Chapter 10: Nerdy Discussion
4069 Words
Chapter 10: Nerdy Discussion
“To understand how my ability in mutating plants and herbs work, first you’ll need to get a firm grip of Cadou and the Mold,” Donna says with a smile, “If I’m going too fast, or do you have any question, please feel free to ask and say so whenever you want. Because if you’d wait and ask later at the end, you might mistake it all which means I’ll have to go over it again—So, would you like some time to prepare?”
“Just a quick second” Tiana gets her phone, a pencil, and her journal out of her backpack in a swift motion, “Would it be alright if I record your lecture for later?”
“Record my lecture?” Asks, the lady in black.
“Oh, right—This’s one among modern technology of 21st century from the outside world. It can be used to make and receive a call, just like a landline. And it also has other convenient functions such as taking pictures, calculating, recording and editing sound and video” the botanist describes to Donna, holding her phone up and shows it to the lady in black.
“Interesting. That means you can call the other from wherever you are?” Bela leans closer from the side to study the phone in Tiana’s hand.
“Sadly, no. It’d be depended on a mobile phone signal. And since your village doesn’t have any cellular base station around, this place is regarded as a ‘dead zone’. The other functions can work without signal, though”
“Dead zone? I like the sound of that. Was your world giving us that name because many went missing around here?” Cassandra, who’s lodging on the couch nearby, tosses in her query.
“Heh. Sorry to burst your bubble, but no. As we’re talking about phone and signal, dead zone simply refers to where the reception can’t be obtained” the botanist’s lips curve upward at Cassandra’s cute idea.
“Too bad then—I think dead zone’s a cool name and it happens to fit our village description perfectly. Right, Angie?” the porcelain doll nods furiously at the redhead’s claim which makes Tiana fear if Angie’s head would loosen up from its place.
Though Daniela broods a bit, she just shrugs it off and goes back to play with Angie soon after. Tiana titters lightly then beacon her attention back to the lady in black and says.
“Therefore, Donna. Would you mind if I record your voice? I won’t share it anywhere else without your permission. I only intend to record it to relisten to our discussion later on, see if I miss any detail”
Tiana ensures the lady in black a few more times because she understands all these convenient of modern technology are new to this village. She also takes notice that lady Beneviento has rather low self-esteem because of the Cadou on the hidden side of her face which is why the botanist chooses to record only Donna’s voice.
“If it’s only my voice, then it’s fine” Despite taking a while, Donna permits the botanist at last.
“Thank you” Tiana unlocks, swipes, and taps her phone, “Tiana F. Englebrecht, hidden village, outskirt of Romania. Discussion with lady Donna Beneviento on the topic of Cadou and the Mold—Now, Donna. Please proceed from where we left off”
The lady in black gives Tiana a rueful grin as the botanist’s way of speaking kind of reminds her of Mother Miranda’s log back when the two conducted the Cadou experiment together. Donna closes her eyes, inhales softly to compose herself then tells the botanist of the Mold—It’s a fungal superorganism that Mother Miranda discovered purely by coincidence. After studying the fungal for some time, Mother Miranda created a Cadou by exposed a parasitic nematode to the Mold. She then used the Cadou to experiment on locals in the hope to find the perfect vessel for her true daughter.
“After a century of researching, Mother Miranda did found a perfect vessel. But unfortunately, she failed and even led our village to ruin. Her life-long, original research was lost or maybe taken by those outsiders who destroyed our home to the ground. It’s miraculous enough that I, my siblings, and my nieces were able to come back to life” Donna’s voice is breaking from the flood of emotions. Tiana looks at the lady in black sympathetically and tabs the stop button on the screen.
“If it’s a delicate matter to you, there’s no need to push yourself on my account, Donna” Tiana reaches for Donna’s hand and squeezes it.
“No, no. It’s alright. It’s about time I should get over this—*Sigh* Alright. Where are we? Oh, the success in her Cadou experiment…”
Tiana tabs the recording button once more. Donna explains to the botanist of her 4 siblings, mostly focusing on their unique ability gained from the Cadou implant—Alcina and her regenerative capabilities, retractable claw-like nails, and the ability to transform into a dragon-like creature and back again.
“W-wait. Did you say…a dragon-like creature? Lady Dimitrescu?” Tiana’s pupils widen. She doesn’t believe her ears even when she’s now saying it herself.
“I take it as she hasn’t told you yet then,” Donna asks while takes her teacup to her lips.
“No” The botanist’s expression sullen. How could her ladyship keep this cool fact away from her?
“Relax, Tia. It’s only your 3rd day here—Mother will show you everything eventually” Bela answers, keeping her voice low. Her 2 sisters and Angie already fall asleep while listening to the talk between Tiana and Donna. Thus, Bela doesn’t want to wake them up.
“She’s right. Don’t worry too much, Tiana. You can ask my sister for more later—So, let’s finish our talk first, shall we?”
“Okay”
Donna carries on describing roughly what her siblings are capable of—Her elder brother, Salvatore Moreau, can mutate into a fish-like creature, producing and expelling extremely potent acid. Donna’s own potential in mutating plants and controlling dolls remotely. And her younger brother, Karl Heisenberg, with his ability to control the electrical fields.
“Wow”
“It’s a lot to take in, I know” the lady in black giggles, “Would you like a moment to rest?”
“Umm, no. No, I think I’m fine” Tiana stops recording, puts her phone away, and takes a look at what she scribed down in her journal, “So. The Mold stored genetic information and memories of assimilated organisms. And Cadou is a parasite, exposed to the Mold, which all of your siblings were implanted with and derive their abilities from it”
“Correct and very impressive at that. If you keep this learning speed up, I’m sure we’ll run out of plant to study in only a month”
“Oh, you’re too kind” Tiana gives it a sheepish chuckle.
Once confirm the botanist gets the right idea of what’s the Mold and how does Cadou works, Donna takes the botanist to her greenhouse. House Dimitrescu’s daughters and the porcelain doll, who recently wake up from their nap, stretch and yawn before trail their aunt close behind. Angie flies back to Donna’s arm as the group makes their way to the greenhouse, located in the backyard of Beneviento manor. When Donna opens the glass door and allows her guest inside, everyone’s eyes are shimmering in marvel.
“Welcome to my treasure chest” Donna raises her hands, sending out a barely visible green dust wave in the air and brings her mutated plants their most lively conditions out for her guests to behold.
“Wow! This place is fuller than the last time we visit” Daniela, in her swarm form, rushes to here and there within the greenhouse in excitement.
“You must have been busy, aunty” Bela adds.
“Did you mutate more of cooler meat-consuming plants, aunty?” Cassandra shakes Donna’s arm, optics filled with expectation. Donna titters at the brunette and replies, “A few”
“Mein Gotto—Are all these…?”
“These are all my babies, Tiana. Well, plant babies, but still considered babies—Oh! Watch out for those by the top shelf, girls. They are carnivorous plants and they eat bugs”
At the end of Donna’s warning, the girls stop on their track before instantly flee out of the room and huddle up together by the door. The lady in black and Angie giggle at that. In the meantime, Tiana leans forward one specific greenery, observes it more in detail.
“Fascinating” the botanist mumbles. “Can I take a picture of this wonder?” she pulls out her instant camera whiles asking Donna for her permission.
“Sure. Pictures and notes are allowed as they’re essential for us, scientists, when we’re experimenting, after all”
Once again, this phrase makes the lady in black reminisces about her Mother Miranda. Unfortunately, it then leads Donna to her absent-minded state. Unrevealed to the other, Donna’s mind is filled with a mixture of memories, dreams, and nightmares.
“Don’t leave…I can’t let you…” A painful whispering comes from the lady in black.
“Donna?” The botanist approaches Donna with caution, thinking, ‘Was this what lady Dimitrescu mean when she said Donna’s usually lost in the dreamland?’
“Don’t get close to mommy!” Angie sprints across the greenhouse and stands between Donna and the botanist. Outspreads her arms protectively to prevent Tiana from proceeding forward. “Don’t get any closer, you mean mister!”
It becomes clear to Tiana that Angie’s also effect by Donna’s condition. The porcelain doll’s orbs turn muddy, clouded with the same nightmare Donna’s having. Tiana stops, spins her head around to the 3 vampire daughters, asking them wordlessly what to do. The girls have a heavy sympathetic look as they witness the scene. However, the three don’t know what to do either. They only gesture to Tiana to retreat from where she’s standing and comes to their side. And since Tiana can’t do much for Donna or Angie right now, so she follows the girls’ instructions and goes back to the living room together.
“…Aunt Donna, mother, and uncle Sal all have their share of emotional trauma. With the wounds engraved by Ethan, the only place we called home was destroyed, and Mother Miranda’s death—No one can stay entire after losing that much” After a while, Bela clarifies things up for the botanist. She believes Tiana should know more about what they’ve been through, so at least, the botanist won’t trigger any unpleasant memories from any of her family members accidentally.
“Well. Except for uncle Karl, though” Cassandra exhales, resting herself against the backrest and carries on, “Or we could say he already lose too much to the point he doesn’t want to care anymore”
“What do you mean?” Asks, the botanist.
Cassandra hesitates as what she’s about to say is rather a personal matter to her uncle. Even when they don’t have much of a close relation, they’re still uncle and niece. As such, the brunette takes her time pondering over the pro and cons of telling Tiana about it. Who knows? Maybe she’d be able to help them somehow, Cassandra thinks to herself. By them, she refers to everyone—Her mother, uncle Salvatore, aunt Donna, and even uncle Karl. If he ever needs help, that is.
“Back when we’re still rebuilding our village up, there’s one-time uncle Karl drunk himself enough to start spilling what he has been kept inside for all these years. He was kidnapped from his family by Mother Miranda for her Cadou parasite experiment” Says, Cassandra.
“Wow…that’s harsh. No one deserves that kind of nightmare in their life” Tiana’s face fall as she means every word.
“Yes. That’s why uncle Karl loathes Mother Miranda so much. He keeps cursing her for ripped him away from his true family” Daniela bites her lower lips, “As for mother, aunt Donna and uncle Sal, their worst form of nightmare came true after the arrival of one specific outsider”
“…Ethan” the botanist mumbles the name she heard the blonde mentioned earlier out. Now, she can see the whole picture, threading by the three sisters.
“We know Mother Miranda did wrong him first, but...with all cruelties that man-thing had done and we had to start again from the scratch—Mother, aunt, and uncles put on their brave faces, suppressing their own suffers for us and pretending everything is alright. Pretending that they are alright. However, we can sense they’re not” Daniela puffs with her sad expression.
“They may regard us as a child, younger than them all. Though, we’re also almost a century-old ourselves. There’s no way we won’t notice their odd behaviors.” Cassandra adds.
“Nevertheless, we know best not to push them since each individual has their way of coping with things. I guess you can say we just trying our best to forget and move on, but still…”
“…Still it doesn’t mean any of you haven’t been hurt” Tiana finishes Bela’s word with a sincere commiserative of her own.
‘Is this why mother finds her amusing?’ House Dimitrescu’s daughters seem to share the same idea as they study the botanist in silence.
Not many humans ever show them this much understanding and kindness after they’re turned into who they are—Blood-devouring vampires, the f_cking leeches, freak evil b*tches, and many other names those villagers called them. It has been so long that house Dimitrescu’s daughters, as well as the lords, forget how to call this warm, tight, heart-squeezing feeling in their chest.
“This won’t do” Suddenly, Tiana stands up and makes the girls flinch at her unexpected movement.
“W-what—Hey! Wait up! Where are you going?”
The botanist just ditches the girls off and races back to the greenhouse. Angie and Donna still froze in place, eyes blank, yet expressions filled with tears and agony. As the girls chase after Tiana and catch up with her a few seconds later, they arrive in time to witnessing Tiana scoops the Porcelain doll into her embrace.
“Arghhhhhhhh” Screaming on top of her lungs, Angie tries to shove the botanist away as she mistakes the reality and her nightmare. Currently, the porcelain doll believes Tiana is the mean mister who keeps haunting her and her mommy in her dream. As a result, Angie’s wriggling, yelling, and scratching with everything she has got just to be freed from her nightmare with the mean mister in it.
“Tiana, what are you doing!? Are you crazy!?” Bela’s about to dash inside to separate the two away. But her sisters pull her back when they’re seeing their aunt Donna unconsciously release the same green dust, as she previously did when they first come into the greenhouse together, making plants inside the room gone berserk. Especially those carnivorous plants.
“Tiana, get out here!” With no option left, Bela can only cry out to the botanist. Despite that, Tiana won’t budge.
“Urg!” Tiana brushes the pain she feels from Angie’s scratch aside, calmly pushes on. “Shh. Angie, it’s alright. It’s alright. No one’s going to hurt you. There’s no mean mister here. You and your mommy are safe and sound”
Gently, Tiana pats Angie back, has the porcelain’s head to rest onto her chest, and navigates Angie’s vision toward the standstill Donna. Angie stops screaming, though not totally calm. So, Tiana pushes on.
“See? Mommy is right there. Unharmed. Now, look at me, Angie. Am I look like a mean mister to you?”
“…No” At long last, Angie’s gaze becomes clear. The botanist slips out a relieved gasp and wipes tears away from the doll’s features and continues.
“Do you remember who I am? –It’s me, Tiana. The botanist who you met early this morning. Do you recall what I said after you apologized to me?”
“You said…” Angie tries to think, “You said you’d appreciate it if I’d ask first before attacking you head-on”
“That's right” Tiana handles Angie’s face, “Now, let’s go give your mommy a hug too”
The botanist then closes the distance toward Donna and together wraps the lady in black between herself and the porcelain doll. A moment of silent tension passes by. Then another, and another. Finally, the green dust thins out as Donna gradually comes back to her sense. And once she finds herself wrapped in her daughter’s and Tiana’s arms, she suddenly breaks into tears.
“It’s alright, Donna. It's alright--Just cry it all out”
Carefully, the girls walk toward the huddle-up group after the carnivorous plants settle down. The word of soothing comes out of Tiana continuously while Donna holds onto both Angie and the botanist, sobbing out soundly. The three accept wholeheartedly that this petite human is far beyond extraordinary. Tiana doesn’t only have a warm body, but she’s warm from the inside, deeper down from her soul.
The summery character of Tiana’s gives her an ability to comfort the poor, wounded soul—Like Donna’s and Angie’s. No matter how old or hideous these two may look in the eyes of others, Donna and Angie are just children who see nothing more than love and family. No matter what these two, Alcina, Salvatore, Karl, or even the girls may have done, they don’t deserve to be destroyed to dust. They don’t deserve to be abused or any other evil treatments people did to each other. Nobody deserves that.
For as long as humans and their history stands, people have always been infernal to each other. Those who have more power than the rest tend to pick on whoever different from them. Mark those who different as a target, verbally and physically hurt them. And even kill them just simply because those with power can—Witch-Hunt from the 14th to 18th century. Zunghar g******e from 1755 to 1758. Nazi h*******t from 1933 to 1945. Rwandan m******e in 1994. And so on.
‘This world is nothing but a rotten place’ Though the botanist hates to admit, that’s just how the world is. Extending her hand forward, the botanist invites the girls to join the embrace.
The three daughters press toward Tiana as if they’re bewitched, surrounding Donna in a large group hug. There’s an indescribable consolation aura around Tiana that the girls don’t entirely understand. She’s warm, house Dimitrescu’s daughters draw their take on Tiana at that.
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For whatever how long time passed, everyone goes back to settle down in the homey living room of the Beneviento manor once again. Angie and the 3 Dimitrescu daughters are resting together by the couch, slightly exhausted but more emotionally at ease. The same goes for Donna as she’s sitting on her padded seat, eyes barely open, resting her head onto the backrest. Tiana makes sure the lady in black stay hydrated and even prepare something for Donna’s puffed eyes.
“I, umm, picked this from your greenhouse. I hope you don’t mind” Tiana shows the lady in black a plate of sliced cucumber and says, “It’s a homemade treatment mama used to apply on me after I cried my heart out when my puppy love broke my heart. But anyway—May I?”
“Thank you, Tiana”
“It’s nothing. I want to do at least this much for you agreeing to research with me” the botanist places pieces of sliced cucumber on top of Donna’s eyelids then goes back to her seat.
‘Karl’s right—Alcina, Sal and, I commit ourselves to Mother Miranda too much. Maybe it’s the reason why it still hurt even now’ Donna grins bitterly at her line of thought.
However. There’s no more soothing word needed for Donna after crying all her suppressed grieves out like that. She feels better and lighter. She’s going to need more time to properly deal with her emotional trauma, but Donna believes she’ll be fine since the worst had passed.
“I hope one day you’ll be able to help my other siblings too” the lady in black remove pieces of cucumber from her eyelids, whispers that out.
“I beg your pardon?” Tiana thinks Donna’s napping, so she doesn’t expect any conversation. As result, the botanist doesn’t catch any of what Donna says.
“Anyway. I think we should stop here for today. It’d be wise for you to take the girls back and let them rest comfortably in their chambers, back at castle Dimitrescu”
Tiana tilts her head to the side. This’s not what Donna says previously. But since the lady in black doesn’t want to repeat herself, Tiana thinks she’d best let it go. Then, the botanist follows Donna’s gaze, looking back to the 3 daughters who are now yawning after a long day. The botanist smile in agreement and nods.
“Yeah. Lady Dimitrescu also enjoined the girl to be wary of how fast temperature drops nowadays too” the botanist navigates her gaze back to Donna, “Thanks for today, Donna. Should I expect we’d meet again tomorrow and continue where we left off with the research?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that” A sense of tease is undeniable in Donna’s voice.
“Huh?”
“You’re my sister’s plaything, Tiana—I don’t think Alcina would let you come to my place 2 days in a row”
At Donna’s teasing, the botanist can’t help but scoff. She sways her head, biting her lips to suppress her mewl inside. They would never let me go, wouldn’t they, Tiana thinks. Guess she should accept the fact that she’d be a target for endless teasing from now on.
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To Be Continued >>
- Writer
