Chapter 2 - Life Is Too Short To Hide Inside
Where a cloistered girl see the world
Life is too short to hide inside
The moon was advancing slowly but inexorably between the constellation. Something had been set in motions and will not be stopped. She hoped she aimed true.
Four Events Before Greatness moved around the train. She was not accustomated to seeing that many people at once, and the noise was overwhelming. The regular sound of the train, of course, but also all theses people, indifferent to her and each other. It was also so packed, she had to zig zag all the time, push peoples and bag around, while trying to find that nosy journalist somewhere on the train, her view obstructed by people easily twice her height. She was actually rather distinctful, with her blue hair and nose piercing and baggy clothes at least. And Four Events Before Greatness had just the time to change into some random clothes she found in the dressers, to at least be able to put up plausible deniability if she’s noticed by Églantine. That black T-shirt with some kind of screaming skeletion guitar man was pretty sick, actually.
Églantine was organizing her notes and preparing her next few days. She only noticed she were on the wrong direction when at the end of the line ! But that was not all that bad, it let her found a seat on the other direction train and start to think about that fascinating interview. Claire clearly was hiding a lot of things ; she carefully avoided or brushed off the topic of that family blazon on her home, and obviously seemed to put herself in a good light, but when she recouped informations a lot was true or at least credible. She pointed out a lot of independantly verifiable things that was showing theses super heroes were just well informed, well equipped individuals mostly captured by the establishment. Which indeed was a bit of a bummer to her.
But the other side of the coin is, they clearly use technology that could be used better. That mysterious mosellan company that do litteral portable cold fusion reactors clearly needed to feel the burn of the spotlight. Why aren’t they selling it to the public ? If the supply is so restricted, shouldn’t it power desalinization plants in Africa rather than rich, well meaning billionaires for flying around ? Also, just how much are they paid that they don’t feel the need to make public auctions of that ? It’s made even more absurd by how there’s no recorded use of that kind of thing by the military, despite the several conflict ongoing. It’s reassuring, but very surprising, that nobody tried to open a strait or break a blockade with that kind of thing. As a journalist, she had a mission to learn more, and the next step was a train ticket to Metz.
She then noticed a minuscule blond girl in punk clothes passing by her, visibly seeking for someone. Then in a flash, she was gone. She looked too determinated to be a child, and she didn’t look like a dwarf either.
Four Events Before Greatness was overwhelmed by how many and how diverse people were. She mostly knew the world through the internet, and that slice of population seemed unbelieveably diverse compared to what news host seem to say, as well as how so many people blurred the categories. That one had a cute dress and a headscarve. This one is a white man with a tank top. That one had embroidered pants with a raven on it. Theses two were laughing together and were the spitting image of a couple of retired people under a tree, except asian and in a train. Then she noticed she just passed by her charge without even noticing ! She did not lose her cool and decided to wait in front of the door for when Églantine will get out of the train, doing her best to keep a side eye on her. Which would be so much easier if everybody was not SO TALL compared to her.
Églantine heard the announcement for Chatelet-les-Halles, just when she finished booking a train to Metz and a car rental here to her destination. Her hotel was a way out on foot, but the weather was nice and Paris is overrated but still pretty , especially when one know the good bits. She got off the train, deep in the guts of the labyrinthine station, took a passage between a supermarket and an artisanal clothing shop, up a stair to a metro station, taking the second exit, going through the door to a platform 10m over the floor of another station, through to the mall, then to the left of the train company office to take theses monumental, 6-story mechanized stairs.
Four Events Before Greatness ran as fast as her woefully short legs could move her, shuffling around mass of uncaring peoples that seemed to almost willingfully put themselves in the way, suffering stairs made for people twice her size, always having to be on the lookout of where that blue haired journalist that disappeared all the time, sometime because of a cloud of people going off a train, sometime suddenly taking a side entrance that seemed to be a dead end and somehow lead to a giant hall with platforms over it, having to jump to to get her ticket to the metro gate. She honestly wondered what kind of mad architect made that mess of differently-styled tunnels that seemed to expand infinitely, and more importantly how anyone could find their ways in theses infinite variations of tunnels. Exit 8 was not supposed to be a documentary !
Églantine noticed a certain small punkette at the bottom of the stairs. once is a surprise, twice is a coincidence she thought. She have been followed because of her investigations in the past by various kind of security employes and secret service people, but that punkette certainly did not give that kind of vibes either. Maybe it was, indeed, a coincidence ? Hard to imagine anyone seriously asking a child like that to spy on her. There were also that strange discrepancy, her proportion and attitude made her look like an adult, but she barely was at the belt level of the women behind her, despite being one or two step of stair in front of her ?
In the streets near her hotel, Églantine passed by a gathering of activists, with placards claiming “no one is illegal” and “A home, not a cell”. There was also a donation box, and she approached it to give some money and chat with the pretty green-haired lady next to it. It was a protest against a police operation to get these homeless outside of Paris and possibly send some to other countries, a sadly all-too-common occurence now that the newspapers and far right politicians were pushing the lie that they are the root of all evil. A simple solution that doesn’t work, but too many people prefer that to a complex solution that works.
A bit farther, two cops behind their riot shields were talking with another activist. The rest of the company was behind them had visibly decided to evacuate theses peoples one way or another, one of them on his cellphone and the rest being ready to rumble. The tone was rather heated and the air was filled with a tension that Églantine was entirely oblivious to.
Églantine started discussing and noting stuff for a potential article in her notebook. They talked a bit about the brazenness of fascists, the seeming collusion between them and the police, how superheroes seemed more interested in flashy, media-centered big evil storylines and not really about this kind of activism. Églantine shared her hypothesis that the french ones are probably all either working for the government or at least needed to stay on their good side, and the activist agreed.
Then she heard the sounds of a clash. She turned to see one cop and the activist who was talking with them on the ground, and the other cops were approaching in shield wall with their batons raised. A tear gas grenade was lobbed in the middle of the group, and Églantine instantly felt her eye and throat burn while she gasped for an unfortunately acrid air. Some activists were as unprepared as Églantine and struggling, other put glasses and scarves with limited success, a couple actually had gas masks and were now brandishing baseball bats. Meanwhile the police started to beat up and arrest the ones that were on the floor gasping for air, and Églantine was trying to find her pepper spray while seeing two cop approach her.
Seeing that, Four Events Before Greatness sprung into action and sprinted toward one of the policemen. She grabbed the bottom of the shield with both hand ; the cop tried to ram his shield into the ground, but did not expect her strength, which gave her the opportunity to kick as hard as she could into his tibia. Accustomated to play fight with her sister, she did not expect the softness of flesh, and she heard the sound of bone cracking and the cop’s cry of pain.
The cop fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Four Events Before Greatness was slightly shocked, but quickly snapped back, grabbed the shield, gave furious blows with it into the two nearer cops, then grabbed Églantine’s hand and fled, helping Églantine who was still struggling to breath. I may have gone overboard she wondered but it’s too late for apologies, let’s just hope they can’t identify us.
Églantine eyes burned. “Don’t move while I am cleaning your eye” said a high pitched voice. Her vision was starting to come back while she felt cold water on her eye. She could deduce from the context the pink blob was a box of saline solution, and the mysterious person who pushed and pulled her while she was blind and writhing in pain. “okay, so now let me remove your hoodie at least. I don’t have a tshirt your size, so the rest will have to wait”. She started to feel the chill of the evening, but the pain was starting to recede and she could start to see a bit her savior, wearing a screaming skeleton tshirt and …
Églantine was surprised to recognize the small punkette from earlier, tip toes on a box to barely get to her eye level. She was minuscule, barely 60cm ! She never had seen even children able to walk this small. She backed away a bit when realizing that and the pain came back.
“ugh ! Who are you and what is happening ?”
“Don’t move quite yet. Let me finish patching you up first”, Four Events Before Greatness eluded. “Do you know of somewhere close where we could wash off all of that ?”
“My hotel is near here, but I don’t see well enough to give you direction. Could you drop me at that adress ?”
“I’ll bring you here and make sure your injury are correctly treated.” Her voice did not suffer contradiction. She took out of her backpack a phone, who was ridiculously oversized in her tiny hand, and she started to type the adress.
“Can you take my hand ? I’ll guide you”
Églantine took the hand, then stood up … and realized she was too tall to hold hand with the miniature lady.
Four Events Before Greatness sighted. “I guess it would be simpler if you could hold me while I give you directions”
Églantine opened her arm, and Four Events Before Greatness leaped into it like a cat. Her skin felt very firm to Églantine, almost like warm ceramic, and Églantine was reminded of the old Maine Coon of her parents, that loved to be in her arms like a baby. Albeit that punkette seemed quite a way heavier than even her giant cat.
Once at Églantine’s room, the small punkette jumped to the ground. “Let me take care of your clothes. I can smell from here there is still a ton of residual pepper spray on them”
Églantine sat on her bed and complied
“Can I have your name, young helpful lady ?”
“Four Events Before … I mean Phoebe. My caretaker is …” she hesitated a small second “… fan of greek mythology.”
“That’s an uncommon but pretty name. Thanks for the help nonetheless. Talk about being at the wrong place on the wrong time” Églantine sighted. “Tear gas really don’t get better the second time. By the way, don’t you also need to wash your clothes ?”
“Yeah, I’ll need to buy a new set of clothes and wash theses too, but that’s less of a concern”
“don’t they, you know, burn you too ?”
“No, I deal with tear gas just fine.” She had a pause like she just realized something “Apparently it’s a genetic thing. My caretaker joked about me being half-bird or something. Anyway, I’ll be back soon ! I have took the door card, please rest a bit”
Caretaker ? Half bird ? Also she’s definitely not a regular human thought Églantine, remembering the odd sensation of her skin, her complete lack of reaction to tear gas, and obviously her extremely miniature size. The strangest thing is that, at a distance she didn’t look small ; dwarfs and children typically have big heads and smaller limbs, while her manic savior had the proportion of a regular adult.
Humanoid robot ? But they don’t look all that human, and are clumsy, and anyone who talked to a LLM can recognize them as such. Églantine was stumped. There’s no superheroes who even remotely look like that. Tony try to hype up his robot assistant, but I studied its appearance enough to see that she was just a vocal-commanded regular computer Églantine laid herself on the bed, trying to rest a bit. Maybe a remote controlled thing ? But she sounded too weird to be a regular human at the end of a radio line
Four Events Before Greatness scanned the street and found a laundromat. That should do it. Next stop, trying to find if any shop sell something that fit me. She felt a bit sheepish. On the spur of the moment it all looked like a good idea, but she did felt she nixed it by unpreparedness. She probably didn’t sound all that natural back in the room. Her name is probably deeply unusual for regular humans. She do realize now most people don’t use “caretaker” for their parents. And, obviously, she jumped at the adventure call without thinking that perhaps having two pairs of pants would be useful.
The washing machine having been started, she started to look around for clothe shops. There were a dizzying array of shops, where a casual look showed that nothing was even remotely adapted to her size. She tried children clothes, but they still were too tall, and often wrongly proportioned too. She also felt extremely self conscious, being seen in the kid aisle, and could not bring herself to take some clothes and try them in cabin. After one hours of bouncing from stores to stores, she returned to the laundrymat, defeated, in the cold darkness of the nightfall.
While putting back the now cleaned clothes from Églantine, Four Events Before Greatness started to prepare a plan to convince Églantine to have her following her, now that she revealed herself. She proved being bad at improvisation, so this time she will be prepared. Four Events Before Greatness sighted. Claire made it look like so easy. Églantine did seemed to love earnestness, so probably she should insist on her own interest in seeing the world ?
Four Events before Greatness came back to the hotel room with apprehension. It’s perhaps the first time she’s fearing failure, the first time she want to do something important for herself and have no idea if she will be good enough. What kind of questions could she ask ? Her papers said she was 19 year old even if her older memories were two year ago. Her parents were listed as Lucia Pomodori, another of Claire’s identity, and Laurence Langley, a name she never heard. Somehow her name on theses paper was written as Phoebe Glaserin ; she never thought about Phoebe before the miscomprehension earlier, and she only have seen Glaserin as a family name of someone who sent letter to Claire. She certainly have no idea why Claire did not make their family name matches. Was Claire ashamed of her ? She certainly would have some right to be.
“Here is your clean clothes, Églantine”, said Four Events Before Greatness while entering the room. Églantine had changed into a nice patterned dress.
“Thanks for the service. I guess I can at least treat you to a meal and I am starved. How do you like italian food ?”
Four Events Before Greatness did not expect that. She know human eat several time a day, but she also know she don’t need, and as a matter of fact have eaten perhaps seven time in the last two year, albeit Claire made it an event every time. She’s not even sure what hunger is like.
“oh, with pleasure.” She hesitated. “I may also have some things to discuss with you”
Églantine was perplexed by her savior. She was so odd, but, not in a threatening way. She seemed sometime very knowledgeable, and sometime she stumble on the simplest stuff. It didn’t take much to read her perplexity and ignorance in front of a pretty standard menu. She’s also curious to see how much a small girl like here would eat. Will she take a kid menu ?
“I’ll take a Napolitaine” Four Events Before Greatness took the initiative.
“And me a carneval with a Moretti” added Églantine
“I’ll take one … Moretti too !” interjected Four Events Before Greatness. Églantine was pretty certain she never have had alcohol. Given her size, an half pint of beer will probably be … amusing. At least she won’t be too bad to transport, unlike some of her friends.
Églantine started the conversation.
“Thanks for the help, it was as unexpected as it was timely. What do you do in your life ? It’s rare in Paris to see people help each other, especially going that far”
” When I had seen the scene, it was clear you were just a bystander. The protesters were protecting their own but you were left on your own. I did not have the heart to do nothing, especially since I know I am not very sensible to tear gas anyway.” Four Events Before Greatness hesitated. “Weren’t they your friends ?”
“Yes and no. I didn’t really knew them even if I support that kind of movement at large. I am sympathetic with left wing politics, helping the poors, giving homes to all, universal income, that kind of thing. Albeit my actual work is more on the journalism side.”
“Oh, you writes articles in newspaper ?” Four Events Before Greatness badly faked surprise.
“Sort of. I work for a website called Keikaku, who mostly talk about superheroes and their impact. I do a mix of basic reporting and praise to attract readers, and more in-depth analysis of their social impact on our society. I am from Lyon, but I came to Paris to investigate a spare part” Églantine could plainly see that Four Events was partially familiar with her story, albeit she noticed some curiosity still. She had a plan.
“I am going to Metz tomorrow to follow a lead. You see, there’s that blason that is on Tony’s spare part …” Églantine showed the coat of arms that brought here to Claire’s house, hoping for a reaction. “… and apparently it’s produced by a mysterious company in Moselle.”
Four Events Before Greatness had seen that blazon near her home, but Claire don’t use it and never talked of it. But she do know things about that kind of seal.
“This is an hermetic blazon. M.. I mean members of the Hermetic order, a society a bit like the Freemason, get one when they are integrated ; their children get a variation that link them to their family. The symbolism is rather unmistakeable” Four event jumped on the table to point at a triangle in a circle, with a medieval-looking bottle on top “That part, nobility coat of arms never get something like that. Sadly I don’t have an index of repertoried hermetic seals, I can just say it look the style of more recent one, perhaps 1850ish ?.”
That was not what Églantine expected, she expected Four Events Before Greatness to either not know anything or blurb out she was send by the owner of the sigil. Instead she go all scholarly and point a new direction that may be useful to explore too ? She have vaguely heard of the hermetic order as something disbanded three centuries ago and linked to dark age alchemy and heresies, but it’s also the kind of organization she could see linked to superheroes. And then, the timeline do correspond with the De Schneidermann family
Four Events Before Greatness finished her beer. Despite her miniature size she didn’t seem drunk in the slightest. She clearly was surprised by the taste of beer in particular but still put up a brave face. She clearly want to be a part of the whole
“Well apparently a company in Moselle do parts with that hermetic seal ! I guess it’s a style, albeit the fact they are also used to power the most advanced flying suit in the world is a bit suspicious.”
“Sorry I am a bit of a nerd on theses topics.” Four events Before Greatness turned a bit sheepish. “I am in a kind of a road trip through Europe, and that look so interesting, do you mind if I tag along for a bit ? Travelling alone is a bit sad,and I have the impression you could use some company”.
“maybe also to continue to take care of you” she added playfully, winking.
Églantine sighted. That punkette was the amusing kind of mysterious, and she really don’t seem like a master manipulator with nefarious aims ; more like a teenager in a self discovery journey that want a friend.
“I guess I can deal with a companion in my travel, Phoebe. You seem fun to have around at least.”, smiled Églantine.
Four Events Before Greatness was warming up to the name of Phoebe. One of the daughter of the Sun together with a wild rose, fighting crime.