Effeti

I personally don’t like how the first story changed halfway through but that’s what I get for listening to investigation discovery (its 50% my mom ever watches, besides MSNBC, that’s the other 50%).

This was originally written in a twitter thread: https://twitter.com/thedragonchild/status/1390719293453602816

Legend

You’ll hear children mention a pink lady who comes to play with them late at night. These children are usually lonely, or orphans, or children with abusive families. When adults see her, she usually leaves them with a warning: take care of the young ones, or you will forever be haunted by their spirits.

Anyone going to certain spots in Lake Lanier and stays too long eventually go missing. The last thing they see is a pink ghost, before being carried off to places unknown.

One lucky person who escaped mentioned “being taken before a dragon to be judged.” They called the ghost a “pink emissary.”

Another eyewitness said the ghost took her to a “land full of games and toys.”

Nobody knows what the ghost wants.

Appearance Notes

• Effeti always wears her pink costume that blends in with her dragonbody. She created a new one every time she grew out of one.

First Story

trigger warnings for murder, drugs

Effeti was a human-mixed dragon who was killed. Unlike her human brother, it was hard for her to get the same education. Her family lived in an all-human town. Many things were denied for her because she was a weaker dragon. Her mother was human, so she couldn’t fight for Effeti’s rights with tooth and claw, only with the justice system. However, the processes and procedures for her case were costly and painfully slow. At some point, Effeti was okay with not going to a university or college.

Her death happened when her brother was forced to take her with him to an outing, but their mother didn’t know he was going to a college Halloween party.

At the party, Effeti wanted to go home but her brother wanted to continue partying. She sat alone in a corner, upset and feeling isolated, until the school’s popular guy sat with her and talked to her. He offered to take her home and she agreed.

However, along the way his behavior became increasingly unsettling. She jumped out of the car but he shot at her with a tranquilizer. He dragged her back to his car and told her they would have fun, because he heard of how “sturdy” dragons are.

Her brother panicked when he couldn’t find her at the party. Him and his mother had a terrible argument over it.A week later her body was found. Her brother and mother felt the truth of their world crashing down. It was real. She was gone.

The investigation began with police questioning everyone. The mother didn’t want to wait around for humans to do their years-long work, so she contacted her friend, a Poki Dragon, who had access to a certain Karrucci dragon’s contact info.

She pleased with her to ask for Etere’s help on this case. Her friend relayed the message to Etere, but to his surprise, his older brother Ashuton wanted to handle the investigation. This relieved the mother. Ashuton had intense power over dragons, surely it could aid him?

The first place he started was the apartment complex that the killer visited. Many of the human-mixed dragons outside were too drugged to notice Ashuton’s presence. They were of sub-species with less power, but it was still frustrating to see the effects of a drug on a dragon.

One dragon, unaffected by the drugs, could feel Ashuton’s presence and had a strong urge to help. They ran out of the apartment, rushed towards him and asked, “are you here to ask about the guy who had a pink dragon in his car? I saw what happened! Let me help!”

Ashuton said, “take a flight with me. We will discuss in midair, away from the humans.”Happy to oblige, the dragon shifted out of his human form and flew off with him.“I saw a young man come to buy drugs last night,” the dragon described him in great detail.

The dragon asked for protection in return, so Ashuton gave him to his sidekick, Nari.Ashuton relayed this information to the police. The detectives gave worried glances.Ashuton didn’t like their uneasiness, so he asked the brother about the person described by the witness.

“He’s the popular guy,” said the brother, “was he with my sister?”Ashuton explained everything, and the horrified mother and brother demanded his arrest.Ashuton cautioned them to act carefully. There was more at work.He asked his brothers to take the family away, for safety.

When the mother and brother left the house, Ashuton asked, “how long have you been watching, little mosquito?”There was no response, but he took a long sigh as he felt a reply.“I could use your help on this, if you want. No? I guess I’m doing this on my own.”

He went to the school principal but as soon as a picture of the culprit was show, the principal said “I cannot help you.”Frustrated, Ashuton “manipulated” the detectives into handing the case over to him and the dragons.

Under draconic law, humans convicted of killing dragons can be searched WITHOUT QUESTION. They search his room and phone. Tommaso (Thomas) notices the car in all his photos is different from the current car.Ashuton “asks him” (hangs him off a roof) where his old car is hiding.

The guy refuses to tell.Thomas goes back to the house to search more, and finds a deleted photo and note about the victim. We now know her name: Effeti.The note describes her, the guy’s thoughts and acts he committed upon her in great detail.

Thomas knows there is more. He can feel it.

He uses dragon tech, something he isn’t authorized to use, and searches deeper into the SSD. After a long time, a video appears in the results.

It is Effeti’s final moments, with the guy mocking her, laughing at her, destroying her.

The evidence is given to the police.
The popular guy is arrested.
Effeti’s brother gets a chance to cuss him out.

It doesn’t end there.
The school, the neighborhood and the town shuns Effeti’s family.

They say

“He was a good boy
His father gave money to the town
What will happen now?”

The girls and boys who loved him don’t believe it
The politicians certainly didn’t

“Dragons are taking over
They’re lying to prove all humans are bad
It’s all a big lie perpetuated by lizards!”

When the trial begins, the evidence is presented to the jury. They are empathetic humans, many also victims of life’s terrors.

The defense plead insanity, and brought up his past incidents And harsh family live: parents not loving him, abuse, being held up to a certain standard, killing animals, his insanity going unchecked, etc.

Judgement was swift:
Guilty.

However, because of the defense, he only receives seven years in prison.

As he was taken away, there were many who cheered and some who looked on.
One of them was Effeti, no longer a mosquito.

She kept watch, but with the minimal power she had, she could only take the form of the bug she saw before she died. She does not know if it was justice, moving on or her power finally regenerating that allowed her to take on her previous form.

No one could see her, yet...but she was there. She went to her family, who was relieved, and flew around them in circles to get their attention. They felt her sudden gust of wind, and cried at the thought of Effeti still being in their presence.

Second Story

Her sadness was felt by Caim. They appeared to her in the spirit world, and asked her what was wrong. She told Caim her story. She told them how badly she wanted to live again.

Caim needed a new assistant, so she gave Effeti an offer: come work for me in the underworld market, and we’ll make humans pay 10-fold. Over and over.

Effeti liked the idea, so she took the offer.

However, as she witnessed Caim’s actions and partook in them herself, some of her playfulness withered away.

Eventually, she took over the underworld market from Caim and ousted her back to the underworld.

Now Caim is out for revenge.

With the help of Merlot, Samuel, and a group of civilians, most of Effeti‘s underworld powers are taken and she is sent back to the spirit world.

Current Story

Effeti, using the dwindling underworld power she has left, manifests in a body similar to her old one. She is one of the dragons Nari has to spend a week with. Ashuton remembers her case, but he also remembered something else...

the more time he spends in Effeti’s presence, the more he realizes she is from one of his many egg clutches. He pieces together the vague memories and it all comes back to him. It explains her human form. He doesn’t remember how or when she left his care.

Nari and Effeti spend time doing what Nari is best at: playing video games. They invite Domino to play with them, and he gets along well with Effeti.

Later, she tries to knock out Nari and steal her power from her, but is confused when Nari has no power. She said “I feel the spirit of a dragon but I don’t understand why this woman has no power?”

Ashuton catches her in the act, and tells her that the power she is looking for is within him. He gives Effeti a second chance at life, to become a Guardian Dragon of Rome and assist other families with missing loved ones, so that no one else goes through her pain. She is hesitant, and isn’t sure how she feels about giving up her mission of revenge on humans. She accepts, and is given heightened power. She doesn’t know the full extent of her abilities until she tries them out.