Augmented Aspects: Chapter 251 The Plucky Side-Chick (Patreon)

Chapter 251

The Plucky Side-Chick

(Gwendolyn Spiritlight)

“What happened to you?” Gwen asked, the first words from Mallory’s girlfriend as soon as she entered her own office room.

“Your mother happened.” Mallory replied honestly.

“Oh burn, she got you.” Cass replied, her tiny form flying in gracefully behind Mallory into the room.

“Um, mom. I don’t think it’s a burn when it’s the truth?” Gwen shot back, apparently seeing Mallory’s face and then realizing that Glitter Bombs, at least mana infused Glitter Bombs were clearly Cass’s thing.

There was an odd silence that fell over the room.

Mallory was silent as she looked at her favorite chair and clearly wondered if mana glitter would ever come out of the chair. While Cass just looked weak, though it was hard to tell with her. She was so good at manipulating the situation to her favor, that you couldn’t help but feel sorry for her half the time.

Finally, after a moment of debating with herself, Mallory ultimately plopped down into her chair.

Oof.

A cloud of glitter rose up and sprayed the entire area. The glitter would of course go away, but it did add an extra layer of painful tension to the room as Mallory was staring at Cass and clearly trying to keep her stoic face intact. Trying and apparently failing.

Giggle.

Seeing everything for what it was, Gwen was the first to break character first. As she began laughing at the whole thing.

Mallory just looked at Gwen like she had been betrayed, but then just gave a slight laugh herself before recovering.

Cass for her part just floated there majestically. Her ephemeral wings flapping in and out of the different realms. The wings were real on the way down to form lift, and then disappeared as they rose up. There were also alternating wing sets, but due to the way they were constantly out of phase with the alternate set, they were able to pass through each other seamlessly. Honestly, watching the way Cass flies is an form of art, at least the way her Angel’s Sight captured the whole image. Though this was a trap, as it was part of her new set of tricks to lull you into a false sense of complacency.

Finally, after a moment of silence, Cass was the one to break the silence first as Gwen and Mallory were both trying to get back in game form. They noticed this, that Cass seemed to only respect Mallory, but this only happened when Mallory appeared to be serious. The only problem was, that Mallory found almost everything Cass did to be insanely entertaining, or cute. Not the best when it was clear that Cass responded best to a firm line drawn in the sand.

“Can I ask why you brought me here, during the middle of not one, but two mid-term exams?” Cass asked.

This was a good question, and showed that she clearly had obligations to take care of. Fortunately, Mallory was already recovered from her earlier break of character and back in action as the scariest guild Master around.

“I don’t know, is there anything you want to tell us about why we got a world notification warning us that you apparently named a new species of life?” Mallory asked.

“Nope, I thought the message was pretty succinct and self-explanatory.” Cass replied.

Smirk.

Hearing her mother, Gwen did all she could do to keep from chortling at that reply. Mallory was right, her responses were comedic gold. Still, this did seem to be a fairly important event, as the world didn’t just spray off World First Messages all the time, just times apparently when Cass was active. Or in this case, times when she seemed to be inactive and teaching a class.

Honestly, Gwen was often in awe of her mother. The way she seemed to do so much. Still, it was good to reign her in from time to time, lest she go wild.

“Nothing? Nothing at all, not even the name of the creature, or where they are located?” Mallory asked.

Cass paused as if contemplating the answer then responded honestly, “no.”

Realizing that Mallory needed help, Gwen decided to help.

“So what exactly did you name the flying books?”

“Oh them, I haven’t named them yet.” Cass began, but then pausing put her little hand to her chin and then contemplated, “though it probably does seem bad that I haven’t named them yet.”

“Wait, what?” Mallory asked.

“I haven’t named them yet. Though I probably should. Maybe something like Libre as the Genus, and then name the different categories of skills after that.” Cass began, then Gwen saw a flash of energy pulse through her mother.

Shock.

Seeing the big pulse, Gwen was startled for a second, but Cass just took the jolt and then seemed to be thinking rapidly.

“Oh, that worked. So, we just name the different groupings. So, Liber Casus for the espionage skill books. Then Liber Sensus for the skill books that focus on improving the senses. Liber Magicae for books on magic. Liber Cultura for cultivation skills. Huh, this is a lot easier than I thought it would be.” Cass stated.

With each grouping name she spoke, a new jolt of energy pulsed through her. Such a bolt of energy would seemingly be enough to fry Gwen’s brain out, but for Cass it seemed to hardly register with her body.

Fwoosh!

Then after a few more mutterings to herself, there was a pulse of energy letting everyone know that she had completed the task.

“Did you just complete a quest?” Gwen asked.

“Yeah, these Taxonomy quests are apparently repeatable.” Cass noted.

Gwen could only stare at Cass with disbelief. Fortunately, Mallory was quicker on the uptake.

“So you just named the books in Latin?” Mallory asked, a note of incredulity to her voice.

“Yes,” Cass sated after pausing for a second.

“And it took that name?”

“Apparently.”

“What did you name the other species.”

“What other species?” Cass asked.

Hearing that response, Mallory just gritted her teeth together as she clearly tried to come up with the best way to phrase this next questions. Cass was a pixie, which according to lore, meant she had to tell the truth. Not the whole truth, not the truth to the answer that we wanted. But she would mostly be compelled to tell the truth. At least, that was what every text they had found and studied religiously on pixies stated.

Honestly, the world’s knowledge of pixies was a bit lacking. One of the largest entries they found on the species was from the Deolar Empire. Where it stated the following:

Pixies: Don’t bother them and they won’t bother you. Known to be truthful, but only because they think of telling truth as a form of a game. Pixies are often drawn in by challenges, seemingly impossible riddles, and traps. Do not trap a pixie, for when they get out, and they will get out, they will be angry. Nothing is worse than an angry pixie, this again is why it is best to avoid them at all costs.

Sadly, the text seemed to be written as a joke. Though after experiencing Cass in her new form, Gwen had to wonder.

There was also the Deolar History of the Dragon Emperors that had an additional passage about pixies.

Deolar History of the Dragon Emperors: There have been famous stories of Dragon Kings and Queens who have befriended pixies and gone on to found glorious empires. While it is true that having a willing pixie was invaluable in getting the empire off the ground, these empires often experienced extreme hardships when they either lost the favor of the pixie in question, or worse managed to anger the beasts. This is why dragons are always taught to steer clear of pixies and their dealings.

While that one also made sense, it was odd that most of the world’s literature had praise for the pixies, but also a lot of warning for interacting with the creatures.

With these passages in mind, Gwen decided to come at this from a different perspective.

“Oh, you know what it is?” Gwen asked, her words directed towards Mallory.

“What?” Mallory asked.

“I think mother is just flustered at the fact that she gave them yet another terrible name.” Gwen stated.

Hearing that, Cass straightened up and instantly flustered. “I did not.”

Seeing that the provocation was working, Mallory joined in. “You sure about that? I mean you aren’t exactly the best at naming things.”

“I just named the Libres, that’s a cool name.” Cass shot back.

“You called flying books, something amazing and majestic books, but in a different language. Not exactly setting the world on fire there.” Mallory noted.

Hearing that, Cass still felt the challenge, though she did appear to be a bit more hesitant with her stance on naming.

“Fine, they might have been better named. Though to my defense, I didn’t think my thoughts would be enough to name the species.” Cass replied.

“Is this for the books?”

“No, this is for the first ones. I wanted them to have nice peaceful names, so I mentally referred to them as Ma-Mes and Di-Mes. That was enough to apparently get them fully named.” Cass said.

“Dimes? You named a species Mothers and Dimes?” Gwen asked.

“I mean, it was a contraction of what I thought their names were. And then they just seemed to click in my mind, and boom. After that I’m now a Taxonomist, got a skill to help name things and everything.” Cass replied.

“They gave you a skill, because of your ability to name things?” Mallory asked, a note of horror in her voice.

“Yeah, I was hoping it would have helped, but I only got the skill after I named the species.” Cass replied.

Mallory could only pause in trying to understand what was being said.

“You named things so poorly that they gave you a skill to help you stop being so bad at it?” Mallory asked, her voice barely contained with mirth.

“Hey, that’s a bit harsh,” Cass replied, not really refuting the claim with her rebuttal. “It wasn’t that bad of a name.”

Seeing the way her mother squirmed, Gwen knew that she was lying. There wasn’t much, but just enough of a tightening of her jaw and shifting of her nonexistent weight to her right side, towards her old good knee. These were tells that Gwen had picked up on long ago to detect when her mother was in fact lying. Or leaving out all of the truth.

This was the same position she took when she said Rob Sr. just went out to get a gallon of milk. That was her way of saying, he did the whole thing of leaving the family, without actually saying that he did any such act.

Now here mother was doing the same by saying the name of these creatures was not that bad.

“That isn’t the full name is it?” Gwen asked.

“What?” Mallory and Cass asked nearly in unison.

“The name, Ma-Mes and Di-Mes. Yes, it is bad, but that isn’t the full name is it? There is more to it?” Gwen pressed.

“I mean, that is their species names.” Cass stated defensively.

“The full species name?” Gwen pressed.

“I mean the full name is something that sounds like it rhymes with Tortoise. So the Tortoise Ma-Mes and the Tortois Di-Mes.” Cass said, again she was close, but not fully telling the truth. Fortunately, Mallory was there to help press for a clear answer.

“What word rhymes with tortoise?”

“Probably lots, I mean clit…”

“Mother!” Gwen shouted, not wanting to hear her mother in the avatar of a fifteen year old utter that word.

“I was going to say Clitoria ternatea, as in the flower.” Cass replied, totally pulling that out of nowhere.

“The butterfly pea?” Mallory asked.

“Oh, you know your herbology?” Cass replied, clearly impressed with the showing.

“Yes, I also know when you are trying to change the subject, now what is the real name of this species that you named. The one that rhymes with tortoise.” Mallory pressed.

Hearing her ask directly, and seeing the way Mallory clearly began appearing to be unamused by the whole scenario, Cass exhaled and finally looked like she was going to answer correctly.

“Fine, the Genus of the species is Teleiotís. I tried to think of something different, but that is as far as it would let me change the original idea.” Cass replied, this time she looked like she was actually upset over the name she had stuck the creatures with.

“Terminators? You called them Terminators in Greek?” Mallory asked, apparently hearing and understanding the word.

“Oh that is Greek for Terminator? I guess it really was all Greek to me after all.” Cass said, her mind clearly making a note about that.

“Wait, you have an exceptionally high Polyglot skill, how can you be so bad at Greek?” Gwen found herself asking.

Cass could only look flustered, before answering truthfully. “Well sorry, my linguistics only covers Latin, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Pashto, Arabic, old Elven, High Elven, Draconic, elder Draconic, Orcish, Trollish, and a few other variations of ancient elven tribes that we have been able to unearth out here.”

Hearing her broad list of languages, it was clear that she had most of the world covered.

“Okay, well that is good to know.” Mallory said.

“It is?” Mallory and Cass both asked in near perfect unison.

“Yes now I know that if I want to send messages that Cass is incapable of intercepting, then I just need to write them in Greek.” Mallory mused.

At that, it was like a fuse had been lit in her mother’s mind as Gwen could see the way Mallory expertly needled her mother into the exact position she wanted. After this meeting, Gwen had no doubt that her mother would leave here directly and begin studying Greek with every one of her Simulacrums, until she knew Greek fluently. In fact, they would likely have a bet shortly after this as to when Cass would be fluent in Greek. Especially with the idea that she would lose out on the ability to read gossip due to her own ignorance.

The pausing long enough for that thought to sink in, Mallory went in for the kill. Knowing that her mother was already directing Simulacrum resources towards learning Greek for her, Mallory then posed the first question they had.

“I take it these Terminator creatures, or sorry, these Teleiotís, are related to the giant three story mechanoid units you were running around with?” Mallory pressed.

Cass just paused, and then seemed to look at something, before turning her attention squarely towards Mallory.

Mallory seeing the way Cass all but revealed the fact that this was in fact correct, smiled widely.

“You want to know how I knew?” Mallory asked.

Cass tilted her head for a moment, before she seemed to come to a conclusion on her own.

“Did you finally have a vision that you listened to?” Cass asked.

Mallory for her part just looked as equally astonished as Cass had a moment ago. It seemed they were both great at getting a read on one another.

“Wait, how did you know?” Mallory asked, all but conceding the argument on who knew to Cass.

“It’s the only thing that fits. Also, it would explain that new shimmer to your aura.” Cass replied. Then she paused as another thought hit her. “Also, it would explain why you didn’t hit me up about the random influx of miners or children.”

With that, both Mallory and Gwen shared a look. The look said, they had missed that.

When Mallory had her vision of crying children, and then the children randomly stopped, only for a flood of new children to randomly appear, they knew what Cass had done. Better still, they understood why she had done what she did. In fact, afterwards both had rooted for her, and eventually settled for the fact that they wouldn’t pester her about these extra immigrants.

Now that discretion was coming back to help Cass clearly reply with what happened.

Cass seeing that she was apparently correct in her assumption pressed on. “So what was it, a Vision? I see a lot of new nerve endings form your eyes to your cerebral cortex.”

This time Cass spoke, and as she did, she seemed to glide closer, while opening up her third eye, which she was capable of using to all but dissect the newest changes to Mallory.

Honestly, watching her mother work was a thing of wonder.

The more she saw her mother in action, the more it was apparent that she didn’t just get magic, but she was magic. She could just see something and figure out how magic worked, how it could work better, and likely how it would evolve if given time to grow properly.

Gwen was so lost in thought, that she was almost blindsided by the abrupt change in topic.

“So if you calling me out for the bad name, and the random kids wasn’t the issue. Then why exactly did you want to talk to me so badly?” Cass asked.

Shock.

With that, Mallory froze up and then stared straight at Gwen. Instantly diming her out and making it so Gwen was now on the spot.

Cass seeing Mallory’s glance, quickly followed suit and spun about the same way a shark would in a pool of water.

Gwen seeing the effortless movement gulped, before stating the real reason they called for Cass to be here so suddenly.

“We have a quick turn around deadline of thirty minutes for a royalty contract.” Gwen said.

“We?” Cass asked, suddenly confused.

“Well, you and Mallory do. Since I am noted as your nearest legal representative, I could have made the decision for you, but I opted to actually get your consent.” Gwen answered.

“Consent for what?” Cass asked, suddenly very confused.

“They want to make an action-comedy series adaptation about the two of us, and our journey together.” Mallory replied.

“The two of us?” Cass asked, pointing first to Mallory and then to herself.

“Yes, in fact the contract is worded so that it will only go through if the two of you agree.” Gwen stated.

“Wait? I can understand Mallory, I mean she has leveled entire nations. But why me, I’m just the plucky side-chick.” Cass asked.

Chuckle.

Gwen burst out laughing, before she realized that her mother was apparently completely serious.

“You really don’t get it, do you?” Mallory asked.

Cass for her part just looked lost, as she apparently awaited a punchline or something that would never come.