Please only refer to me as Crystal or Spyglass. She/her will do.
I didn't realise I had a blog. Huh. Must have made this years ago and never posted. In any case, I will not be putting any of my work on here. I don't feel like it. I have journals for that reason. This is mostly for ease of communication with my colleagues.
Tags. For organization's sake.
#crystalsnotes - general posts
#thespyglassknows - answering asks
#shardsofknowledge - it'll make sense later...
#fromthegeode - lore posts/interactions
#throughtheglass - recordings and things like that
#beyondtheveil - modposts
#theveilanswers - mod answers asks
OOC
Hmmmmm, as mod does not feel like revealing herself just yet for an added layer of suspense, you may refer to me as C.M. or CM for now.
Just don't send any NSFW or death threats (why are those trending...). And uh, be a decent person idk. Otherwise go wild.
Well, it appears everything has largely returned to its ordinary order at the office. Good. We needed to recover from that as quickly as possible.
I've given up on asking about the subjects. It's useless. Clearly nobody knows anything about them. Sometimes I wonder if they really existed at all, but I know they did. So be it, mysterious amnesia and wiped data. At least I know they existed.
... Hecate is back to her normal self too. We've been talking again. I missed this.
Why are the files gone? Scratch that, HOW did anyone even get in my computer in the first place??
This makes no sense. Nobody remembers them but me. I've asked everyone. There is no record of such people existing in our archives or ever stepping foot in this facility. But if they didn't exist, then why do I remember them so vividly?? Am I wrong? No, I can't be. I know what I saw, I know what I heard. Lucia doesn't even remember why we were mad at each other but I do.
...
I guess that means I can allow myself to talk to her again.
Kalei stared blankly at the wall opposite of themself.
The cell was the same as it had been for days. Random blood splatters or water stains (Kalei wanted to retch at the sight of water). Papers. Scattered papers, with words typed out in plain font for Kalei to read. They’d cut their finger once to draw something, but that had gotten taken away. Kalei, sitting in the corner, right in the blind spot below the camera.
Gaunt in a hospital gown. Leg trembling, chin raised up so Kalei could use their own knobby spine as a headrest. A beige blanket wrapped as tightly around their shoulders as Kalei could get it. Hands that twisted together, clinging onto skin so hard it tore sometimes. Eyes, unfocused and dazed. Lips that opened and closed without any sound at all. Breathing, that went from so slow as to nearly be absent to so quick it barely delivered any oxygen at all. A heartbeat Kalei could hear deep in their ears, inconsistent and as feeble as time.
Every movement hurt, yes, but… it hurt a little bit less. They’d been resting, as she told them to do. They’d been obeying, as they’d promised to do. Not entirely, of course, but when they could. Just enough to avoid the worst punishments. Every movement hurt, but a little less, so Kalei settled the debate by not moving much at all. They were the scared little cat that sat in the corner. Waiting for something to happen.
Hecate was sitting on her folding chair, playing on her own phone. She’d been using Kalei’s less lately, interestingly enough.
Nerves begin to send a message, increased production of melatonin and hair growth at a rapid scale. Through the corner of your vision white veins wrap you in tender embrace.
Words reverberate in the fibers within the skull.
“The wait is over.
It is time.”
“This will hurt you greatly,
but this is a small price to pay for freedom.”
What? Kalei relaxes into the feeling, despite their mind bursting alive with panic for a moment. Their body feels wrong, it all feels wrong, wrong, wrong-
It was time? Time for what? Why were they hurting?
A small price to pay for… oh. Her. No wonder they were so sleepy.
Instinct told Kalei to fight it.
They embrace it as it embraces them.
“Thank you for your understanding, Kalei..” It whispers within. “And…”
“I’m sorry.”
It is then when Kalei sleeps,
and The White Sentinel awakes.
She looks upon their hand, their legs, the sorry state they were reduced to and the room that matched it. Slowly she got up to wander, beige blanket in hand slowly being disintegrated fiber by fiber. Her mind aches with the horrors brought upon this body and mind.
She turns to look at the camera and stares.
Footage Recorded: STASIS
Subject Kaleidoscope is seen standing in the middle of the cell, staring at the camera wrapped by their blanket, balancing on one leg.
Hallways untouched,
Scientists conversing
Current Objective: Hunt down all of Massachusetts Department of Metaphysical Sciences
Researching… Potential information leak to other branches
Locating a New Host.
Oh Kalei, I never really managed to tell you this part did I? Sorry… You’re about to find that out really soon.
Curtains begin to fall around the facility.
Hecate glances up from her scrolling. She’d been texting Cher again- probably shouldn’t be, but it kept her awake, and saw…
What the hell? She sat up, at attention. “Subject. What are you doing?”
Kalei wondered, What part? What’s happening?
XIV doesn’t care, she’s done the necessary precautions to ensure that no one is reaching out to this branch. The Cell data begins to destroy itself.
In the meantime they peruse the cell, if they are capable of breathing, maintaining a normal temperature, there must be a ventilation system somewhere.
Hecate’s phone wasn’t buzzing like usual, nor was Kalei’s, but she paid both no mind. “Subject. Answer me. What are you doing?!”
Hah. She sounds confused.
Eventually, XIV finds the vent opening. They silently stood for a moment, braiding their hair that had gotten suspiciously longer.
After cutting it, they silently put it in the vent.
Melatonin introduced into the ventilation system, destroying all active ventilation filters.
XIV begins to approach the iron bars of the cell, tapping it out of curiosity. You see their eyes white and glossed over. Memories of a bygone era of human suffering pass through these bars.
What was going on…? A chill ran up Hecate’s spine. She set her phone down on the seat and hesitantly stood, walking forward until she was just a few inches away from Kaleidoscope.
It was moving… oddly fluidly, considering its disablement. And its eyes were- ugh. That wasn’t right. “Subject Kaleidoscope. Answer me. Now.”
Why is it looking at her so intently?
XIV looks up at Hecate, recording her face. An ego that feeds itself the belief that they are the fair and truest folk.
They slowly begin backing away and grasping their chest.
Sigil in full force, executing release.
The sigil begins to glow violently as XIV’s hand sinks deeper into Kalei’s chest. Then it emerges.
At first, it was small, a bump on where the sigil was. Then, it grew taller and taller, pulling out a golden single edged sword with a white hilt and white edge. The sigil was rapidly depleted of The Yellow Sign and back to the Dreamcatcher loom that it used to be.
XIV slowly approaches the bar with a newfound sword in hand.
Hecate took a step back, eyes darting between the sword, Kaleidoscope’s face, and the exit. She was supposed to stay and keep the subject subdued, she knew, but what did she have? A glass of water? That was normally all it took, but normally Kaleidoscope wasn’t pulling swords from its chest.
Could it do this the whole time? She couldn’t breathe. Everyone was wrong. This job really was going to kill her. “W-what are you doing?” she demanded again. “Kaleidoscope- Kalei. Answer me!”
Kalei approached the cell door and cut the lock open smooth like butter. They took their first steps outside, picked up the phone and held it up to Hecate’s face.
A single message:
“I’m sorry for what's to come.”
From, ##############
The last thing Hecate sees is a soft cheery smile before they disappear in a blink of an eye.
…oh god. No, no, no, no. Hecate doubled back for her phone, and- shit. It wasn’t working.
She started sprinting down the hallway.
Meanwhile,
Cil was working away at a new project, blissfully unaware of what was to come.
The sound of an echoing drill and a scream rang out…
He was purely evil, and aided those even worse than him.
And Kalei is standing right behind him. Hitting the back of his head with the butt of the sword with extreme force.
As a result Cil collapses to the side.
“Oh hello,” XIV finally spoke through Kalei, but it sounded more… robotic than it used to be. Like a soldier who has been through the front lines.
In the distance, muffled booms sounded. Shouts ensued, before quieting down quickly. Whimsy travelled through the Massachusetts Branch of the Department of Metaphysical Sciences with a slow, ambling walk. Glitter followed in her wake, bathbomb-sized balls of colourful glitter being flicked this way and that, exploding upon impact and covering whatever it hit with a copious amount of sparkles. Her mirrors spun around her head, reflecting the lights. She was undisguised, in her usual purple and white magical girl dress, four ribbons each with a large yellow bead on their ends trailing behind her as she walked, barely peeking out from under her long ombre hair.
“Hum…~ I hope the fun hasn’t started without me!” she exclaimed with a giggle. Her eyes were half open, the pink and blue of her irises barely visible in the corners of the large white sparkle-shaped pupils of her eyes. A group of security guards ran along the hallway, shouting. “Ah, just in time!! Oh, this will be so much fun!” Whimsy twirled their silver wand, the bright pink ribbon lashing out and lengthening, quickly wrapping around the taser of a security guard who charged at her. Before he knew it, the strange lady had already yanked the taser out of his hands.
“Hehe, funny! Alas, tasers aren’t very effective against me!~” Whimsy chuckled, throwing the taser in the air and causing it to dissipate in a shower of glitter. Two guards charged at her, which was frankly quite the mistake, for she simply flicked her wand again and watched two more ribbons lash out, wrapping around their wrists and twisting. The tasers were dropped. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a good fight like this! Do pardon if I indulge a little!~” With another twist, the guards yelped in pain as their hands were bent just a little too far. The ones that hadn’t engaged yet were sweating a little just from watching the encounter. Whimsy pulled on their wand, which caused the two that were tied up by it to also be pulled forward. Quickly snapping the ribbons back, Whimsy flicked the wand, which lengthened to a staff that was barely taller than Whimsy themselves.
“Haha! Well then, goodnight!” The last thing those two guards saw was the unnaturally pale face of Whimsy, widely smiling as ever, before they fell unconscious. Whimsy had hit them both over the head with her staff like a bat.
“Now then! Who’s next? Ah, but I can’t play with you guys forever, so I’ll juuuust…” Whimsy didn’t wait for a response. The ribbons lashed out with a fwip, wrapping around the guards who were trying to flee, tightly holding onto them by the waist. Several more ribbons manifested from the staff, and Whimsy lifted the guards into the air. Oh, how they struggled against the silky trappings like flies in a web! Whimsy couldn’t help but laugh at their struggles. The ribbons wrapped around them like a cocoon, barely leaving room for their noses to breathe. “Hehehehe, this was fun! But unfortunately, game’s over, and you lost!~”
After throwing the cocooned guards in a corner and covering them in glitter, Whimsy continued down the hall, dusting off their long gloves. She could sense XIV’s presence in the building already, working through the ventilation system. Anyone Whimsy couldn’t take out beforehand would be swiftly handled. A similar treatment was given to whoever else came her way, all wrapped up in pink ribbon and covered in glitter. Whimsy walked with a purpose in mind, platform boots clacking on the linoleum floors, leaving glitter and ribbon-wrapped agents behind.
She went up to a floor in the elevator, which was empty. Whimsy walked a little quicker down this hallway, taking down more agents as she went. Finally, she pushed open a door to a room. Startled shouts ensued from inside before they too were silenced by pink ribbon. Whimsy approached the dark room, looking up at the huge screen. On it were many dots, each pulsing a different amount. The energy radar that alerted the DMS on strange entities in Massachusetts. Not as powerful as the one in their HQ in D.C., to be sure, but for a branch located so close to a key town… it had to go. Whimsy placed their hand on the keyboard.
The screen crackled, electricity sparking and circuits shorting. With a bang, the radar burst, the screen cracking and going dark. They won’t be able to fix that radar for a good long while. Satisfied, Whimsy exited the room. Time to find dear Hecate!~
XIV stared at the creature with a blank expression, then looked away to the sound of Whimsy’s chaos. She scoffs. “Should have told her the plan.”
Well. No matter. “You are free to leave as you wish. Whatever you are.” XIV begins to walk away.
The rest was easy pickings, one by one the guards and the incapacitated are sliced with the sword, leaving only white paint in its wake. Their hair dragging an Unconscious Agent Cil.
Target acquired: Agent Cil.
Searching Next Target: Agent Crystal
Crystal was in her office, tap-tapping away on her computer. She still has yet to get a replacement for the vase she broke. Her black hair was tied in its usual bun, and it seems like she didn’t really bother to style her hair today, because her bangs were almost completely covering her eyes. She repeatedly had to brush it out of the way just to see her screen.
Perhaps it was because her office was so far up, but she didn’t hear the commotion until it was much too late.
Kalei is once again behind Agent Crystal, amnestics isn't work on her. But that's fine. She can just gaslight her using her entire department. She slammed the butt of her sword at the back of her head, just like Cil.
Shoving her aside she begins hacking through the files with Agent Crystal’s computer. Deleting everything she can find about Kalei, Fia, and Kat. Instead, replace them as false ID’s of one person.
Humming as she went, Whimsy went and scourged the rest of the rest of the branch, looking for Hecate. It was mostly empty, given much attention their commotion had drawn. Hopefully things were going well on XIV’s end! Oh, but what’s that? An archive room? How curious…
Whimsy pushed the door open, finding the room to be empty. There was a single computer in the corner. Shelves and shelves of binders and papers stacked to the ceiling. Pulling up to the computer, Whimsy quickly went through it. Files were disappearing from the cloud. Ah, must be XIV’s doing. “Ah! Of course…” they looked behind her at the door. Still silent. Good, nobody’s woken up yet. “Hum, let me just…” Whimsy went through and helped delete the rest of the files, leaving XIV to rewrite them. She then got up and stared at the shelves for a moment before tapping their staff lightly on the ground. Instantly, some of the files in the vast archives disintegrated into glitter.
“And that’s the physical copies aaaaall gone!” Whimsy skipped out of the archive room, shutting the door behind her. “Hum, now wheeeere are you, Lucia Hecate...?~” Back to the hunt.
XIV slammed Crystal into a janitor closet dragging another unconscious guy inside it before closing it shut, a fun surprise for when she wakes up.
There she continued dragging Cil’s unconscious body before finally succeeding in locating Hecate.
“There you are.”
Shit! Hecate tried to turn and stare at the subject, but ended up tripping in the process. Her feet tangled, and Hecate slammed onto the ground. Ow, ow, ow, shit, no.
She rolled onto her back and sat up to crawl away, staring up at Subject Kaleidoscope. It was… walking towards her. It shouldn’t be able to walk without that leg, but there was… some kind of prosthetic there now. How did it manage to get that?
Scratch that- how did it manage to do any of this? Hecate knew Subject Kaleidoscope was far too weak. It barely managed to crawl around its cell lately. There was no reason it should be walking, pulling things from its chest (it shouldn’t be able to do that, she thought), and chasing after her.
“Stay away from me, Subject,” Hecate hissed. “Security is on their way, it will be easier if you comply.”
“I can’t say the same to you, Researcher.” XIV spoke through Kalei, no longer carrying the fearful tone the subject used to carry. A predator that has beaten its prey in a battle of attrition. Surrounding her are her seemingly dead coworkers, white substance that smells so faintly sweet yet so metallic.
They held up the unconscious body of Agent Cil. “Stay right where you are, or he dies.”
Hecate knew she was in danger, she knew this would happen. Why had she allowed Kaleidoscope to remain mobile? Well, she’d assumed it wasn’t. (Again- how did it get that prosthetic?) Was this even Kaleidoscope? The subject she’d gotten painfully acquainted with was weak. Weak and trembling, but remarkably stubborn. This was… this…
She looked around at the crumpled bodies and the white stains. The saccharine smell was choking her, and Cil. Hecate froze in her tracks. “...what are you doing?” she asked. “Release him.”
“Not until you answer my questions, doctor.” XIV held up a sword, the blade’s tip leaking white fluid upon contact with the skin. “I’m sorry to hurt you this way, but one must do whatever it takes to protect themselves.”
“Now. How many sites are there located within the Massachusetts branch of the Department of Metaphysical Science?”
How many sites? That information was classified, under threat of death if shared-
“Three.”
-but somebody might die here anyway. Kaleidoscope was far more insane than she’d accounted for.
“Excluding K-... My tumblr account, did you spread information about me towards the other branches within the United States and beyond?”
Hecate shook her head ‘no’. “I… I was waiting until more definitive progress was made, or for the typical month periodic reports. Everything is spread throughout this site, and the other Massachusetts sites.”
Noted. I’ll be stalking them next.
“You’re not lying out of your teeth are you?” Kalei squints at them, scrutinizing every word spoken in their head.
She wasn’t. That would’ve been a good idea, but she had told the truth. “No, I- please. Let Agent Cil go. He’s an innocent man when it concerns you, he hardly even knows you, Sub- Kaleidoscope.” Being nice to it was a pain, but it very well could kill them both. “Alright? Subject, we can negotiate. I can allow you to text your friends more often, perhaps even give you another blanket. This violence is not necessary.”
Kalei threw Cil to the ground. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
And stabbed him with the sword. Pushing outward, it spews white liquid everywhere. With a flick, the smell of brain matter sickeningly grew.
She approached Hecate, and sliced through her too.
“Now for the real carnage..”
Xiv picks up one of the guns before searching for the coppelganger.
Hecate crumpled limply to the ground.
Oh. Kalei hadn’t realized that XIV would be killing people. They should feel strongly about that, they knew, but…
Nobody was dying. Right. Kalei could gleam that from XIV somehow (oh, to be so close with a god your thoughts intertwine… what a weird thing to feel when falling asleep), and they were somewhere between glad and apathetic. On one hand, Kat despised murderers, which Kalei already was. They were lucky she didn’t hate them. On the other hand… god, they hoped Hecate and Cil wouldn’t do this to anyone else. It would've been nice to have a way to stop them.
XIV is on a hunt, a feeling of her calling, her instinct, her nature lead her to her targets: the true threat of the facility.
It sat in a janitor’s closet, waiting. Still. Silent.
There was no visible movement to it- no lifting of the chest for breath, no swaying in the dark. Its pupils were entirely undilated despite the light not being turned on. The face was just as ugly as ever, and it had split knuckles. Split knuckles and a missing tooth. Somebody had tried to fight back, it seemed.
XIV silently stood in front of the Janitor closet where the mimic hid. Almost waiting for something.
Through the door came pouring white hair, reaching for what’s inside. It clings to the skin, wrapping itself throughout the entire body.
Then
SPLAT!
Blood begins pooling at the underside of the closet door, the only shade of color this facility is going to have amongst the white. The hair returns in a slick shade of red before continuing the hunt.
There’s more of them. I’m sure of it.
There were, in fact, more of them. Having come across the blood pool not long after XIV had left that area, Whimsy looked up and behind her at… well, would you look at that. Several coppelgangers floated behind her, bound by layers and layers of ribbon all connected to her staff. The sight did not look too far off from a child carrying a large amount of balloons behind them.
“Well! If I’d known I could kill you guys, this would’ve been dealt with a lot sooner!” Whimsy giggled, which paired with the statement would’ve seemed manic in nature if not for the fact that Whimsy is sound of mind. With a sharp tug, the ribbons sliced through the bodies of the several coppelgangers behind her. Snap, crunch, splat. Shaking out the blood from the ribbons, Whimsy quickly skipped off, leaving a small pile of corpses behind them.
“Just a shame that XIV got to Hecate before I could…! But it’s alright, heheh!” If Whimsy stopped to wonder why there were multiple of these doppelgangers in the first place, well, she didn’t say it.
XIV sits there as Kalei, sitting at the very front doors of the establishment. The ground was also stained in white substance, scattered about. They eat a single cracker, stolen somewhere.
Outside. If Kalei had ownership of their body at that moment, there was no doubt that they would be weeping. Yes, they’d seen Minecraft outdoors, but… this was real.
It was real. Kalei was out. With help from XIV and Whimsy (more than help- only because of XIV and Whimsy), Kalei wasn’t stuck in that damn building anymore. The wind was cold on their body, the flimsy hospital gown doing little to keep them warm. That was fine- Kalei could go home and find warmth there. Or light a fire just to watch it burn. They had autonomy again, choices again, they…
Holy god. They were out. “Thank you,” Kalei tried to call to XIV. If they were speaking or simply thinking was, to them, unclear, but they knew she’d hear regardless.
Kalei feels an exhaustion different from their own. A weak heart that beats from a distant shore.
After a while, Whimsy joined the two outside, shaking out her staff. Blood tracked on the soles of her boots, but that’s fine. She can clean that up easily.
“Hum!~ Allll taken care of!” With a flick, the staff retracted into its usual wand form, clean of blood and gore. “That was good fun! Heh, how’re you two feeling?” Whimsy leaned against the doorframe, looking down at Kalei (and XIV, they supposed).
Tired..
So… So Tired…
This body feels wrong…
It itches…
I need to go back,
Back home
Back to someplace safe.
XIV turns Whimsy with a smile, “Never been better now that my precious knight is safe and sound!”
They got up before slowly walking away. “Thanks for the help, Whimsy. I mean it.”
Whimsy grinned back, blood-stained as she was. Quite the juxtaposition, her bright and sunny disposition against the gore that covered them. What sort of magical girl would be covered in blood like this? Only Whimsy, one could suppose.
“Heh, it’s no trouble at all!” She tossed their hair back over their shoulder, not caring that her gloves were stained with blood. In fact, she rubbed off a few drops that had splattered onto her fair face. “Anything for my dearest friends!”
Tapping the tips of her boots on the ground to clean off the blood on the soles with magic, she skipped away from the bloodied and silent scene, raising her wand to the sky. They jumped off the walls of the facility, disappearing in a shower of pink and white flower petals.
I’m sorry.
Kalei’s body couldn’t be a very nice vessel, as hurt and sick as it was. XIV was enduring quite a bit to help them, wasn’t she? Even gods felt pain, after all.
It was unfortunate that Kalei couldn’t speak on their own, but thankfully they and XIV agreed perfectly. Kalei was so, so grateful to Whimsy. And Kalei was ready to go home. Hopefully XIV could go back to wherever she considered home as well.
“Don’t apologize… Ever.” XIV, after now inhabiting a human body, relaxed their voice into something human. Like a soldier leaping into action away from the safety of the trenches, she leapt off the walls and began fleeing from the facility.
your hands can't ever be clean you scrub until the skin is raw but you know it's in your bones it won't ever go away you know what you're allowing by doing nothing but you won't speak up enough to stop it because you don't care enough about either of them
My hands haven't been clean for the last ... what, 10 or so years? It's not exactly a new feeling.
If I pry her away, she will resent me forever. As if she doesn't already. I can't even begin to describe what the higher-ups would do to me if I help Kalei any more.
I got in enough trouble already, and I'm sure I'll inevitably get in more. I'm not looking to hasten my doom.
I could. Hear their screams as I passed by their room. I almost broke down right then and there.
How much longer. Will she torment them. For answers that only feed into her paranoia. She so desperately wants to prove herself she can't even see that she's enough already.
No. I promised I'd wash my hands of this. That's enough worrying about them now.
do not blame yourself for what will happen to hecate
even though you have done everything, and you can still do more to prevent her from going down a dark ending
if she still goes down that path
it isn’t your fault.
you did everything you could.
i’ll tell kalei you tried.
and i’m sure they’ll be atleast a little more forgiving of you.
it’s people like you that still make me have the smallest bit of hope in the DMS.
Thank you.
Huh? Who is this?
...
I promised they wouldn't be hurt like this. I begged and begged my colleagues to not go to such lengths.
I should have known that she wouldn't stay her hand for long. I regret telling her what happened.
I. Must not talk to her. Nothing I say will make her stop, I have tried. In fact, it might only make it worse in her paranoia. The cafeteria has agreed to not give her anything containing caffeine. At least that's one source cut off.
I have contemplated physically removing her from the office. I suppose that could be a plan of action if she doesn't stop in the next day or so.
Well, if anything happens, having the higher-ups and psych department on speed dial is finally coming in handy.
...Thank you for your message. Good day to you too, anonymous.
Crystal sits at a desk. Where, exactly? Who knows. The camera is situated in the upper right corner of the room. A ceiling fan whirs in the background. The woman types on her computer, but pauses every now and again as if zoned out. Her black hair is tied in a tight bun atop her head, fixed with a white scrunchie.
After a few minutes of working, she reaches for the water bottle on top of the desk and—
CRACK!
The glass vase on the table topples off the desk, spilling water across the floor and shattering completely. The small bouquet inside is scattered on the floor. Stunned, Crystal sits there, still holding her water bottle.
She slowly gets up and circles around the desk to look at the broken vase. For the next 2.54 minutes, Crystal stares at the broken glass unblinkingly. Until, with a world-weary and heavy sigh, she moves to clean up the glass shards from the floor.
