Justice Incarnate

[pm] No means no, Josephine.

Well, a a toddler witch would know to start small. A juvenile would know to at least anticipate some consequences, have a plan. And any real supernatural would know that “normal” is relative to the point of being non-existent, whether they’re at peace with that truth or not. Erin’s not close to any of those yet.

If you’re worried I’m going to actually try to hurt her, Josephine, you can relax. I’m trying to keep my physical violence to a minimum and Erin and I have already agreed to keep our distance. Whatever you’re trying to get out of these philosophical questions, you don’t have to.

[pm] Alright, alright. Just thought I’d offer. 

Are you saying you think Erin is an infant? 

[pm] No. She’s learned her lesson and she’s been traumatized enough.

I don’t trust you and I don’t trust Erin, but you’re still people who deserve to exist the way you are. There’s nothing inherently awful about being any kind of supernatural. 

She needs teaching, is all I’m saying. Apparently suddenly having powers doesn’t automatically make her one of us.

[pm] I could take the trauma away. I could make whoever gave it to her hurt ten times more. It doesn’t even have to be her wishing it. 

That’s so sweet of you, Morgan. I think people like you deserve to live, too. 

[pm] Erin didn’t even do what her stupid wish was supposed to do! And she almost killed random people with her bullshit!

Oh, fuck off Josephine. I was a witch and now I’m a zombie and I’ve got friends in covens and fae districts. I don’t give a shit about power. I care that Erin Nichols is a baby with her speciesist-normie-brain playing with a universe bending magic gun and she used it to fuck over my kid and validate the cruelty she’s had to suffer her whole life.

Clean up your mess of a protege and stay away from me and mine.

[pm] Well, it was her first wish. Those don’t usually tend to go well for anyone involved. Usually that’s why we pick a pretty easy target. If your kid really wanted a wish, she should’ve come to me. I deal with abused children all the time, I could’ve gotten it right. Wanna try for round two?

Huh, funny. Weren’t you human at one point, too, then? You’re telling me you’re not even a little speciest about some things? Kinda sounds like you might be against furies. I can teach her how to use her “universe bending magic gun” all I want, but I’m afraid her “speciesist-normie-brain” isn’t something I can change. Sorry.

[pm] It is quite horrible. I’m not sure why but every time I use my powers, someone comes after me. I’ve nearly died more times than I can count in the past year. It’s exhausting.

Is that so? That’s wonderful! I’m surprised any of the mortals in town are at all worthy of such an honor. Most of the ones I’ve met have been truly boring. Well, that one witch is full of chaos, but not enough to be a candidate. Yet. 

[pm] Oh, yikes. Must be some sort of tracking spell or something on you. WHo’d you piss off that bad, Xmucante? Good thing we can’t actually die all that easily. And don’t have to sleep. You know, if you need any help, just say the word.

[pm] I'm pretending to be boring and mortal to try and escape a bounty for as long as I can. It's exhausting. But there's more than enough chaos to satisfy me for now. A special project you say? Tell me more.

[pm] Oh, god, that sounds horrible. You poor thing. You’d think after what, 2000 years? You’d have figured out how to be subtle. I can make more, if you ever need.

[pm] You’re really good at not answering questions, you know that?

Guess I kinda am a walking poster child for daddy issues. Does your help always look like that? Overdone life lessons with a side of fresh trauma? What do you get out of this, anyway? If inciting chaos isn’t your true intent. 

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[pm] Maybe you’re asking the wrong questions.

A little bit, yes. I could tell even without the magic leading me to you. No. Rarely, in fact. What do I get out of it? I get to know that I helped when no one else did. That I gave someone the power to stand up to the people in their lives who were taking advantage of them. I get to know that maybe, just maybe, one child in the world doesn’t have to experience what I did. That’s what I get out of this. Don’t you want to make a difference in your world? Isn’t there something you wish you could change or fight back against?

[pm] Right. That sounds like a no to me.

Kind of? An old friend of mine turned out to be way, way older than I ever thought she was. Called herself a valkyrie. She didn’t do the wish thing though. 

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[pm] It’s a yes and a no. 

Oh, you knew a Valkyrie? Interesting. I’m an Erinyes. We grant wishes or make deals to help those who have been wronged by others. Most of us have “specialties” as well call them, or MO’s. I deal with scorned children. Hence, helping you with your father. Or, well, thinking I was helping you with your father. Which I was but that’s neither here nor there

[pm] You’re saying you don’t always have control over it? What happens with the wishes? And no. I didn’t. But I’ve learned a lot in a year.

Didn’t we just establish that I don’t  Ugh  Alright. Fine.

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[pm] The magic does what the wish wants. I believe whatever the wisher has in their heart is what influences the magic, but that’s jus a theory. My apologies. 

Do you know what a fury is?

[pm] Why the literal interpretation then? I was drunk and I could’ve–I could’ve come up with something better if I knew. But you made him a hungry, decomposing, mindless corpse. People did get hurt. He murdered my assistant, did you know that? You brought him back–the least you could have done was let me actually talk to him or give me something that could scream back. Something that could’ve given me actual closure. You only gave me more problems.

You didn’t answer my other question.

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[pm] He was dead weight in your life, wasn’t he? The magic does what the magic wants sometimes. If he hurt someone it was only to get to his sole purpose. Honestly, I thought you knew more about this world than you did. I am genuinely sorry about your assistant. 

If I tell you, you have to trust me.

[pm] You can start by telling me what you were trying to do. And what it is you are exactly.

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[pm] I was trying to help you. You wanted to yell at your father, I gave that to you. You know, he didn’t have to be a curse. You could have kept him and yelled at him or used him as a punching bag all you wanted. He was never going to hurt you or anyone else, that wasn’t what he was made for.

[pm] You can’t or you won’t? I’m going to need a really, really good reason to trust you to not screw me over. Again.

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[pm] I can’t, one of the only downsides to what I am. What if I told you I never meant to “screw you over” in the first place? How can I prove it to you?

[pm] What? No. I’m absolutely not doing that again. I didn’t want this, I didn’t ask for it, and you owe this to me for abandoning me with an unkillable zombie version of my father. Whatever magic you used made him damn near indestructible. Found that out after we sliced his head off and he kept trying to gnaw at the air. I had to keep his head in a pot. A fucking pot. Do you have any idea how traumatizing that is was? 

Just fix it.

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[pm] Sorry, but that’s not how this works. I can’t just reverse a wish. You have to make another one.