As and aside on various Freds and those who've done "things" to them...

Elrondir

"Betcha that she’s another transformed Fred D’Honaire," I say suddenly, right out of the blue.

We'd been silent for a bit after we'd place Miranda in our collection of cubes, making sure to appropriately mark her just in case we'd have to bring her back (wouldn't do to grab the wrong cube and say have someone like Talyn rematerialize in a small room). All the while I'd been going over everything said and done up to that point with Miranda Desilk, and every time I'd come to the same conclusion.

This woman used to be a person called Frederigo D'Honaire. Such a stickler on the point about honor.... It’s a personality quirk that keeps popping up back to the surface, no matter how radical the transformation (or magical brainwashing, sometimes). Of all the people I've met over my admittedly short life (not counting the handful of years before as an AI, I've been living this new elfin live for a grand total of thirteen years), those who were of the "Fred" clan always stood out in my mind because of that. Being that it had been stated early on by Rules and Agents that the majority of the Key Component Carriers are (or had been) named either Fred or Astra. Creator only knows why the apparent puppet master behind this fracas did it this way. Randall Flagg had taken not only a keen interest in those two analog types but as of right unexplained dislike to the Fred and Astra analogs, you know. But of course it was kind of obvious (in a fashion) why he and his cronies: being a Carrier means that nothing short of the Higher Up(s) –the Boss (or Bosses) of those we work for—could change their form.

Meaning that was a perfect opportunity to freeze a LOT of Freds and Astras that Flagg didn’t like into forms they’d somehow (through various misadventures) gotten transformed into, you know. Meaning that for the rest of their lives (as short or long as that was) the Carriers would probably be hating their own bodies.

We do what we can to help them adjust, even accept and like their new forms when we are able…

…

Anyway, this Miranda woman has all the earmarks of one transformed (I’d. . . . snuck a peak at her Matrix). Until we actually get to later on examine her more closely we’d not know for sure, but my votes for this transformee being a Fred!

"Well, if she is then it couldn't have been transformed by Scott!" Ragan puts sharply, shivering slightly.

…

Oh, right. That naked nymph we’d rescued recently (that sex starved, MINDLESS nymph) had also supposedly been a man named Frederigo D’Honaire, a knight who’d been the latest victim of that bastard, Author Scott Chen….

Which seems to say that I’m wrong in part. Perhaps there IS magicks strong enough to chain down even Fred’s sense of honor. Then again, maybe given enough time the conditioning might have cracked enough for it to come forth again.

Sorry if I seem partial to Frederigo D’Honaire analogs. Gilmuriel D’Honaire, a fellow elf , and comrade HAD (and still is) one of my closets friends and HE does just happen to be a "Fred" analog. Maybe I am partial, but then again that’s my right.

That all said, this incident also served as perhaps a reminder of just how damn lucky she had been when Author Scott Chen had gotten his clutches on her (re: www. addventure. com, and read episode 96363 of Game 3). Having been transformed into the exact twin of that one tall, stunning redhead actress named Melissa Brown (and being forced for a bit to run around in a skimpy outfit) had only been annoying, in the end. Helpful, now, considering that it helps a WHOLE lot in telling her from Betty, you know. But also it also, the nymph incident here, just drove home anew that she’d been damn lucky while she’d been trapped over in Game 3. While she’d been transformed, at least (like that other guy we’d helped here a bit ago, Inuyasha) it hadn’t included nymphomania!

"Yes, definitely not Scott," I say gently, trying to change the topic a bit to something that brings less in the way of bad memories. I switch to something that isn’t quiet as scary. See, honestly, I had found that the nymph incident had been a bit myself, truth be told) but something that could be of use, either now or in the near future. "If Miranda had been a Fred, you have any ideas at all who might have done it?"

1. "Huh? I’m not tracking you here, Elrondir!"

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