Quoted By:
"They're... I won't pretend to know where this is coming from, but they're creatures, Charlotte. Very unusual ones, and the gigantic ones are said to be very intelligent, but I can't imagine they'd run, ah, Headspace? Or Namway? Taking the question on pure face value, why would they go to all the trouble of stealing and duplicating a snake if they themselves were— well, you know. Not to mention, there haven't been records of living snakes that size since the Flood, and even then, they're all apocryphal. So I'll go with 'no.' Unless this is the set-up to a joke, and I clean missed it?"
Gil's looking at you. You try not to look at him, instead shifting your weight. "Pat said she doesn't think Management is human. And I don't... I mean, I don't know, but I don't think they're normal people. Whatever they are."
Eloise frowns. "But they look human?"
"...Yeah." But so does Richard. And so did his two coworkers, who were both snakes, hands down. You can't tell her that. "Um, that doesn't matter, though. Since they were still snakes on the inside. Or, um... whatever they were, on the inside."
"I see." Still frowning. "I don't want to shut you down here, but I just don't see... I don't think it makes much sense for it to be snakes. Are you sure they aren't anything else? I presume they wouldn't be locals—"
"They're not <span class="mu-i">fish,</span>" you say. "Come on."
"Charlotte, I did presume it! I'm just going down the list. Could they be unreal? I hear that dream-people, or whatever the official—"
"Un-people," you say. "Headspace calls them 'friends,'" Gil offers.
"Thank you! That un-people can gain awareness if they're fed blood? It's a salacious rumor, really, not something I'd put a lot of stock in, but—"
"I-It's true," Gil says. "But, um, they're still not that smart. Usually."
Is that the answer? You guess you haven't heard of anybody seeing Management outside a manse. But you've never seen a human-looking snake outside one, either, except for Richard— who isn't really outside, he just looks it. Plus, the Manager knew exactly what she was doing, didn't she? Didn't even blink when she intercepted you. Compare to that stupid, myopic monkey-thing: it drank the blood of a Headspace employee, but that didn't make it hyper-competent. It was barely even competent. Like what Gil said.
You take a deep breath. "I mean, maybe, but I don't think it exactly..."
"Then maybe it's something else entirely? Some other type of thing? I wish I knew so I could tell you. If you find out what they are, go ahead and tell me, huh?"
(2/TBC)
