'Ere I am, sick and stripped down to me clay wit' a pair of wings stuck in me back! An' I can't even speak like me old self! It's bloody Toxia all over again!
Here's wot I remember:
There I go patrollin' an' I ran into some friends at th' Anvil. I sit meself down and have a pint o' hot oil to loosen up me gears. It starts rainin' so we all scramble inside before I get to rust. In comes Miss McAllister in the new dress me Daddy bought for her birthday! (I pitched in for it, really I did!)
So the piano's playin' and we're having a bonnie time so I say "slip me another pint of WD40 if you please!" Well I've had sweet crude before but never THIS sweet! I shrug an' keep drinkin. One minute I'm talkin' wit' Christine..
An' then I woke up! People thought I was just down for maintenance so nobody tried t' wake me! Me whole body was wracked wit' pain, me gears screamin' full o' grit! I saw the black stain on my uniform and the grainy mess in it...SUGAR!
SOMEBODY SPIKED ME BLOODY OIL WITH SUGAR CUBES!!
I was so sick I couldn't walk a straight line! I'm wanderin' about in circles an' Lady Darkling yanks me into Tanglewood where I collapse. She trues to pick me up, but honest, love.. she's a Fae and I'm half metal!
So I'm ready to burn up from this treacle in me and I'm worried about spoilin' Lady D's labyrinth on her lawn! She whips up a metal bowl for me to tear out me wares and talk to Ralph and Earl on the big white telephone.
Now 'ere's where thing get a bit weird..
I dunno if it's from all the faefolk livin in' Tanglewood or the trees or wot but this island is HIGH MAGICK. I take out me metal and oil and expect to go comatose and wait around for Daddy to take me home and clean me out again. But instead..
I turned FAE, just like I did back in LUMINDOR!
There must be enough fae blood in me from my creation to take on this guise. (And no Lady D, me Daddy would NEVER kill a Fae for her blood! That would ruin me formula!) An' since I'm adjustin' to this new template..and Darkling's the only Fae in sight..me voice takes on her liltin' tones! OH she thought I was mockin' 'er!
So Darkling's lettin' me live in her tree until all this sugar passes. I still feel a bit shaky tell the truth.
Miss Emilly took some time off from her new dancin' job to talk with me after Darkling goes off to attend business. We talked a long time. About the House..about Daddy..about work...about how me poor later self..what happened to her life the first time and the second time she rewrote it. It's only gonna get worse from 'ere for her if she don't stop.
It HAD to be her! Who else would know much treacle to slip in me oil wit' me not noticin' ta spit it out! Well ya FAILED ya crazy bucket o' bolts! I'm still here! So if ya see a Qli walkin' about Caledon the next few days IT AIN'T ME!
~Qli
