This being, apparently named Grimble, walks up cheerfully and joins you. You realize this must be the Fairy that the Machine mentioned earlier.
“Hello, nice to meet you,” you say meekly, “may I ask what you mean by ‘Grim Reaper’?”
Mark shouts in dismay, “Idiot! It means this freak is going to kill us!”
“Wow, hey,” responds Grimble indignantly, “I’m not a freak, ok? I’m a shapeshifter. And I like to express myself. Besides, a Grim Reaper is only a higher-order Ghoul.”
Your head is spinning. “But, you said you were a shapeshifter, and I thought you were a Fairy.”
“No, see, a Ghoul is a type of Fairy, just like a Machine, which is a higher order Fairy.”
“That’s not true,” says the Machine, “Machines are their own class. Like how I’m a Distance-Machine and not a Sun-Machine or an Optical-Machine.”
“That’s actually highly disputed,” says Grimble, but Mark cuts her off.
“Will you all just shut up!! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
You pull out the Key and explain that the Machine told you to ask Grimble about String Metal. Grimble groans and rolls her eyes.
“God, I told you all that already. And all about the Fairies and Machines and that stuff too. Don’t you remember?”
“No, I’ve never met you before.”
Grimble turns to the Machine and points her thumb back in your direction. “What’s up with this one?” she asks.
The Machine replies, “It was blinded on purpose, so it can’t see adjacently right now.”
You’re confused and wonder if the Machine means you.
“Excuse me,” cries Mark, “but what exactly am I here for? You said you could tell me what was wrong with me?”
Sam looks at him in embarrassment. “Mark… you should really be more respectful, you know, you’re talking to a Machine.” Mark ignores him.
“Well, Mark,” says the Machine in an amused tone, “As I said there is nothing wrong with you, but you do need to be fixed. The rat that bit you in that old seven-eleven, well, it was a sort of Proxy to a Machine Skeleton. It used to belong to a Liquid-Machine actually before it became a rat.”
Mark stares at the Machine in utter confusion. “That…. Doesn’t make any freaking sense!”
“It doesn’t matter if you understand, Mark. You will soon.” The Machine winks as it says this. Mark looks afraid and doesn’t know what to say. Grimble walks up to you. You’re still holding out the Key.
“Hey buddy, I’ll need to borrow that for a moment.” As she speaks, she holds her hand up to yours. The key slides out of your hand into hers as if it were made of magnetic liquid. Then, she turns to Mark and holds out both her hands. The key floats in between her outstretched hands and grows into a glowing, shifting lattice. Suddenly, spears of metal shoot out of it and attach to Mark’s body, he collapses to the ground with a cry of pain.
