sir...and you should hear this too, Demona."

The gargoyle stops and turns to look at the former human. "Yeah? You sound more serious than usual."

The undead nods. "Something's going to happen soon."

"Another one of your talks with Citri?"

She nods again. "I can't tell you anything else, just to be prepared. If things go according to plan...well, be ready."

A/N: Do NOT feed toddlers venison in the manner prescribed in this chapter. I am NOT a pediatrician, and the toddlers being fed are NOT human.