Becoming Monsters: I'm Blue 07

Becoming monsters is the creation of AiLovesToGrow, setting used with permission

This idea comes from Amethyst Dragonfly.

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Chapter 7: Laying Foundations

It was a fine Sunday morning. The sun was shining, children were playing in the park, and a young couple was having one of their first arguments while sitting on the bench.

"Justin, I JUST recovered! Please, I'm tired like you wouldn't believe, and can't regulate my form as efficiently as normal. I need time!" The blue woman was in light athletic wear, the late summer heat contributing to the light coat of sweat she'd picked up jogging here... and to the tempers that were slightly flaring.

Justin, for his part, was in compounding piles of misery. His coat of sweat was anything but light; despite the fact that he had been training himself and taking care of himself more the past weeks, his own jogging shorts and tee shirt looked more like he'd swam to this park bench. Even through his physical pain and fatigue, though, his mental one was worse. "I don't think it's my choice, Abbey. I'd be perfectly fine with what we've got! Seeing you hurt is... bad. It's just getting harder every day. Every random thought is going to that coin, and I'm having to catch myself twice a day from accidentally saying the words. What's the longest you've ever gone with someone holding it without making a Wish?"

"A week, tops." Her eyebrows furrowed hard. "Everyone always has something they want, and they take it out on me."

Those words stung, hard. "That's not fair, and you know it. Come on, after all of this, that's where your head goes?"

"I'm not the one talking about making another Wish. It royally sucks, Justin! It sucks being stuck bound to that thing! Never knowing when the person holding it is going to decide to impose their whims on reality." There were tears streaming from her eyes, mingling with the sweat on her face.

Justin couldn't get words out for a couple of moments, and so looked out at the playground they were near. The hospital was nearby, but there had been a monster attack here recently. Scorch marks decorated the ground where fire and lightning had danced. A strip of grass was cordoned off with a sign talking about possible magical contaminants in the vines that had sprouted there. And yet, the children still played. Two Beastfolk kids, a Rabbit and a Deer, were jumping around the playground equipment while a couple of long-suffering Human parents watched from a different bench.

It felt a lot like the inside of his head, really. Here he was, with his favorite person on Earth, enjoying the simple pleasure of her company... while also hurting in body and mind. The wreckage of what he'd gone through was still just out there, the strain of what was coming impossible to ignore. "Trust me, Abbey, I don't want to make one. The pressure is just... intense. Every abrasive customer I get, every news story, every book I read for class. All of them, every time, I have to bite my tongue so that I don't accidentally say the words to make something happen." He was hunched over, staring at the ground. "I really didn't want this to turn into our first fight. It's just too big. I... I'm not sure I can handle it. Not to make it sound like less than it is, these Wishes are the biggest exam of my life. No take backs or do-overs, and no way to know if I'm even studying the right materials. I could hardly focus on my homework yesterday, even with all you've been doing to help me."

"Then don't face it alone! You don't have to do that, Justin! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I thought I'd be strong enough to be able to ignore it. I'm not, and it took me way too long to figure it out." He was breathing hard again, this time entirely unrelated to the jog. "I'm sorry, Abs, but I don't think I can hold out much longer."

"How long?" She found that she liked that nickname better than "Dee," at least.

"With how I'm going? Another day or two, tops, if we want to be safe... and I do. Past that and it's too likely to just come out of me."

It was her turn to sigh. "Okay, then. I know I can't breach your free will outside of a Wish, so I can't just remove the temptation... I could give you some ideas, maybe? You could... MMMPH!" Abbey's eyes shot open as her lips slammed shut. As hard as she fought, she could not force a single further word out of her mouth. With a frustrated look on her face, she took a deep breath. Her lips parted again. "Well, never mind that. Looks like it would be cheating."

Justin was more than slightly off-guard. "That didn't come up at all in anything I read. Like... just the opposite. A ton of Genies in the stories delighted in trying to convince people to make Wishes against their best wishes."

"That's the thing, I think this is a bit different. I can't make Wishes for myself. Even if I find an outside source of them, I just can't. Maybe the whole thing thought I was going to talk you into making a wish that I wanted? I don't know, it just isn't something that's ever come up." Abbey was joining Justin in frustration and misery. There were no good things in this conversation, no silver linings. She stood. "Come on, we need to get back before it heats up much more. I'll be fine, but I don't want you getting dehydrated."

She started jogging. Justin had to scramble a bit to catch up, since he was starting from seated, but got there before too long. A dozen minutes later, and the pair made it to the bus stop they came on. The one that served the Guild Hall, again, since the ones riding it wouldn't mind the smell of sweat. Their silence on the way back was perhaps a bit more strained than before, but despite everything the two still leaned on each other, both physically and literally. After all, they were both already covered in sweat, so it wasn't like either would be getting the other dirty.

Get home, get cleaned up, get changed. Part of the now-normal routine for those days together. He did more homework, she got to relax a bit. Maybe watch the Blues Brothers with an earbud in while calling out random study questions. Brittany had been oddly silent outside of work, recently. Abbey hardly saw her these days, and really didn't have other friends in the area (Justin excluded, but he was a recent development). Some might think it would be boring doing so little, but they'd be missing the point.

Despite the tension this time around? She felt better together with Justin than apart. These particular feelings were new to her, though. Even compared to the past weeks, they were new. As she distracted herself by watching a couple of guys on a mission, a small and secret part of her was interrogating herself.

Are you sure it's just worrying about what he's going to ask for and what it'll cost you, Abs? Or is it maybe worry about NOT being bound to him after the third one?

Unbeknownst to her, Justin was having similar thoughts as he did a study of light and shadow on his digital canvas. A Corinthian column shown in stark black and white, every ridge and whorl it's own painstaking lesson in geometry. And yet, no matter the difficulty of the composition, he found himself changing the piece ever so slightly. Nothing outside of the parameters of the subject, no. Perhaps a hair more difficult, with some extra considerations necessary. Still, it was the only way he could find himself thinking about it.

Columns were made to hold things up. This one was a corner post, holding up the suggestion of a roof. As he drew, he mentally held in place where the sun was... and what was around it. The skies, the greenery, the bay. It didn't show on this composition, but the image was a strong one. Appealing, in its way. Peaceful. Certainly a far cry from slinging coffee to support his crippling education habit.

He felt an emotion in his chest, one which had become unfamiliar these past weeks. Longing. He felt like he had something here, but also that he could make it all better. Somehow, the idea in front of him would do it. It could take where he was and push it further to where he wanted to be. Justin felt it then. That unspecific pressure on his mind shifted, suddenly and dramatically. He'd found what he was here for. It was no longer a vague thing, but a specific and mighty urge. His estimate during the morning jog was off, it would seem.

This is bad. If I don't get this out of me before we go to bed tonight, I might accidentally mumble something and set it off in my sleep. The wording is going to be important.

"Abbey..." even his voice was different in his own ears. Harsher, strained. It was more like the burnt-out failure he used to be, not the man she had come to know.

She was by his side in an instant, the antics of Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi entirely forgotten. "Justin! What's wrong? What happened?" By reflex she didn't know she had, she reached over to hit Control-S on his keyboard. No sense letting any emergency set him back, after all.

"It... it hit me. Hard. I think I know what I'm going to Wish for... but the Coin knows I know, somehow. I know you aren't allowed to help me, but I need to figure out how to word it. Fast."

Abbey took two suddenly-shaking steps backwards. Her heart rate and breathing both sharply accelerated, much harder than they had while jogging that morning. It was time, and there was no way for her to know what it would be. No way to know what it would cost her. No way to know how ill-advised the words would be to come out of his mouth.

Except...

Except that it's JUSTIN I'm worrying about. Nobody's perfect, but the man's been researching this. He cares, I know he cares, About me, not just what that stupid Wish can give him. I have to have faith in that much. I have to have faith in him.

Sitting, panting and sweating, Justin's own thoughts were racing in every direction at once. This moment would be critical. Possibly defining his future. Possibly defining BOTH of their futures. His words meant something, but he thought he knew a way forward. "Abbey... I have a question for you. An important one."

"Anything, Justin. If I can open my lips to answer it, I will."

"Without the first Wish, without the influence. Can you reach into your brain and think like that?"

Abbey closed her eyes for a moment. "I... it's hard, but yes. I know where the threads of my magic start and stop. Why?"

Justin stood, slowly, facing her. "I never did get to ask you officially, and I want your answer. Abbey, the last stretch has been the best of my life, it isn't even close. You complete me, in ways that I didn't know were missing before we got to know each other. And... I hope you feel the same way." He took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Abbey, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. My question is, do you feel the same way about me? Without the magic, no compulsions or bindings. With what you know about me now, would you stay with me, for the rest of our lives?"

Tears were flowing down her azure face, her entire being frozen in shock. It lasted a mere split second, though, because really? The answer was easy. Abbey leapt into his waiting arms, and with a cry of "yes" knew that her soul was his, more surely than any spell could possibly bind. She liked it, the joy of holding him like this was one she knew she wanted for the rest of her life. Their life. Together.

He stood there, holding her in his arms, the tears of joy on his face matching her own. He didn't have a ring to give her, not yet, but make no mistake. He meant exactly that with what he asked. "Then... Abbey, listen closely. I Wish for a good home for us to be together, through all of the joy and pain our life together will bring. I swear, love, that I will do anything for you, and this is where we are going to start."

An azure glow engulfed them, and on the far wall of that little dormitory room an outline appeared. A door, traced by blue sparks, suddenly solidified there. The knob was plain brass, the door a dark-stained wood. Together, they took two cautious steps forward towards it. As Justin reached out and touched the doorknob, the glow about the two of them suddenly vanished, and with it Abbey's ability to hold herself upright. Suddenly, she sagged against her boyfriend, who turned from the mysterious door to a task far more important. Supporting his girlfriend, this time physically instead of emotionally.

When her eyes opened back up, Abbey felt like she was in the grip of one of the nastiest fevers of her life... but on the flip side, as Wish backlash went, that wasn't too bad. She was on Justin's bed, if the familiar smell and particularly pokey box spring meant anything. A pressure on her forehead, a cool and wet weight, told her that he was at least trying to take care of her in her current state. The water and painkiller on the bedside table told her he was serious about her.

I mean, as if we didn't just confess our mutual love to each other. Um. Yay. But, ow. Okay, Status... ow, headache. Still, not too bad. Not nearly as much as last time, but I can feel the mana still pulling. The working isn't completed. At least it's leaving me enough to control my form this time.

She shifted slightly, the headache walloping her out of nowhere, making her groan as she clawed for the painkillers so recently spotted nearby. A sudden flurry of movement, and a pair of remarkably comfortable arms were wrapped around her. Justin. "Oh, Abbey, I'm glad you're alright! Whatever that Wish did, it must have been a big thing for it to knock you out. I am so sorry, Abbey! I thought it was going to be something smaller than this! I didn't want you hurt again, I didn't..."

"Shhhh, Justin, I'm alright. This wasn't all that bad, really, I'll be fine. And... you really meant it?"

"Of course I meant it! I love you, Abbey!"

"I love you too, Justin." It felt good to say. Really, really good. Her heart was fluttering, a smile on her lips despite the pain. "Have you checked out what's behind door number one?" She tried to nod towards the incongruous wooden thing in the middle of his cheap plaster dorm wall, but the headache rendered this a bad idea.

He shook his head. "Couldn't do it. I was too worried about you, love." There was that word again. Yep, confirmed that it did in fact make both of their hearts flutter. "You were out for a little over an hour, but breathing fine and not transforming or anything. Just really needed to make sure you were alright."

"Like I said, I will be. The painkillers are already working. Give me about thirty minutes and we can go and see what the heck you just did?"

He sighed in relief. "That sounds amazing. Honestly, I'm so curious that I'm REALLY glad I'm not a cat."

Both of them were glad, in a very small way, that he was ahead on his classwork for what might be the first time in two years. When she stood up, almost exactly twenty-eight minutes later, neither was at all interested in what was going into his portfolio. Both wanted to know what exactly was waiting for them. This time, when Justin reached out to that doorknob, her hand was resting on his as he turned it.

In a somewhat anticlimactic moment, what was past the door was a hallway painted in light, cool colors. There was natural sunlight coming from some windows to their left. To the right were more doors. It smelled clean, the air holding a hint of salt. The pair stepped through, closing the door behind them.

Justin looked out of the window. "Looks like a... driveway? Kind of long, not sure where it goes."

Abbey looked around them. "The door we just closed has a label that says 'Dorm Room' on it. Guess we have a way back home, at least for now. Any idea where we are or what this is?"

"Sun's about the same place, and... well, it still kind of smells like home. Willing to bet we're fairly close. Also looks like we're at least on the second floor of a building, and I don't hear anyone else moving around. Could be a lot of things, Abbey. I think we need to explore a bit?"

Abbey reached into her pocket to pull out a small notebook. As they started moving around, she tried to map the place out. It... didn't work that well. Most of the doors were closed and locked, the home shaped roughly like a 3x3x3 grid divided up and lined by hallways. There were at least two doors that didn't seem like they could lead anywhere indoors, but looked an awful lot like the one they had come in through on the second floor. All the while, Abbey could feel a very odd blend of fatigue and relief. This seemed to be a beautiful home, comfortable and pristine, one that could be lived in forever. A quick glance at her Status, however, showed Stamina and Mana at 5% well after they'd had a chance to explore for a while. Her Ten Attributes hadn't degraded all that much this time, thankfully.

It was Justin who put a finger on why that was so odd. "Hold up. A three-storey mansion by the seaside, in Washington? I thought a million dollars almost killed you, and I know this has to be way more than that. I mean, look at it! We even have a path to the beach! If this is worth less than ten times that, I'd be shocked. Yet, here you are, not even two hours later. I mean, really glad you're alright, obviously, but I wasn't expecting all of this."

Abbey took a deep breath, trying to relax. "Hearth and home, Justin. You literally wished for a HOME. Literally and directly what my magic is best at. Thing is... this feels a lot like last time. There's still a drain going somewhere, and I think the locked doors have something to do with it."

"So you're saying we need to stick to what's already open?"

"Exactly. I get the feeling that things just aren't done yet. A lot like your dorm room... which, speaking of, if that door really is a stable portal that reaches dozens or hundreds of miles to THERE, the fewer people who know the better. I'll work on transferring most of the enhancements I've done from there to here once we get this place mapped out a bit better, but I think we need to try to be sleeping here for now. Let my magic really soak in."

"Works for me. One problem getting in the way of that."

"What's the problem?"

"We haven't found a bedroom yet." Abbey facepalmed at that one. That would be an issue, of course. The only space they had been able to clearly enter and define was a kitchen and the hallways. The kitchen itself was spacious, but largely unfurnished. There were hookups for things like an oven, plenty of outlets around the (rather nice marble) counter tops, but not so much as a table otherwise. This would take some effort before the place would be actually livable. Flip side, basic testing showed that electricity, water, and gas were all hooked up... somehow... and the interior of the place was pleasantly cool despite the summer heat outside.

"Yeah... nothing in the garage space, either. It's like the Wish just built this place and nothing else. Might explain why I didn't get completely wrecked by it, but if that's the case we have a lot of work ahead of us."

"No joke." Justin started counting on his fingers. "We need to get furniture and appliances here, probably at least bicycles until we can get a cheap car, check out where exactly we are..."

"Try making sure we actually own this piece of land, then property taxes once the place gets assessed. Wishes are great, but a barista and a bank teller do not have the scratch to keep up with that. Are there any government programs that could help? I don't know, but at least I have some folks I can start to ask."

"You know what, all of that can be a problem for later. It's just a huge headache that isn't going to get solved any faster by us diving in. What do you say to taking a walk along the beach, then swimming a bit before heading back to the dorm?"

Abbey smiled in a huge way. "I thought you'd never ask... love."