“Why Disneyland?” asked Agent Mackie. “The FBI’s Project M boys haven’t said anything about Disney.”
Duncan frowned in concentration. “There is something about Disney, though.” He strode into the living room, and picked several DVDs off a shelf. “I’ve tried to recreate their characters for this fantasy or that at the club. I can’t. If I try to duplicate a Disney character, there’s a resistance.”
An image of Ariel from the Little Mermaid appeared above the DVD, except that it was off in subtle ways - notably, her hair was more brunette than red, and the tail more blue than green. “The best I can do looks like a cheap knockoff.”
Duncan set down a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD. This time, the image that hovered above it was a perfect clone of the title character. “It isn’t anything to do with animated images or the like.” A likeness of the Road Runner dashed along the table, stopping a few inches past the edge with an insouciant look, while the Coyote chasing it plummeted to the floor.
“Curious,” mused Mackie. “What about Disney subsidiaries? Or really minor characters?”
“Minor characters?” asked Duncan curiously.
“Like... the birds from Sleeping Beauty. They wouldn’t be copyrighted, would they?”
Duncan snorted. “I have no idea. Disney has a lot of intellectual property locked up. I wonder, though... they bought out Pixar a little while back.” A distorted image of Violet Parr appeared, flickered, then vanished. “Covered. Huh. That movie predates the purchase, and yet...”
“The bigger question is – how are they doing this in the first place? Who can add rules like that to magic?”
Duncan snapped his fingers. “The Worldstone. Maybe that’s what Wilhelm menant. I wonder if Bunhill’s had any luck digging into his library. I haven’t talked to her in ages.”
“Run that down, then. She’s still back East, out of my jurisdiction. I’ll see what we can find out about our mystery man. He was from California, but didn’t say anything about working for Disney.”
Duncan nodded absently. “Sounds like a good plan.”
Pleasantries were exchanged, then Duncan sent Mackie off to Vancouver via miniature jet. A few minutes later he got a call to confirm that Mackie was “mostly” back to normal size, and could Duncan please nudge him back down to his usual six foot height.
Once that was handled, Duncan turned to the cabinet in the dining room, where a certain silver box was being kept. After removing it by its wooden handles, he carefully lifted the lid with a chopstick. Nestled within it was a large heart-shaped crystal, a copy of the one they’d turned Bunhill into after the fight at St. Jude’s.
Nudging a little power at the crystal produced a soft chiming sound. A few moments later, an image of Bunhill herself appeared suspended above it. Her fuzzy rabbit-muzzle grinned to see Duncan. “This is a surprise. But a timely one. What can I help you with?”
“You look like you’re doing well.”
Bunhill nodded happily. “I made a body for Henry during the full Moon, and I’ve been getting lots and lots of hugs.” A second rabbit-muzzle appeared in the display, and the image widened to show Henry as a humanoid rabbit much like Bunhill. His arm wrapped around her shoulder, and she turned to give him a nuzzle.
“Oh good, I’d hoped he was healing. How do you feel?”
“Never better,” reported Henry. “There’s just one tiny flaw. Bunhill didn’t know how to make this body permanent.”
Duncan nodded. “Do you have any reserves, Bunhill? I could guide you through the process.”
Bunhill’s eyes widened comically. “You’d just give me the secret of permanent physical transformations?”
Duncan waved a hand dismissively. “It’s not a secret. It does take considerable power, though Gwen’s technique puts it in reach on nights when the Moon isn’t full. You just have to look at what Henry’s body ‘wants’ to turn back into. Can you see it?”
Bunhill nodded. “I used one of my whiskers.”
“Cute. That makes this trickier, though. You don’t want to erase yourself in the process.”
Bunhill giggled. “If I’d known that was an option a few months ago... But no. So how do I avoid that?”
“You’ll need to stand further apart.”
Henry sighed theatrically. “The sacrifices one must make.” His image disappeared from view.
“Okay, now focus on the phase space of all possible shapes for Henry.”
“The what now?”
Duncan sighed. “Right. Close your eyes, turn your inner gaze toward Henry. Can you see the echo of the hair he used to be?”
Bunhill closed her eyes as directed. “Oh, now I get it. I can see the echo in his magerium.”
“Okay. Can you see how he would slide back to that if it wasn’t for magic holding his shape as it is?”
Bunhill nodded curtly. “Of course. Like water running downhill.”
“Exactly. So we need to get rid of the valley. Try to gently nudge it upward.”
“Oh! Yes, that works. Takes finesse and power, though. And I’m out of the latter.”
Duncan felt for the crystal in the basement, a large version of the tiny ones they stored power in at the club. He drew power off of it, and slowly fed it to the heart-crystal. Filling that crystal also filled Bunhill’s, and she smiled her thanks. Soon the job was done.
“Wow. That was easy. I could do that without trouble if the full Moon was up. Thank you.”
“Glad to help. Speaking of which...”
Bunhill sighed. “I knew it wouldn’t be free.”
“I just want an update on how things are going with Wilhelm’s library, and to ask a few questions.”
“Oh! Sure, that’s no problem. His personal notes and index were in code, and with a little help from your friends at CSIS we’ve cracked it. The tomes themselves are in a variety of languages, but I’m familiar with most of them. There are two in transcribed Etruscan that don’t have translated equivalents, and we’ve sent those out to get translated. Created quite the stir, as nobody has even heard of these texts before. They’re priceless, if verified as real.”
“Very nice,” agreed Duncan. “You mentioned an index? Did it say anything about the Worldstone? I have a hunch it ties in to a mystery here.”
“Hah, there’s a whole journal on the worldstone. We’ve got a lot of reading ahead of us, I’m afraid. What do you need to know?”
Duncan described his issues with crafting the likeness of certain trademarked characters, and Bunhill nodded along. Bunhill and Henry agreed that it sounded important, and they’d dig into it as soon as they could. From the way they were cuddled together as they said it, Duncan wasn’t sure if the results would be in all that soon... but he could hardly regret how happy they looked together.
Duncan spent the next hour hunting up as much information he could on Disney trademarks, ill helped by online articles all stating they were “too numerous to list”. He emailed Mackie to see if CSIS could secure a formal list of trademarked, copyrighted or otherwise ‘claimed’ Disney characters.
Over the course of the next few days, Duncan was able to test the list against his ability to generate images, and every character trademarked by Disney, without fail, was protected. The Disney characters he could find that were not on the list (which were few and far between), were not. Even characters from the newest Pixar release were covered. Despite the inaccuracies Duncan was forced to add, Victor was pleased to have a new “Fynn” McMissile toy.
Saturday night fell just before the third quarter moon, so Duncan arranged for his snaky “better half” to visit the Blue Vixen and dance for a few sets, releasing Donna from her obligation. She appeared at the club in a spray of sparkles, hugged Duncan’s slithery form tight, then darted off to see Gwen.
Sidney was less than amused by Duncan’s visit, but a promise of fresh eclairs more than made up for it. Especially as there was still time and magic to connect a few to the headband.
The rest of the month was largely uneventful. Duncan continued his commute to and from work much as before, though he found his new “mostly male” body made the trip more enjoyable. Donna spent the dark weeks with Gwen, doing her best to keep her from fretting over Ettie’s inert form too much. Dia worked her shifts at the Crimson Kitten without fail, and got praised for her handling of several difficult clients, and a few large tips from families happy with how she entertained their young children.
Before long, September rolled around, and another full Moon approached. Sidney sighed when the night finally arrived, but did not argue much about Duncan wishing to be there for the night. “Bring back something pretty,” she asked, as snake-Duncan shimmered away with the moonrise.
At the club, Rowan met Duncan with a resigned expression. “Got another of your mystery guests here. He’s been hanging about the last couple of days. Room two.”
Duncan sighed, and girded herself for an argument. The man in the room looked much like the one from the previous month. The suit was identical. “My master is not pleased,” was all he got out before Duncan evaporated the controls on his mind, and the screaming started again.
“Bother,” sighed Duncan. This time she made sure to restrain him, and a quick pulse of magic left him unconscious. “Another one for Mackie.”