Paying the Pied Pythoness (Part 4) by MaLAguA

Friday, January 21st - 11:43am
Whateley Campus

Caro, if you hadn't tried to get out of your deal with Grimma, this wouldn't have happened. At Whateley, your horns, scales, etc., didn't get you stared at or mocked. Stop talking behind her back! Okay, whoever made the lab rat comment needs to be punished by the staff; that was too far. Tugging on her tail, the students who did that need detention for battery, if not assault. Great, I know Caro has been mean lately, but the girls at Whitman need to learn not to help a curse progress.

Fearing she would be done by the weekend, yikes. She can't even give the middle finger; that curse is too harsh. Good lord, the curse has progressed that much. They need to hurry and figure out how to lift it. Caro, you don't need to deal with this on your own. Go to your friends, apologize for how you have been acting, and ask for help. Not able to focus, the taunting, and being bumped around because of her current small size, I would ditch classes at this rate, too.

Caro, stop this. Not relying on your friends and your fear of trusting others ever again is what got you into this mess. What if the curse isn't Grimma? What if the curse that was previously contained in the flute escaped and went into Caro? How will she break it then? No, Caro, I'm pretty sure the rule applies to Grimma. It is just that she has had an unknown amount of time to work out how to word things to get what she wants precisely.

Uh oh, Caro's magic is starting to weaken. No other options, you have friends to help you, including others in the Mystic Arts program. The curse is spelled out in her practice notebook! Alvina, you bitch. Miriam is with her and Donna, too, great. Alvina, I hope you get a lesson on having GSD by the end of this. Donna, these girls need a lesson in compassion. Alvina, theft of a fellow student's property or damaging it is grounds for detention! They won't give it back, and Caro calls them idiots. Even when it is justified, Caro gets punished; this isn't anything like Grimma's curses at all.

And now Alvina wishes to push Caro to change more, at least Miriam leaves. People she once considered her friends, Caro, just go to them and be truly contrite about it, and they will be your friends still. Vic to the rescue! Caro notices that Vic has GSD now. Alvina, Miriam, Donna, I would leave now if you don't want a beatdown. And gets Alvina to give up Caro's notebook, yay!

Vic finally recognizes Caro and wonders what happened to her. Good, tell the truth and hope things don't get worse. The falling out with Gwen and her other friends, ouch.

“And who is that? The real you.”

“Someone who was in it for the popularity, I guess.” Caro shook her head. “Though I guess I would trade it all if it meant I would have other people with me right now.” She sighed, with the words ‘I’m a fool’ stuck in the tip of her tongue.

“Friends are what keeps us grounded, I think.” Vic occupied the bench, and as he did, he looked at his hand. “I would be much worse off if it weren’t for the people around me. Even if you don’t feel super close, it still matters.”

Finally, someone says what has needed to be said this whole time. Good chat with Vic, and hopefully, she starts to think about her friends and ways she can mend fences with them.

“Once all this is sorted out. I’ll give Marlene, Sofia, Gwen and Chris a heartfelt apology. Fuck, things were much simpler before I got my head stuck on school hierarchy bullshit…”

That crap has screwed up so many kids growing up since the invention of school. Okay, Caro isn't kidding, that is a tricky one. It sounds like her doing kindness for others without expecting reward and by earning praise will reverse the curse bit by bit. Prose isn't typical of Grimma at all.

Friday, January 21st - 1:13pm
Whateley Campus

Taking all that to her lab, I hope she figures out the ratcatcher curse is linked to what is happening to her. Crap, so many enemies on campus to worry about. At the entrance to the tunnel, Chris and Gwen have found her. Caro, they are still your friends and won't mock you. They are all worried about you; let them help you lift the curse! Marlene, did you have to say that to Caro? At least she and Sofia are there; it shows they still care about her.

Marlene is worried about you, she isn't like your so-called friends from your former school.

“And you’re here to give me the ‘I told you so’?” Caro said with a slight frown. “This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t pressed my buttons.”

“You were already cursed. If I hadn’t forced your tongue, it would’ve happened eventually.” Marlene placed herself before Caro, standing tall to her diminished size. With the tail swaying behind her and the ears perked at full attention, she appeared imposing, and yet the smirk about her didn’t set Caro to panic or fear for her skin like Alvina’s group or the ratcatcher curse did. “I don’t regret anything. I was just honest about how I felt.”

See, Caro, she was blunt, but truthful; she wasn't trying to tear you down or hurt you.

Finally! An apology and telling the reason why she did all this. Chris, you have a friend with at least a degree of superstrength. Stop saying things that will get you elbowed in the side. Caro, you should have accepted that what Grimma gave you was temporary. When dealing with magic, especially magic like Grimma's, you don't shouldn't tempt fate in the slightest. Fix it myself, arrgggh!

She took a couple of steps deeper into the tunnel only to hear Sofia clear her throat. “And you’re going to go it alone? I remember you stubbornly insisting on helping me last year, even if I didn’t want it. I think it’s time I should do the same.”

“Yeah, you’re not alone, Caro,” Gwen said as they followed her.

Caro felt jittery. It was the knowledge that she had dragged her friends into her embarrassing predicament–but it was also the joy of knowing that she wasn’t alone. She didn’t say much as they carried on, going down the stairs to the levels under.

Yes! Got me tearing up here. You have friends who won't abandon you like in the past, Caro. Cherish them.

Picking up where you left off, instead of learning and growing from what happened, was your first mistake.

“No… not at all,” Caro admitted. “Cramming so much started to become stressful. I mean, I was still somewhat in my element… but I wasn’t in it for fun, just for the power. I just didn’t think I would lose it all this fast and end up as a rat. Although, I’ve been acting like one, I guess.”

You are a teenager, learn from your mistakes and do better in the future; it is part of growing up. Crud, triggered the curse with a throwaway comment. A rush to the lab with Gwen carrying Caro, they need to break this curse, and the sooner, the better.

Friday, January 21st - 2:35pm
Basement 2nd level, Caro’s lab, on the fringe of the Tangle

Chris and Sofia brought food for everyone. Sofia, that joke was lame. Besides, mice and rats prefer chocolate over cheese. One of the few creatures besides humans that can eat it safely. Chris, no petting Caro like that without permission. Something hidden in the text, with prose that is easier than with poems. Darn, Grimma is still not answering. Is she really in the flute, or did she fake out Caro to teach her a lesson?

“I don’t know.” Gwen shrugged. “Maybe it’s kinda like a cardboard cutout that was left there to confuse you?”

“How would you check?” Marlene asked.

“Is there a chance she might’ve escaped?” Sofia asked. “Maybe she cursed you to weaken the prison?”

“No, my enchantments should remain in place and work perfectly even if something were to happen to me,” Caro said, with that last part bringing a chill down to the tip of her tail. The prospect of that being the case felt all too real.

This situation is complicated, to say the least. Well, Caro is right, if Grimma is behind this curse, it is a test for Caro to overcome it; she probably wants Caro to work with her friends to do it as well, to drive a point home.

Oh, the ratcatcher curse is a feline curse, that is unexpected. Thank you, Marlene. That curse is only going to trigger a fear response from Caro the more she changes. Get the help of the magic teachers, oh boy. A short story that is the opposite of what is happening to Caro, how is this the curse? The first letter of each sentence spells out Invert My Meaning, which changes everything!

Acting nice, giving Sofia real praise and getting thanked, but no change, hhm.

“Wait? Are you really inverting the meaning of it?” Chris asked, cocking her head. “As in, treat every sentence as if it's the opposite day?”

“Every sentence? Not sure if that would make that much sense.” Gwen asked.

Chris shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be coherent. But you do get the gist of it…”

Chris is smarter than everyone gives her credit for. Boy, that reading is much better. Wait, the part about the cat spirit that belongs to another story of fantasy, does that mean she needs to get the help of the ratcatcher curse to break her own curse?

A gathering for a ritual that Marlene knows, and brewing mead, they are going to need a lot of things to pull this off. Great, they need the help of Will and his friends to get the mead. Is it the plushie of Puck from Re: Zero that is the cat spirit that belongs to another story of fantasy, or are they forgetting that the ratcatcher curse is a cat spirit? Babblemouth Peter, when it involves a pretty girl like Gwen, wouldn't be surprised if, in a future story, Will and his group get caught because of Peter's big mouth.

Ugh, they talk about that at parties where others can overhear, talk about no tact. Darn it, Gwen is stuck with having to use her charm and popularity to distract Peter so they can sneak some of the mead. Gwen, the curse progressed during the night when Caro sleeps, even if she doesn't lose her temper. Crap! Next week, those Dickinson girls need to be reined in.

Darn it! With how Will is about the operation of his business, this is their only option. Take some tomorrow and pay for it. Desperate times call for desperate measures, Gwen. Oh boy, Caro has to sneak in to take some of the mead herself. Yes, Caro, Vic will help you break your curse. He is a good guy. If Grimma isn't in the flute and tricked Caro just to test her, I hope she at least praises Caro for getting help from her friends after this is all over and the curse is broken.

Time for everyone to prepare, and hope no one messes with Caro or the mission to break the curse. It is not the Tangle playing tricks on you; it is 'Mew', I would bet on that. Tips on flirting from Sofia to Gwen, Gwen isn't going to live this down if anyone outside the group finds out. Chris as Caro's bodyguard, good, never know when Alvina and her group are lurking about. Off to ask Vic for help, I hope the other boys there don't give Caro a bad time.

Friday, January 21st - 7:12pm
Whitman Cottage

Karmic teasing, but tamer than before, good. Shisa, please don't joke about that right now. Panic attack, thank you, Marlene, for cutting that one off before it started. Marionette is doing a play with her puppets. I love puppet shows. Your previous look was stable, and no one teased you about it, plus you could learn how to change yourself with time.

“I know… I know… I almost lost all my friends because of that. And I would’ve deserved it.” Caro sighed. “Can’t believe I would’ve traded you just for a dip back in the shallow end. I felt like I used to, always with my guard up, distrusting everyone’s motives while I was at my old school…”

Being popular sounds like a nightmare. Fear of losing your humanity completely is a fear I can relate to. Ah, the fear of what happened when she tried to break her 'curse' and became a dragon, Grimma was right about how it is holding her back.

“You know what?” Marlene thought for a second. “I know a thing or two about curses. I’ve even been making headway on making myself physically human, not just illusions. At least temporarily.”

“You have?” Caro’s eyes went wide with surprise

“I cracked the formula during the break. If you’d asked about it, I would’ve helped you… but, well, you know.”

Darn, you always find out something like this after it would have helped you from making a big mistake. Where is the plush? She had it before she ran into Marlene and Sofia on the way to a party.

Wednesday, January 19th - 7:20pm (Two days ago)
Outside of Whitman Cottage

Crap, when Marlene hit her with that snowball and knocked her over, the open contents spilled out of Caro's bag, but she must have been in a rush and forgot the plushie. Stuck under the bench in the shadow. Oh no! Mew found the plush and took it for himself! Now they have to get the plushie back from the most elusive creature at Whateley, who might have grown attached to it.