A frantic message over the comm in the Duchess' voice: "THE WINE KRAKEN ESCAPED!"
There was a pause, and then..."Don't worry, I'm putting it back inside."
Both Zack and Justine, in different zones, looked up in alarm.
"Actually, wait..." came her next words over the comm. "You don't have a wine glass..."
And then the signal cut off.
Justine sent a comm to Zack. "I'm going--"
"I'll be there," Zack sent back, and both scrambled for ships.
Emilly for her part, had fought shifting the entirety of the day, but...as the sun fell, the urge was unavoidable, and she closed her eyes, the change moving through her. It still wasn't as smooth as she was used to, but it was no longer as excruciating, to take a new shape.
She sighed when she saw the dark red skin, faintly glowing as if lit from within. Not...a good night to be around people. Right. She walked around the house, checking the grounds for places that needed work, and saw the wandering tentacle, sending the comm over the wire. Then she lifted into the air, flew into the now-moved Krakenstorm, carefully selected every stick, every pier, every wall and window, every pier support, and slowly, slowly, turned it so the entire village once again faced the land, not the open water. Good. That would help. She flew back to land, just...watching the sun finally sink beneath the waves, breathing.
"Duchess?" she heard behind her. She turned, blinking, seeing the doctor.
"Hmm?" She searched the night behind him. Was he alone? "Hello!" she said, after a pause.
"Justine and I, we heard the comm...we came back as fast as we could."
She blinked again. "Came back--oh. Well, I don't really think it's the wine kraken." She looked around, hearing the faintest sound of discordant bells, her head twitching once to the side. "You've been in the dining room, right?"
She leaned in closer, murmuring. "We have a wine kraken. It's a long story."
He didn't say anything. She turned back to face him, and found him watching her with concern, and an arched brow.
"Are you...all right?" he asked. "You seem a bit...different, than usual?"
She quirked a grin, her eyes glittering in the near-dark, and then she inhaled slowly, blinking. "No," she said, her voice quiet. "I'm fine. It's...fine."
Zack opened his mouth to speak and tilted his head, listening to the comm. He looked up. "Justine," he started. He listened further. "We better go see what it's about."
She nodded. "Ah. Yes. Let's go find her." She took off for the house, walking unerringly to the dining room, where she'd left the thing. By the time she got there, things had changed.
"Now, see, THAT'S the wine kraken!" Emilly said. She heard Justine snort.
"Wine SQUID," she said distinctly. "It's very sensitive about the difference. VERY."
Emilly blinked. "So sorry," she murmured. "Wine squid."
"And what about this?" Zack asked, pointing at the more luminescent tentacle in the wall.
Emilly nodded, walking forward. "Yeah, so, I--oof." She looked down at the coiling tentacle she'd walked into, that had poked out from under the table. "Not now."
Justine rapped the table, and the tentacle slowly pulled back. "Sorry about that. DOWN, boy!"
She walked over to the wall, looking at Justine, then Zack. "It was out in the garden, lurching for water. Or...something. I brought...it in, and...it got...stuck."
"THAT was the table kraken," Justine told Zack.
Emilly didn't seem to notice. "So I figured...if it's not actively...harmful? Or something? We had time to look into it." She looked over her shoulder at them. "Of course, the last time we saw those, all hell broke loose..."
Zack fell to his knees with a sharp cry. Emilly ran to his side. He winced, putting a hand on his forehead.
"What happened?" Emilly said.
"Zack?" Justine asked. "Are you okay?"
(Continued in part LXXIX.)
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