It took Serenity a few tries to hit the area between ‘pale human with horns’ and ‘insubstantial mana elemental.’ What he finally ended up looking like was an extremely pale man with platinum blond hair and opalescent pupil-less eyes. His hair and skin shimmered like his eyes if the light caught it correctly, which should make it even harder to make out his features. It was the best he could do.
The symbol on his chest was still there, but that was easily hidden by clothing.
That thought triggered another: his clothing wasn’t going to cut it.
All he really had right now were the T-shirts and jeans Rissa had prepared and a few things he’d picked up as they traveled before he became worried about his parents. None of that was really suited for the role he was supposed to play.
Well, the jeans were fine, but the T-shirts weren’t. Their formality wasn’t the problem; instead, the problem was the logo. Serenity didn’t know how it had happened, but at some point the logo Rissa had added to the shirts became known and that was all it took; his symbol was everywhere. Trying to pretend he was wearing it because he was a Serenity fan, not because he was Serenity, seemed like a bad idea.
He needed another shirt. He should have sent for more clothing, but he hadn’t thought about it. His mother might have, but this probably wasn’t the best time to ask unless he really couldn’t solve the problem on his own.
His armor seemed like a good solution until he remembered that his actual symbol also showed on it. It wasn’t a problem for his parents since they were wearing their own clothing over it, but it meant he couldn’t use his armor-self to fake being a shirt.
He probably should wear the armor anyway, but he needed to change it to look more like modern body armor. That was easily done; it was the form he was using for his parents, as well.
Serenity pulled the clothing he’d picked up as he traveled out of his Rift. It was the best option he had left. None of it was in Earth fashions or modern fabrics, but it was quite a stack; he hadn’t realized there were so many until he saw them all together.
They’d all been picked out by Rissa for one reason or another, and she’d insisted on colors that she liked, which weren’t always the ones he’d have picked. His only real input was that he wasn’t going to wear anything he couldn’t fight in. That meant he’d tried them all on and knew they were comfortable, as well.
The shirt on top was a heavy green silk shirt that tied in several places instead of fitting loosely or having some other method of closure. It was the type of shirt a successful mercenary might wear, sturdy and comfortable without making you overheat. The silk was from Tier Six silkworms; Serenity wasn’t certain if it was actually farmed or if it came from dungeon drops, either was possible. The important thing was that it would hold up to almost any use he put it to; it might even serve as light armor for low Tier conflicts.
Rissa thought it looked “dashing.”
Silk seemed excessive so he started to put it away, then stopped. If he was going to wear something that didn’t fit on Earth, maybe he should go all in on it. It wasn’t like anyone was going to immediately notice that it was higher Tier than Earth silk; he’d just look like he cared about his clothing. Silk might be odd but that would just be one more way he wasn’t obviously Serenity.
It was time to stop dithering. Serenity tossed the other shirts back through the Rift, tied the green shirt on, and headed off to find out what was actually going on.
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A quick check with Aide showed that Bethany was in the interior camp, not the exterior one he’d assumed by her use of “up here”. Serenity reached the route to the interior camp without being seen. He wanted to be seen as he walked into the camp; that way, they’d “know” he came from the surface.
Doublethink like this was annoying. Serenity vastly preferred being straightforward, but that usually worked best when dealing with monsters. People always required more thought; you had to guess how they’d react. Monsters were easier, especially dungeon monsters; they had fewer options.
There was a guard in the hallway that led to the interior camp, now. He was in uniform, so he was probably military; that made the most sense.
The guard allowed Serenity to reach a comfortable speaking distance before he said anything. “Who are you?”
Serenity smiled and tried to look like this was normal. It had been more than once in his past, but he didn’t want to go back to those days. “Tom Cooper. Miz Rothmer sent for me?”
The soldier seemed to relax. “Yeah, you’re expected. Go on in.” He moved to the side to let Serenity get by.
There was no need to consult with Aide again to find Bethany. Serenity could hear his mother’s voice clearly even though it was well on the other side of the large room the vastly enlarged camp was set up in. She wasn’t quite shouting, but she sounded completely pissed off. “... yesterday!”
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“You and I both know why I didn’t tell you sooner.” The response was emphatic but less emotional than Bethany.
Admittedly, if Serenity hadn’t known his mother well, he might not have recognized just how upset she was.
Serenity moved around the last tent and found a man he didn’t recognize talking to his mother. The man was short, probably barely over five feet tall, and skinny. He was probably about Serenity’s age, in his late thirties or early forties, but he kept in shape better than Thomas had before everything started. Other than his height, there wasn’t much that was remarkable about him; he had light brown hair and a forgettable face.
Neither of them seemed to have noticed Serenity yet, so he coughed to get their attention. Both of them turned towards him with blank faces. Serenity couldn’t tell if his mother’s expression was shock at his appearance, if she was acting like she didn’t know him, or if she legitimately didn’t recognize him.
The man was the first one to speak. “Where did you come from?”
Serenity waved generally back towards the “entrance”. “The surface, of course. I’m Tom Cooper; I understand my assistance is needed?”
The man blinked and turned to look at Bethany Rothmer. “When you said you’d have someone here quickly, I didn’t think you meant less than fifteen minutes.”
She smiled. “Why did you think I was keeping you here, then? It certainly wasn’t because we were getting anywhere.” She didn’t pause for long enough to let the man respond. “Mr. Cooper, I believe you already know who I am; this is Lyle Baker. Mr. Baker is one of the people coordinating the creation of a temporary central location for the upcoming multinational cooperative investigation of A’Atla.”
Her voice made it clear that she didn’t entirely believe what she was saying. That wasn’t a surprise to Serenity; he already knew she had her doubts about the “cooperative investigation” and it was fairly obvious that a simple coordinator wouldn’t need someone with knowledge of magical security.
Serenity put on his best smile, stepped forward, and put out his hand towards Mr. Baker. “Please call me Tom.” He wasn’t certain he’d reliably remember to respond to Mr. Cooper, but Tom was close enough to get his attention. “Miz Rothmer didn’t explain much when she asked me to head this way; can you be a bit more specific?”
Mr. Baker didn’t try to crush Serenity’s hand. It wouldn’t have worked, but it was still good that he didn’t try. Instead, he gave Serenity’s hand a good shake. “Call me Lyle, then.”
He was clearly just trying to make Serenity feel more comfortable, probably so he’d reveal secrets or something, but Serenity was definitely going to take him up on the offer.
Lyle let go of Serenity’s hand with a tight grin, then turned and headed towards one of the tents. “We recently acquired a ...” he paused as if he were searching for a word. “...a stick. A wand, I guess, even if it doesn’t look like any wand ‘ve ever heard of. Melody Carpenter, she’s our enchanter, says that it’s connected to A’Atla but locked somehow. She can’t figure out how to get past the lock. Mrs. Rothmer said she had someone who might be able to help; that’s how we ended up here.”
Serenity was completely confident he wasn’t being told the whole story, but if his mother thought this was worthwhile enough for him to pretend to be someone else, he’d try. “Sounds like it’s right up my alley.”
“Oh?”
Serenity couldn’t remember where he’d heard it, but the words “the best cover is the truth no one believes” ran through his mind. “Didn’t Miz Rothmer tell you? I break things.”
It was a great line. Even better, he was still close enough to hear his mother’s strangled laugh as she tried not to react to it.
“No, I don’t think she said that. At least not that way.” Lyle sounded a bit more tentative than he had before, like he was considering not letting Serenity touch the “wand.”
Maybe he’d gone a little too far. It was still a good line. “The key is knowing what to break. If you break the wrong thing, it’s pointless; it just doesn’t work anymore. If you break the right thing, anyone can use it. You’re with me that far?”
Lyle seemed to relax a bit. “Yes. So how do you know what to break?”
Serenity wanted to say “practice,” but there really wasn’t any way for an Earthling to have had enough chances to have practice yet. How exactly was he supposed to explain this without getting so technical that it would be obvious he knew too much?
They were just outside another tent; this one wasn’t for shelter; instead, it was one of the ones with a large open front that you’d see set up when people wanted shade because they were doing something outdoors. Something where a lot of people would approach. They weren’t that common, but Serenity remembered seeing them at some university events and he was pretty sure he’d seen them at a car dealer’s once. There was a woman in the tent playing with her phone; she didn’t seem to have noticed.
Serenity sighed. He wasn’t going to let the woman’s presence change what he was going to say; he’d already assumed that whatever he said here would be known generally.
He could only think of one way to proceed that might work. It did have one redeeming feature, at least. It would help to explain his appearance. “You look.” Serenity struggled for the right words. “Can you see magic?”
Lyle shook his head.
That was the answer Serenity expected. “I can. Always. You’ve probably noticed my eyes.” The last sentence was supposed to be a question, but Serenity couldn’t quite make it come out that way. Anyone would have noticed the eyes.
“They’re hard to miss,” Lyle admitted.
They were also the reason Serenity had come up with this explanation. “Too much magic can do strange things. I’ve gotten used to it, mostly.” Serenity meant that he’d mostly gotten used to seeing magic. It was true; for some reason, the version he had now was more distracting than the version the Final Reaper had had. “So, I look. I’m not an enchanter, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do things that weren’t intended.”
It was a scrambled explanation. Serenity hoped it was good enough.