Day 2: What a Handful

Body Control

“Doctor, you need to help me! I’ve tried everything!”
Lisette threw her arms over her head, one of which was clad in a gauntlet.
“Everything, you say?” The physician with wavy blonde hair slicked behind him under his skullcap leaned forward from his white armchair, stroking his chin with his wiry fingers.
“Everything, doctor! The hammer didn’t work. Neither did the chisel. Greasing it up just made it hotter and ickier.” The young woman counted out the methods on her fingers by tapping the back of her other hand on it, or at least she tried since the mitten-shaped gauntlet didn’t have any fingers “The glove won’t come off! I’m running out of options here, Doctor. If anyone in this whole castle got smarts enough to figure it out, it’ll have to be you.”
She extended her gloved hand to the doctor, who ran his fingers across the metal surface and leaned in close. She pulled back her hand from him, making him lean forward even more. It then pinched his nose playfully.
“See?” Lisette groaned, “That wasn’t me! It’s been pulling childish pranks like that on its own all day! I’ve lost control! People think I’m going crazy! Please, Doctor! What’ll it take to get rid of it?”

“Calm down, young lady.” The physician laughed comfortingly, adjusting the white collar on his crimson robes, “Why not tell me exactly how this all came about? Then I’ll see what I can do to help.”
“Well… You see, Doctor, it all started this morning. I got busy cleaning this one particular stain off of the pots in the kitchen while I waited for the bread to bake in the oven. I got it in the end, but it must’ve taken me way longer than I imagined, because by then I noticed the hourglass was empty! I should’ve taken the bread out already! But when I reached for the peel, it wasn’t there! That Matts must’ve taken it out to hunt rats… Don’t tell kitchen master August, okay? So I looked for something, anything to take out the bread. Nothing seemed to quite fit the bill. I panicked. Ran into the refectory. There, I just so happened to notice one of the trophies on display on the wall. You know the one? The gauntlet former komtur Liebraun seized during the Battle of Wienfahr. So…”
Lisette’s eyes shifted frantically, “You… Promise not to tell a soul about this? Right?”
The physician smiled a smile of someone who didn’t need to be told what happened, “Young lady, I have taken the oath to do no harm to my patient. You can trust me with anything.”

“Right… So I borrowed it from the wall. Just for a moment. Didn’t think anyone would find out. I was gonna put it back right after, right as rain. I only ever wanted to give breakfast to all the knights of Castle Rang. Which started out fine. I pulled out the loaves. A bit on the hard side, but hey! At least softer than their armours, you know? But when I tried pulling it off… It wouldn’t budge. A bit strange, really. I didn’t have any trouble putting it on, and it fit like… Well, it fit like a glove. When Matts came, I hid it under my sleeve. Yelled at him for putting the peel back without washing it first. Kind of wanted him to leave quickly so I could deal with… Whatever nonsense befell me. So I accidentally pushed over a recipe book. Yes, it was with the gauntlet. Matts, being the aspiring gentleman he was, bent down to pick it up for me. That’s when I found myself slipping my hand under the hem of his tunic. To give his… Uh… I gave his goose a little hug. All right? He looked at me, all shocked and confused. I could feel my face turn hot and beet red. Oh, goodness! I’ve never been so embarrassed! I apologized profusely. At least, that’s what I was trying to do. I might have come off as garbled barely coherent nonsense. Then I dashed off. By that point, I thought maybe I had come down with an odd mood or something. Didn’t make me any less embarrassed, but it’s not like I thought my hand had gotten a life on its own. But the incidents kept piling up. I pulled at quartermaster Brutus’s belt to make his trousers slip off. I opened the door to the bathroom where Sergeant Brother Petersen was changing into his gear. When I pulled on a cord, only to find a curtain opened to reveal half a platoon of Knight Brothers frollicking naked in the bath, that’s when enough was enough. Something was up with the gauntlet I took from the wall, and whatever it was I wanted nothing to do with it. But nothing I did so much as made it budge. I came here as a last resort, Doctor.”

Lisette grabbed the good physician by his lapel and shook him, desperation glowing in her eyes.
He gently pulled it off of him and rose to his feet.
“Young lady, I will figure this out yet. For you see, there is one particular detail in your story which caught my attention. And I believe it might just be the key to solving this mystery.”
“Ah… So, what is it, Doctor?” Her eyes burned with anxiety, “What did you figure out? Tell me!”
“Well, you see… Metal gauntlets do not in fact protect against heat.”
“Oh… Ah.” Lisette slumped back in her chair.
“Yes. Not at all. Quite the opposite, really. That’s the reason why pots and pans are made of metal while the peel is made out of wood.”
“Yes… That does make sense… Ehehe…”
“How could you not know this? You are a kitchen maid, no?”
“So… What I figured was that… Armour protects the wearer from swords and arrows and monster attacks. So, I figured…” She shrugged nervously, “Maybe it’d protect against fire as well?”
“Uh huh…”

“Look, I used it to take out the bread out of the oven. I didn’t get burned. So… There.”
“Yes. But really, young lady, that was rather my point.” He shifted his hands to rest them on his knees, “For you see, why didn’t it burn you? I believe there’s a high chance that the trinket our good old komtur Liebraun brought as a trophy might well have been imbued with spellcraft.”
“Ah… Hey, yeah!” Lisette smacked her fist in her palm, “Didn’t the Battle of Wienfahr involve forces from the Demon Lord’s Army?”
“It did indeed, young lady. In that case…” He paced towards his bookshelf, and pulled out a copy of a book that had been banned throughout Orderdom; Monster Girl Encyclopedia, “We may well be dealing with an item of monster nature.”

He sat back down with the book in his lap, flipping through the pages one by one, until he tapped the right page with his finger, “Ah, here we go. The Living Armour. Born from a lifeless armour when imbued with sufficient demonic energy.”
“Ah. So this glove comes from that armour! And that’s what's been playing them pranks on everyone! At my expense!”
“In all probability, she doesn’t want to be here either. Just looking to be complete once more.”
“Well… Sure, but… Why is that my problem?”
“You really should have thought of that before wearing random items that you find, young lady.” He slammed the book shut, “But at least now we have a solution.”
“What? By finding the Living Armour? How am I supposed to do that?”
“That I’m afraid I cannot help you with. I am a physician. I deal with matters of the physical body. The arcane arts remain beyond me.”
“Well, great.” Lisette waved her gauntlet dramatically, “So I’m stuck with this bratty bucket on my hand for the rest of my days?”
“I’m afraid it’s worse than that, young lady.” Said the physician, “Your humanity itself is at stake here.”
She blinked, “My the what now?”
“Demonic energy is seeping into your skin from the gauntlet as we speak. Unless you can remove that gauntlet, you will eventually turn into a succubus.”
Those words pierced Lisette’s chest like an arrow. Of course, getting to prowl the night stalking young boys as her prey wouldn’t be the worst fate, but she’d be rendered a mindless monster and be rebuked by the Order of the Chief God.

The physician sighed, “I’m afraid I won’t come with good news today. I promise not to divulge this to the Order, but as a reputable physician I simply cannot involve myself with anything related to mamono. I am sure you understand.”
Lisette scoffed, but rose from her seat, “Yeah… I suppose. Thanks for everything, Doctor.”
The physician stood up as well to put the book back on its shelf. On the way he reached his hand to Lisette, “Any time. That is what I’m here for after aaaaAAAAAHHH…!!!”
Lisette had grabbed his palm with the gauntlet, and a crunching sound was heard as it enveloped the bony hand of the poor physician.
Finally she let go, and he soothed it with his other hand.
Lisette smiled awkwardly, “I’ll, uh… Show myself out.”

Little did they know a young Sergeant Sister, with brown hair tied in a long ponytail with a pretty yellow bow, had been eavesdropping the entire time. All of that was of great interest to her, and she couldn’t help but smile. She heard Lisette leaving, and quickly rose from her kneeling position.
When the door opened, she and Lisette were eye to eye with one another.
“Sergeant Sister Mikaela…” Lisette said, shutting the door to the physician’s office behind her as she reeled up the sleeve to cover the gauntlet, “I… Came down with this cough.”
She coughed the most fake cough imaginable.
“I thought I’d have it checked out. Just in case.”
“But of course,” Mikaela said with a smile, “The last thing we want is something terrible to befall our staff. Now if you excuse me, I do need to get to the armory at once.”
Mikaela headed towards the staircase, with Lisette following her with her gaze.

Just how much did she know? If the whole castle found out that she not only snagged a precious artefact, but is going to turn into a monster at any given time, that’d no doubt be the end of her career in Rang Castle. Scratch that, it’d be the end of her life. No matter. They wouldn’t get the chance. If Mikaela thought Lisette was going to buckle from the first sight of challenge, she was thoroughly mistaken. One way or another, she was going to find some way to save her own humanity, if she had to do so with one hand tied behind her back.
She rushed downstairs. Perhaps she would find some key information in the castle library. She took a turn, heading for a shortcut through the Great Hall. From there she heard harpsichord music coming. Well, she wasn’t going to be a bother. All she had to do was slip past the crowd, then disappear into the staff area. Probably wouldn’t even notice her, with any luck. So she crept along the wall. The knights and nobles would get to have their supper party in peace.
That was the plan anyhow. Apparently the gauntlet had no intention to accommodate. It yanked her arm out, sweeping someone up into her embrace. Someone who happened to be a young Prognerian nobleman. Lisette soon found herself hoisted to the center of the dance floor by her own arm.
She held him close against her. All eyes fell on them. The music shifted in tone and tempo.
“Ah, I’m terribly sorry, sir... Uh...” The kitchen maid stuttered, her face red as a tomato.“
"Call me Reginald."
"I'm sorry, sir Reginald. My body… It’s doing this on its own.”
He chuckled, “No. Don’t apologize. It’s what the music is for! No need to restrain yourself from its beauty.”

Lisette didn’t answer. Too busy was she focusing on not stumbling about. She normally belonged on the dancefloor about as much as a feral badger. Just keeping herself on her feet was a struggle. If only she had put on some cursed sabatons instead.
The gauntlet however did a great job swinging her partner about, making the efforts required for the dance minimal as the boy she caught on the dance floor took charge.

As the orchestra reached its crescendo, the gauntlet tugged at his arm. He slid into her armoured arm before he could fall to the floor, finding his partner leaning in seductively. She scrambled to hold on to him with her second arm as well, for safety, ending up pushing him against her body.
The hall erupted in applause. He looked up at her, absolutely smitten. She herself was embarrassed, confused and not a little frightened.
The moment the gauntlet released its hold of him, she bounced out of the hall.
“S-sorry. I… I gotta go!” She screamed back as she left through the staff door.
“Wait!” He yelled back.

She had no intention of waiting. The longer she stayed in the spotlight, the more likely it was they would spot the gauntlet on her. Besides, she had other things to do. She had to get back to the library.
Only when she entered the depository of books did it dawn on her the one thing she had overlooked.
“Blast it! I can’t read!”
“Ssssh….” The old lady at the desk leered at her.
“Sorry…” She whispered back.