Svetlana Meets Garcelle

Ribbon cutting wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but Svetlana had learned people liked it. There was always a crowd when she went to one.

Normally she wasn’t thrilled about the crowd, since some of them seemed to stare at her like she was a zoo exhibit or something, rather than a person, but, hey, at least this ribbon was for something actually important. A new central library for Halifax after the mess a couple years back had destroyed so much of the city.

Of course there was still the press to deal with. A wave of questions, many utterly unrelated to the library. One of Svetlana’s current assistants gave a firmly worded reminder to reporters to stay on topic, but it barely seemed to help. They wanted to know about alien negotiations, her opinion on anti-trans legislation in the US or UK, the negotiations with Iceland, or how Vivian was going with the baby.

That last type of question she was able to answer, being apolitical and involving her excitement over the way she was going to be a parent soon. But then even those questions started getting too invasive and personal.

Thankfully she was soon whisked off to have a tour of the new city hall. Of course, the city councillors didn’t really interest her much more than the reporters, but they were calmer and it was actually a conversation between humans.

“I can’t give you any sort of assistance in negotiations for funding from the federal government,” Svetlana replied quietly as a councillor from the suburbs tried to ask for something she couldn’t give.

“Oh, I wasn’t asking for anything official. Just, you know, vague theoreticals of mentioning it to the right people,” the councillor replied with a smile.

Svetlana did her best to repress a grimace and claimed she needed to use the washroom. Not the most dignified escape, but it worked.

Once she’d washed her hands and stared at her reflection for a few moments, enough to at least be vaguely convincing, she headed out. She set off straight towards Vivian, who was swamped by what seemed to be the wives of several councillors. Svetlana began her best effort to extract them both from small talk, and direct them towards the buffet, when Agent Lee appeared.

With a small child tagging along just behind him.

“Your majesty,” he said.

“Please don’t call me that,” Svetlana replied.

“Highness?” Lee offered.

“What happened to ‘Ms. Fujikawa’?” Svetlana said.

“You were coronated and married,” Lee said.

“Alright… but, there’s got to be something less over the top than those titles,” Svetlana mumbled.

“My Queen?”

Svetlana let out a sigh. “Sure. We’ll go with that I suppose…”

At least it gave her good gender feelings. That balanced out the awkwardness.

“Well, then, my queen, I have been asked to introduce you and your queen consort and other consorts to someone,” Lee replied.

“Will I get yelled at by advisors if I go?” Svetlana asked.

“They may complain, but I will bear the worst of it and dismiss them with layers of classification.”

“As long as it isn’t worse than rubbing elbows with local politicians I’m game,” Vivian said.

“Good, good. Is Ms. O’tmyil with you?” Lee asked.

Svetlana nodded, reaching into her clutch to produce O’tmyil’s dormant form. (She missed pockets, but nooo a queen wasn’t supposed to wear pants. A bunch of nonsense… especially because her butt looked good in some tight jeans.)

“Then we should head to the hotel to pick up Ms. Campbell,” Agent Lee said.

He then led the way, Svetlana and Vivian following. Svetlana did feel a bit awkward about the reminders of how she hadn’t been allowed to marry either O’tmyil nor Thisbe. Leaving neither one officially part of the new ‘House of Fujikawa’. The legal status of both AIs and Vampires was unclear in Canadian law, while galactic law prevented immortals from marrying into royal families to avoid succession issues. Svetlana wasn’t sure how, exactly, they’d cause issues, but O’tmyil assured her it was justified due to past cases.

Focusing on something else to get her mind off what she saw as inequality, Svetlana realised the small child was still following Agent Lee.

“So, um… is it ‘bring your kid to work’ day or, um… something?” she asked, looking down at the kid and not really having any clear explanation for why there would be a kid here.

“Yes,” Agent Lee replied.

“Wait, really?” Svetlana asked.

“FETMA has ‘take your kid to work’ day?” Vivian added.

“I am no longer with FETMA. There has been a restructuring,” Agent Lee replied.

“Oh… who do you work for now?” Svetlana asked.

“That’s classified.”

Svetlana and Vivian both stopped, standing awkwardly in the hallway for a moment. They exchanged a glance before Vivian spoke up.

“Your agency is so classified we can’t even know the name… but they have bring your kid to work day?”

“Random has signed all the necessary paperwork,” Lee ‘explained’.

Svetlana found herself too lost to reply. Sometimes she really wondered what dimension Agent Lee operated on.

“Your child is named Random?” Vivian asked, looking down at the kid.

The kid was cute. Svetlana could say that much. Top tier pinchable cheeks and big brown eyes full of a chaotic spark. Though the kid was still oddly generic, as to be expected from someone related to Agent Lee.

Even if maybe not by blood. Since his spouse was also a man, the odds of adoption or a surrogate or a step child was probably reasonably high.

“Yes. My husband named them after a favourite science fiction character of his,” Lee replied.

“And named them Random Lee,” Vivian said, a smirk spreading on her lips.

Svetlana blinked, wondering how she’d missed that joke.

The kid nodded. “It is a good name.”

Without a good reply to that, Svetlana shrugged and agreed. Agent Lee then continued to lead them towards his car. They followed, nothing else to do.

The car was a fairly plain (if large) sedan-type-thing, but with deeply tinted windows. Opening the doors, they also realised it was armoured. As well as at least partially alien design? The dashboard looked significantly more futuristic than Svetlana had seen. Which, sure, most car dashboards were more futuristic than she expected these days, but… this had a holographic display and a complex HUD when Agent Lee turned the car on properly.

Which was another thing, the vehicle was impossibly quiet and smooth as it moved about.

The drive out to the hotel was quick enough. Thisbe seemed a bit unsure about the idea of following Agent Lee on an unclear expedition, but agreed to come along with only a little prodding. After digging out her Gamebrick. (A handheld console that certainly fit its name. Unless someone suggested calling the hefty grey thing a cinderblock rather than a brick.)

She did end up needing to do a double take about the child. Random Lee happily introduced themself, asking if Thisbe was really a vampire. Tentatively, Thisbe gave a nod of affirmation, before deciding to hide behind her gamebrick. She wasn’t used to children. It had been much too long since she’d been one.

Instead, Random seemed to have just remembered hearing that Svetlana was trans, and asked her about that. Svetlana wasn’t sure how much she could say about it. She’d stumbled backwards into it, after all. Still, Random seemed quite impressed. Enough to fill the drive out into the wooded areas around Halifax.

They drove some distance further, until they reached a small cluster of houses along the coast. A couple looked abandoned, but the one they drove up to clearly had a well maintained garden out front.

Agent Lee drove up the driveway, which was surprisingly empty.  It seemed improbable someone could live out here without a car. Svetlana could guess one of the residents was out. Maybe. Though it seemed like Lee’s car would get blocked into the driveway with someone else pulled in.

Lee didn’t seem to care, however. He stepped out and opened the doors for the others with a click of a button on a keychain fob. Svetlana scrambled out, before turning to help Vivian. Who… didn’t really need it. She was only a couple months pregnant, after all. And rather fit to start with. Thisbe was also out on her own, glad the setting sun was behind the trees, leaving them in the shade.

Not sure what else to do, Svetlana woke O’tmyil up. The blue alien girl blinked a few times as she took on her holographic form, before looking around.

“Oooh. That’s so cool,” Random said, looking up at her.

“Ah. Well, thank you,” O’tymil replied. “Where are we, exactly?”

“The home of some friends of mine,” Agent Lee said, leading them towards a side door, close to the driveway. “They wanted to meet Queen Svetlana.”

He pressed a doorbell, then waited. It all struck Svetlana as delightfully normal. Just standing on someone’s driveway, waiting for them to open their door. No security. No one from the press office. Just visiting a friend. It was so unlike what her life had become since accepting the crown.

A moment later the door opened, a brown haired woman giving Lee a short nod before turning to the others. She lit up with a smile before walking over and crouching down beside Random.

“You have grown so big, small Lee!” the woman said, her voice sounding… odd.

Which fit how her smile was just a little too large. And how her eyes seemed to have a light to them that wasn’t merely metaphorical.

“Hello auntie,” Random replied happily, apparently not unsettled by the odd woman’s expression.

The woman turned towards the others, still smiling as she made eye contact with Svetlana.

“Ah! And the new queen!” she said, before bouncing over.

She almost seemed like she was floating. As if gravity wasn’t quite holding her with the same force it held the rest.

“H-hello… Miss?” Svetlana offered, really not sure how to react.

This woman made Agent Lee seem normal.

“It is good to meet you! Oh and,” she started to say, turning to O’tmyil.

“M—M’t—the—-you’re…” O’tmyil stammered.

“It is good to see you again too, O’tmyil,” the woman said.

Svetlana blinked. “You know each other?”

“I—but the reports… it said that the First Dynasty claimant had… that you were,” O’tmyil muttered, staring at the woman with increasing terror.

“A little lie to calm everyone down. I’m fine,” the woman said with a smile.

“What is going on?” Thisbe asked.

“Garcelle? Why is the—” another woman called out from inside the home, before sticking her head out the door. “Oh! Agent Lee. You brought—-is that the QUEEN!?”

“It is!” the first woman, apparently Garcelle, replied, still smiling.

-

The second one, Tessa, they soon found out, managed to get them all in doors and seated in the living room with surprising efficiency. Well, everyone except Random, who was given some cookies and sat in the dining room.

Sitting around, however, there was an awkward silence. O’tmyil was staring at Garcelle with terror in her eyes. Garcelle and Tessa both seemed fairly nice, even if the former was glowing slightly.

“So, uhh… are you one of the ones that destroyed Halifax?” Svetlana asked.

“I was defending myself… and then avenging ma chérie,” Garcelle replied.

“Avenging?” Vivian asked, glancing over to find the other woman seemed free of any major injuries.

A prosthetic leg, maybe? That was Svetlana’s best guess.

“I… basically died. But then, uh… got better,” Tessa replied with a shrug.

“That happens,” Thisbe said with a small nod.

“You’ve died?” Tessa asked.

“More or less. Becoming a vampire is messy,” Thisbe replied.

Tessa’s eyes drifted down to Thisbe’s mouth. Thisbie smiled, showing off her fangs.

“May we… may we address the fact that the M’tethon is actively sitting in front of us?” O’tmyil asked with a squeak.

“I mostly go by Garcelle now,” it replied.

The fact it used ‘it’ pronouns was interesting in Svetlana’s eyes. She hadn’t stopped to think someone might prefer that, and had to wonder if O’tmyil might. She’d never actually asked.

“It seems nice?” Svetlana offered.

“It has destroyed countless worlds…” O’tmyil whispered.

“Really?” Vivian replied, glancing over at the woman in casual clothing.

“That is in the past,” Garcelle replied. “I have a girlfriend now.”

“You… you do?” O’tmyil said.

Garcelle nodded happily before turning to Vivian. “And we are thinking about having a child as well. Though I will admit I had not thought to try it the way you have done it… that may be easier.”

“Pardon?” Vivian asked.

Tessa let out a sigh. “It means that it’s been trying to talk me into letting it make a baby out of raw materials.”

Three of the new arrivals blinked in surprise at that. O’tmyil seemed to take it better than the idea of Garcelle having a girlfriend, however. Which Svetlana supposed made sense. As a non-organic being O’tmyil would have less of an instinctual reaction to the idea of just assembling a child. In fact, it might seem the more obvious route to take.

“I could modify my physiology to make such a thing feasible,” Garcelle muttered. “If you are comfortable with that, chérie?”

For her part, Tessa blushed furiously, to the point Svetlana could easily tell from across the room. “Let’s discuss that when we don’t have company.”

“Oh. Oh yes… that is a bit private. Hmm… O’tmyil, perhaps you wished to make small talk? It has been some time since we last met,” Garcelle said.

The blue woman took a moment to process that. “I… well, yes. It has been. And you looked quite different then. You acted… quite differently as well.”

“Mhm. Before I understood love,” Garcelle replied simply. “Though being a Zumuult was probably the worst thing to be to seek to understand that.”

“Yes, that I can accept,” O’tmyil said.

“They—that… that feels sketchy to say,” Svetlana said.

“Zumuult are supernaturals,” O’tmyil explained. “Gods of war and tyranny that escaped their homeworld. They generally hold no love for anyone, not even each other.”

“Mhm. Supernaturals are different from normal organic beings,” Thisbe said. “Having been humans once, vampires are in a bit of a middle ground, but spirits and demons and such? They are born of a mold and few defy it.”

“Ah. Zumuults sound like lovely folks,” Svetlana muttered.

“There is a reason their galactic dynasty was so hated,” O’tmyil replied. “It was why I helped to transport the M’tethon to their capital world… Teran’kwyl and the others had realised it was the only thing that could break their power.”

Garcelle flashed a smile. “I am glad to know that it worked. They were vrais salauds…”

Svetlana could only nod. What else did you say to something like that? She’d heard that O’tmyil had helped overthrow the first dynasty, but to hear just how it happened was something else. Unleashing what was apparently seen as an ancient and terrifying evil… though Garcelle didn’t seem all that evil now.

“You seem good though, new empress,” Garcelle said. “Agent Lee has had good things to say of you, and you strike a pleasant first impression. In the end I have only one doubt in you.”

“One doubt?” Svetlana asked.

“Marrying a Parisian… c’est un décision un peu douteux, non?” Garcelle said, shaking its head.

“I—ok. Yeah. I’ll accept that as a mark against me. Augusta is very Parisian,” Svetlana muttered. “She has her upsides, though...”

“Though she also moved to Toronto,” Vivian added.

“Ooof. I am not sure there is hope for her… at least she is not your only wife,” Garcelle replied.

“Surely we should be defending Augusta?” O’tmyil said.

“She’s been guilty on all charges so far,” Vivian replied.

“Despite that, however… I approve of the visits you made on your tour. The camps and the schools… I know you have no power to change things, but you seem a good person yourself,” Garcelle said. “As such… Agent Lee… will you give her my number?”

“Of course,” Lee said, causing everyone other than Garcelle to jump slightly.

They’d all forgotten he was there.

“Also. You should stay for dinner. We will have pizza,” the Entity replied.

“They probably have important royalty business to get to,” Tessa said.

“We do… which is why I’d like to stay here as long as I can,” Svetlana replied.

“It’s been the closest thing we’ve had to alone time for a few days,” Vivian added.

“Good. Now, do you prefer New York or Italian pizza? Italian takes longer, but my taste buds seem to prefer it,” Garcelle asked.

-

It turned out it had not meant as an option to cook, but an option where to pick up their dinner. Beings that could fly several times faster than the speed of sound were apparently good to be friends with if you wanted hard to get food.

After eating, however, the group had run out of excuses to stay. And it was getting close to Random’s bed time. So they left for their hotel. Svetlana could tell O’tmyil was still shaken to her core by having shared a pizza with an entity that had apparently destroyed worlds, but even she agreed not to share the continued existence of the M’tethon with anyone else who would know what it meant. For the sake of avoiding panic.