Ok, ok, typical interrogation tactics, I’m also guessing that the crystal is a Lie Detector like what Lord Head had back on Farmers Rest. I know from Number 1 and 2’s crystal research that crystals work independently of their gods so they can’t read my mind. Therefore it must be reading biological info like an Earth lie detector, which I know how to beat. Thank you late night YouTube recommended.
Let’s start things off easy.
“And you are?” I ask sitting upright with a raised eyebrow.
“You”, replies the elf “can call me Adoazze, my colleague here is called Taal.” Ooh that came out a bit forced.
“Hi there, so why don’t we cut to the chase. What do you want to know?” Adoazze is a bit surprised there.
“Let's talk about you then, did you know Alaline Feaph?” Ado asks. Yea Ado is a bit easier to pronounce.
“Nope, who's that?”, “That is no way to respond, after all we have you on Crystal recording so you might as well confess.”
“Oh really?!” I reply in mock surprise, “Well in that case sure.” Now that got their attention, both of them blinked that time as I lean forward and rest my restrained arms on the table. Now that I think about it, the metal chair and table may be connected so I don’t need to touch the table for them to read my bio-info if it needs to at all. Let's stay calm Michael.
“Lets see, I am an OutWolder and did arrive at those dates and did those things you mentioned earlier, except about my name and this Fearth? Is that someone I should know about?”
Ado is about to reply before this Taal fellow butts in. “Your name? Our records have you recorded as Michael Hayes, you're not going to tell us we got the wrong guy are you.”
“Oh yea, cause you definitely got the right guy right here. The only OutWolder in the entire city in god knows how long and you grab me.” I reply pointedly toward Taal. I then shake my head from side to side as I lean back with a bump, not seeing Taal’s reaction.
“Well, you are right with the name, kind of, I have been calling myself as “Michael Hayes” as it’s my shortened name. My real name, well it’s hard to say” Now that got Taals attention. He’s about to reply before Ado butts into his reply. Not working too well together are we?
“How about you just tell us the wearabout of your duplicates, obviously you or they had known Mis Feaph” Replies an irritated Ado.
“How would I know, they are free to do their own thing. It’s not like they get to keep all their memories either. Do you realise how much of a pain it would be to manage?” In a deeper voice I say, “Hey you, I created you to distract that thing, die for me.”, “Like come on?”
“We have you on Crystal”, “Ok fine then” I say butting in this time, “show me.” I dare. Ado didn’t like that, frowning. That pause gives Taal enough time to ask.
“What’s your name? Your full, legal name?”
“Why should I tell you, you two are a pair of Koda and Wojek’s you know.” A pause there, they have no clue what those words mean, but they do! Koda and Wojek move into each of their shadows silently and without any outside appearance that they were detected. I breathe a mental sigh of relief.
“Um, what are you talking about?” asks Ado. “Oh” I replied, shaking my head again. “Sorry, Koda and Wojek were the names of two detectives from a show back home, they both worked real well together, fighting the injustice and solving unsolvable cases. But they were a bit dense.”
Ado looks quite angry at that, she leans forward, elbows on the table, hands in a ball and chin resting on them with the slow grace of a coiled snake. “I think you should take this seriously, someone is dead, you killed them and now you’re telling jokes?”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I feel my jaw clench, lips form a line and eyebrows frown, all the slight ease from the wait and planning gone. I lean forward again, trying to not scream at them and in a dead calm voice reply.
“Do not mistake calm for ease Coblousceene, I’m furious. I’m furious because there is someone dead out there and you have me in here, so either you're letting someone get away with murder, or, you have killed someone to frame me.” I reply, turning to Taal at that accusation.
“After all, you did see the body. Did you?” I ask Adoazze.
A very pregnant pause rings out loudly, who knew silence could be this loud. Standing, Ado makes to leave the room but Taal remains seated, eyes having gone a bit wide and hidden from Ado, but not from me. “Taal?” she asks before leaving the room followed quickly by Taal. The chairs that came up earlier stay up, the doors slide close behind Taal.
Leaning back once again I close my eyes and rest, the crystal and file left behind. And that is how I sit for a few minutes, I am tempted to have a look at that file but if they are watching, which they might be, it might not look too good if I have a look at their files. It can’t have been more than five minutes before the doors again slide open. It’s Taal, and all by himself now.
He takes a seat and places another crystal on the table, “This is a recording Crystal, I have been asked to ask you some questions. I will know if you are lying.”
“What happened to Ado?” I ask keeping myself leaning backward, head resting on the back rest.
“She is discussing the case outside. Now, if you will. What’s your name?”
“It’s hard to say. Good thing you brought a recorder, this will take a while.” I am a lot calmer now, at least as calm as I can be in this situation. And right now it sounds like a lot of fun to mess with Institute lads and clear my head.
“What, some kind of secret?”, “No just difficult to pronounce. My people have three names that make up their full names. My first name is:”
Pausing to take in a deep breath I reply with the kinda well known tongue twister I learnt ages ago.
“Jugemu Jugemu Gokō-no surikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyōmatsu Unraimatsu Fūraimatsu Kuunerutokoro-ni Sumutokoro Yaburakōji-no burakōji Paipopaipo Paipo-no-shūringan Shūringan-no Gūrindai Gūrindai-no Ponpokopī-no Ponpokonā-no Chōkyūmei-no Chōsuke”
Emphasis with a slow and deep voice on the Chōsuke. Taal looks at me dumbfounded, before shaking his head in bewilderment. “That's your name?!”
“First name, I have three. There’s also a song that my cousin wrote for me when I was young to help remember it. And don’t even get me started on where I live!”
“Why is it so long? Some cultural significance?”
“Nope, see when I was born my parents couldn’t think of a name so they travelled to this guru, that means “Wise Man” to get a name, each one meant something like “Good fortune” or something lucky like that. But they just, could, not decide on one. So after the guru got sick of them and tossed them out they decided that they liked all the names and so… yea.”
Thank God I practised tongue twisters when I was a kid! Weird young Michael interests + Memory Palace, with our Powers combined we spout: A whole load of bullshit! A thought quickly came to me, Agh! I should have just said my name was “It’s hard to say.” It would have been funny.
Making jokes and outright lying to distract myself from this crappy situation aside, Taal replies. “Alright, alright, second name?”
“We call it middle name, now middle name is a bit trickier. It is… Uvuvwevwevwe Onyetenvewve Ugwemubwem Ossas.”
Taal is once again dumbfounded, “Um, ok. Last name?”, “Ah! now the last name is easier, it’s the name of my suburb. Now that is all one word and is pronounced…
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.”
“Ok, what on Land does that mean! That's just some made up crap, just a bunch of sounds! They don’t even sound like they are from the same language!”
“Now excuse me Sir! I'll have you know that my world is made up of many cultures and languages, of course they sound different, they are!” I reply in mock offensiveness.
“Alright, what does… that, mean?”. Quick glance at the memory palace later and sure enough I have the answer, YouTube Comments. “Uh, the translation is a bit difficult but it means something like…”
"The Church of St Mary in the hollow of the white hazel, near the fierce whirlpool and the Church of St Tysilio by the red cave."
I would use another word to describe Taal’s apparent confusion aside from bewildered but I don’t happen to have a Thesaurus on me right now and I can’t come up with a word that describes how confused he looks enough.
While I am talking out of my… Koda has come back, says Taal stood outside and after talking for a moment with Capitan Lincastle and some other big wigs, walked away as if to get some privacy and stood there silently for a few moments before moving again and getting the recording crystal.
He may have been either thinking about something or talking with someone, silent mental comms are not uncommon in fantasy, hell I have one. As I prepare to answer more questions with bull I wonder how the others are going.