Logs:Eyes of the Mask: The Magician, Upright: Difference between revisions
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Behind this wall, on the floor, the three time spells are located. Conspicuously human sized and placed prominently on some very clear floor. | Behind this wall, on the floor, the three time spells are located. Conspicuously human sized and placed prominently on some very clear floor. | ||
"Yeah, it started after the first big battle at Centralia, the one where I-- " almost died because I was a dumbass who likes to be a fox "-- broke the soul jars, and ending right after that." She pauses, even as she's following after everyone toward the stairs. "So... if some or all of them were kidnapped, which is my current theory, and replaced, or killed and replaced... was all of that just a big fucking distraction?" Fox asks, her bare feet going pap pap pap on the floor. | |||
"... uhhh... " she pauses. "... uhm." And points at the spots on the floor. "Time magic. People sized. I -- " Fox's mind is Eric Andre shaking a fence screaming LET THEM OUT, tbqh. | |||
"That or they took advantage of it." Jeremiah replied, eyeing the verge as it emerged with an quirked up eyebrow. "That's not creepy at all." | |||
"...I have many concerns." Alexis says, staring in the direction of the verge. | |||
"This sounds like the kind of things we definitely should analyze before rushing in. I feel like there might be a trap." Kay stretches out a little, peeking above her sunglasses, trying to do a scrutiny, while the others may be figuring out other things | |||
Mei's still digging back through her brain as they head down into the basement, sifting through her memories like someone riffling through a card catalogue looking for the right entry. Then it hits her, and her expression sours. "You know what?" she says. "I think the end of that scoured period of time is, pretty much to do the day, when their entire attitude shifted. When they went into malicious compliance mode, started being pains in the ass, dragging their feet, and so on. And..." she pauses, like she's going over a couple of things in her head again. "I think they actually might have blown their whole cover trying to regain control of the grigori. | |||
She brings her attention back to what's around them again. "Also, that's creepy." | |||
Was that cell phone always there? If it was, it certainly wasn't glowing to Fox's fate perception a split second ago, and it very much is now. The screen lights up, and it plays the Nokia chirpy tone. The number displayed is a numerical impossibility but the caller ID pegs it as 'Det. Trenchcoat'. The call is marked urgent. | |||
She invokes the spell once more, mumbling something about tortured metaphors and Tarot cards, and then the phone! "Ah, a Clickable Object," Fox offers. She picks it up and answers it as if this is all very normal, "Go." | |||
"Fuck. Why is at always fucking you." There's an audible, frustrated sigh from a voice that sounds exhausted. Haggard. At the last edge of a very frayed rope. "Let me guess, that Alexis kid is there with you, too. Right? And that Silver Ladder prick, and the detective you're fucking." | |||
Quincunx just winks when the list doesn't include him. | |||
"I'm out of options. I am a spent asset. We all are. It's like they shut the fucking door on us and threw us out. We've been replaced. All of us. Every single fucking one of us. Before you do what I think you're about to do, I want to know if you'll accept my surrender or not. Amnesty for me and my Pylon. Or just me if you need blood, I don't care. I did what I had to do, and now I want out." | |||
Kay shamelessly leans into the situation to listen to the situation, their face dropping and their fist clench. "Wow." they silently mouth as there is a WIDE and WILD range of emotion running through the whole of their expression. "Internal conflicts galore right here..." they mumble, pointing to where their heart is. And then they wait for Little Fox's reaction when the voice is done talking. | |||
All the same, Kay also runs her memory in law mode, trying to find precedent she can recall rapidly about surrending Agents of the Throne. | |||
"A free tip for you," Mei says with a soft sigh and a faint roll of her eyes. "If you're trying really hard to give people the impression that you're exceedingly clever, you undermine yourself completely by getting key details wrong. It just makes you come off as desperate and insecure instead. What would be in it for us to just give you amnesty for the things you've done?" | |||
The sound of a fox growling is... different from other canids. It's got a little bit in common with a cat hissing, and a little bit in common with a wolf growling, and meets somewhere in the middle. Clearly Fox didn't exactly believe the name coming up on the caller ID, even though it was probably Fate making that appear on the caller ID. Fate has a whimsical sense of humor, after all. But no. The minute that voice hits her ears? A low, animal sound curls in the back of her throat, something feral and disgusted all at once. "I would rather eat a bushel of asparagus and piss in your face than help you personally," she answers through her teeth, "so you're lucky there are bigger things at stake than your hide and your blood." | |||
Mei's comment turns that growl into a dark, predatory chuckle. "There is that," she agrees a little more mildly: now her eyes go to Quincunx, her golden-eyed animal gaze fixing on him for whatever reason. "What's the quid you're offering for the pro quo you want?" A rephrasing of Mei's question as the fingers of her free hand flex slowly, like a cat stretching and retracting its claws. | |||
"So the man who has tried to murder...what, at least half of us? Is now asking us for help." Alexis rests her face in her hand, "What, was it 'Nothing personell kid.' when you stuck my brain in a blender in an attempt to prevent me from awakening?" | |||
"I can tell you how to save the lives of your friends, there. It was a clever bit of trickery, leaving them locked up in a time prison like this. If we'd just killed them, you'd have known right away. Ward drops, divinations, and all of that. Leave them balanced on the edge of a knife, however, and you can do just about anything you like while wearing their face." Trenchcoat Detective's voice shifts quite suddenly, until he sounds rather precisely like Man. For the few of those in the audience that ever met him. | |||
"Methods. Practices. Other Pylons. Information. The network. A squadron of Mark IVs. A base on Mars. I imagine they'll either begin dismantling much of it, or shifting it away from our control. So that's a window with limited opportunities." | |||
"Either way, you're doubtless discovering we're no longer the true threat, here. And the future doesn't give a shit about any of us." He chuckles, and it's his chuckle again. "So, yeah, kid. Nothing personal." | |||
"What are the precedent for surrendering Pylons and Seers?" Kay asks aloud, though more toward Quinn, obviously. Their expression twitching between mildly annoyed and furious scowl. "I don't recall anything off the top of my head right away." | |||
"Also, it is definitely starting to feel very personal in your case." A snide little twitch of their expression toward the phone, though really, Kay doesn't really care if they're heard or not. | |||
Quinn indicates with a tick of the head that he won't be speaking until the line is muted. Presumably, someone will do that, of course. And so he does speak. | |||
"Dead or alive, captives have always been remanded for trial. There has never been a case of a defection that I can recall within the body of the North American Lex. You'd have to reach back to pre-Gaveston days, which means you're invited to pick from which tradition of the Lex you most favor. There are east and southeast asian traditions, the Grecco-Roman tradition with which you are familiar, a north African Lex Magica as well--" | |||
He realizes he's rambling and gets to the point, "You can reach back to whatever tradition best informs the leanings of your heart and heads, but it seems that's what's going to be establishing precedent here today. What he proposes is a commerce in human souls and human suffering, in which we can purcahse an end to much of it. The question becomes if it's a price you all are willing to pay." (edited) | |||
Her golden eyes close slowly and then open again, and she keeps staring at Quincunx. It isn't a content, cat-like eye-closing, it's more keeping my shit together while things spin out of control. She raises a hand, a gesture forestalling more commentary, and a thready little smile slides across her face. | |||
It's been a long year. "Hold, please." Her eyes half-lid. "The shamanic traditions which inform my legacy take a great deal from the oldest forms of Tengrism," she answers, as if this has anything to do with anything. "A prisoner is taken and given opportunity to show use. Demonstrated use determines any future possibilities." Her eyes open again. | |||
Quinn does some brief inner consultation and shrugs his brittle shoulders gently, "This practice is mirrored in the Lex Magica of the Eastern Steppe peoples circa the twelfth through fifteenth centuries. This custom has fallen out of modern practice, but offers valid precedent. Do any of the Pentacle Orders present have any magical traditions that reach back to the eastern steppe? Certain east and central asian practices could likely claim tradition lineage through cultural sharing as well, after the thirteenth century." | |||
"Maybe Yoshistune could have answer for that?" Kay supposes aloud. "Otherwise, there's few members around the pentacle orders who probably could know... Unless the Assembly could accept the surrenders, then it would be a Free Council or Children of the Tree thing." | |||
"I'm more interested in a restorative and rehabilitative justice than punitive one," Mei says with a thoughtful purse of her lips. "A solution that leaves a villain free to pursue more villainy doesn't interest me, but if making a deal like this seems like it will ultimately result in less harm in the long run, then it's something I feel like we need to consider. It all depends on whether the information we get is helpful, doesn't it?" | |||
"My magical inheritance leans largely towards classical traditions, but I will say that one of the purposes of the very existence of the Mysterium is so that we can learn from the dangerous mistakes we ourselves made in the past. Its why we don't destroy knowledge, even dangerous knowledge. Because if we deny it we cannot avoid it. The purpose of the Wings of the Dragon is to learn why we fell, so that we will not fall again from the same hubris." Alexis looks like she bit into a very bad lemon as she says it. | |||
Fox's gaze shifts away from Quincunx briefly, staring off into the corner, and then returns to him. "It would appear we have sufficient precedent to bring him -- and his Pylon -- in." Her jaw sets. "We should call Weaver and Yoshitsune to request advice and backup. I'm not walking us into a trap trying to pick these assholes up. Plus, you know. It's their fucking jobs or whatever." Her teeth bare briefly, all sharp teeth meant for tearing meat from bones. | |||
"It isn't strictly speaking required that one of you be able to claim legacy to the tradition. It just makes for a better explanation. 'Citing the magical tradition practiced by member so and so, we did such and such for these reasons.' It's tidier. It leaves future generations guessing less. About why you chose to do what you are now choosing to do, motivated as you are by hot tempers and cold injuries." | |||
He gestures a hand towards Alexis, "And hers are the coldest of them all, I would say. I can speak for the Pentacle in assuring the Emissaries of the Children here present that we, as always, respect the precedent established by Penance the First with respect to deference to your customs when the Lex and your traditions interact. Even our Duel Arcane and nemesis passes through your traditions." | |||
A pause and a glance between Fox and Kay, "So if emissaries were to demand the right of first refusal with respect to the disposition of this Pylon, and if Alexis is sincere in placing her desire to preserve knowledge even above her desire to avenge her own attempted murder? I would say, your own Lex Magica affords you all the custom and tools necessary to broker such an arrangement. And I can jus tbe here to give one very potent sigil to our side of the exchange." | |||
"But either way, contacting your superiors sooner rather than later to let them know what we are undertaking will be necessary." | |||
"Well, in case that's useful. I did form my own magical tradition by forging my own Legacy. I would very much be of the opinion that the Emissaries of Renewals would be for restorative and transformative justice, as it pertains rather significantly to my metamagical ideas behind it. Preserve, recover knowledge in any form, even if it becomes unrecognizeable in the new form because of the transformation it undergoes." Kay mentions, shrugging. Though its clear there's an inner struggle there. | |||
"We can figure out the details later, I suppose." | |||
"They attempted to destroy the Tree and to kill my mother. Twice. Yes, I feel certain that we must, as Emissaries, demand right of first refusal with respect to the disposition of this Pylon." Fox flicks her gaze around the room, allowing everyone to finish whatever opinions they wish to tender, and then says, "I'll drop the Forces bubble momentarily and address him again," as a warning. | |||
"I believe that Phurba follows some kind of Eastern tradition as well, but I have no idea what their conceptions of justice and the like might be," Mei makes a note of. "Which is to say that it simplifies things if someone here's traditions can cover that territory, since I don't know if hers does." She shrugs, then smiles. "Just, you know, yet another Child of the Tree who might have something to say that falls outside of the Pentacle's typical perspectives." | |||
For the first time in all of this, Quincunx eyes begin to sparkle with energy. These kids are finally starting to get it. They're riffing the way he riffs, and it seems that this alone is what thrills him anymore. The art of doing the right thing with the law. Even when the law sucks. | |||
"We will," he assures her with a note of pride in his vocie that is felt like a shiver down the spine. He tosses Kay an encouraging wink, then mimes zippering his mouth and locking it so that Fox can resume the conversation with the increasingly impatient seer. | |||
Now that everyone agrees that Quincunx is powerless before the righteous and justified nemesis of the Children of the Tree, he folds his hands up and smiles, waiting for this all to play out. | |||
The Forces bubble drops. "Thank you for holding," comes a voice from Fox that no one present has ever heard before. Maybe Vasha. Maybe not even him. It's a perfectly-modulated customer service voice, rising and falling in pitch like a songbird's precisely-repeated springtime call, except this means 'fuck you' instead of 'fuck me.' | |||
"We have decided to accept your unqualified surrender on behalf of your Pylon, under the terms which you have laid out. As a gesture of good faith, we request the first information you offered as a... down payment." On your fucking lives, Fox doesn't say, but maybe the meaning carries through. "With that information in hand, we may discuss the best method to acquire your surrender." | |||
A beat. "Oh, I want the astral units and the Marks, too. My newest friends are so eager see their friends again." | |||
Alexis shudders. Customer Service Fox is SCARY. | |||
It may speak to just how psychically damaged these people are, that none of this phases him. He's just on to business. His life is saved, and that's what matters, and now he's got some work to do. | |||
"Okay, so listen. Put up a Forces field around the time signatures you see. Set it to stop anything moving faster than the speed of sound, so you can still talk and all that. There are three bullets in the air, set to finish off your friends when the spells are dropped. A failsafe of sorts." | |||
"Once you drop the time prison, and the bullets are frozen, you'll have a couple seconds to administer the counter toxin. Assuming nobody's turned it over, you'll find that inside the Verge, being guarded by the ghost in there. I told it truthfully that it's the key to saving your friends, so... you may have a hard time getting it from him. It's a magical toxin, so your spells might not work. The antitdote is a sure thing. I leave that to you." | |||
"Once that's in 'em, you'll want to stem the bleeding and give them something to counteract the exposure they're suffering from. Easy trick for you, though, so I won't belabor the point." | |||
Good. Lord. | |||
"Alright," Mei says with a glance around at everyone. "I think everything but the ghost is something I'm able to handle, but spreading things out so that no one person is key never hurts, especially in a situation where we can't be entirely sure that we can trust our information." She looks over at Kay. "I think out of all of us, it's probably you who's most suited for interacting with a ghost, if I had to guess?" There's a smile along with that suggestion. | |||
"What the fuck." Kay expresses under their breath, scratching the back for their head. "At least, maybe I can deal with the ghost in a safe way." Another repeat of the what the fuck comes out of their mouth. | |||
"Depending on how angry they made it, lucky I protected us from ghostly powers." Kay activates her Death armor with an expenditure of potentia that gets added to the bracelet on their wrist. | |||
With just a few gesture, the cloud of spores emanate from Kay, sensing living and dead beings of all size and powers. Then a spell gets cast swiftly. | |||
"Yeah, I think I'd be good with the ghost...." | |||
"Please hold," chirrups Fox back at Detective Trenchcoat. A shudder of Forces and she seals off the phone from ambient sound. "Before we do anything else," comes a rattling growl, "we need to call Yoshitsune and Weaver. They're in a Time effect. They can wait a moment longer so we can do this all right." | |||
"That is a very good point. It also won't hurt to have some time to examine the effect, in any case, since that should make it easier for me to dispel it." | |||
It doesn't take particularly long for Yoshitsune and Weaver to arrive, due in no small part to both being in the same cadre with Esther who enables Yoshi's refusal to learn how to drive. A circular portal appears in the upstairs living room, limned by cherry blossoms. Out of it strides Yoshitsune in his full armor, the oni mask he wears learing grotesquely at everything in his vicinity even as the ancient eyes behind the mask watch it all in precisely the opposite manner. There is a conspicuously large jumping spider on his shoulder, too. | |||
Both mages descend into the basement, Yoshi eating up ground and taking up space like a man four times his tiny, tiny, really astonishingly small space. | |||
In that time, Fox shoves the phone into the pocket of her jacket, keeping the Forces bubble intact and the call open. He can just well fucking wait seems to be her take on the whole 'Detective Trenchcoat' thing. The arrival of Yoshitsune with a giant spider on his shoulder prompts first a proper bow and then a sharp little yip of greeting. One for the Arrow, one for the Orphan. | |||
"Adamant Sage Yoshitsune, Warmaker Weaver, I am sure you at least know of Lictor Quincunx, if you have not met him previously," she begins. This isn't Customer Service Fox, but it's something approaching Formal Fox, which is another thing not too many people here have seen, though whether she salutes the individual or the rank? Debatable. "The phone in my pocket is currently surrounded by a Forces bubble because it holds an open call to Detective Trenchcoat, one of the Pylon responsible for the time-redacted destruction of the Tree and the near-death of now-Archmaster Balm. He claims to be seeking amnesty for his Pylon in exchange for a great deal of information, including the knowledge necessary to retrieve the members of the Major Arcana from the Time effect which holds them here in this room, with several magical failsafes. They replaced the Major Arcana most likely sometime around the Centralia affair." A slow breath in, a slow breath out. "He has given us a description of the effects he claims are currently wrapped around the three of them, and we have not yet begun to take them out of it." | |||
"Before we began, I wanted to have you both here to start arranging for their unconditional surrender. The Emissaries of the Tree have agreed before the Lictor to remand them to the Pentacle's care with the Children of the Tree having right of first refusal on any arrangement or consequence regarding the Pylon." | |||
Mei offers Yoshitsune a respectful bow when he enters, and then a second one, although the second one is actually aimed at Weaver. "Thank you both for coming," she says. "This has turned out to be an interesting expedition." The details have already been filled out by Fox, so she lets that explanation hold for the time being. | |||
Alexis stands up from where she has been very carefully examining the area around the time bubbles for any clues as to the methods used to enact any of the described effects around what are probably the Major Arcana, giving both of the masters a bow of her own. | |||
Kay gives her assent to what Little Fox is proposing in a clear, yet non verbal way. They greet Yoshitsune and Weaver with warm smiles and waves, and any other acceptable silent greetings at the moment. | |||
First, Yoshitsune offers a stiff bow to the Lictor. Then he begins returning the bows of those who greet him, starting with Fox, whom he greets with her Shadowname, simply in Japanese. | |||
Once the business gets started, however, Yoshitsune simply falls into place. He bowed to the Salaryman of Kyoto for enough years to know a fait accompli when he hears one being presented to him. He is not here to stamp anything. He is here to be held and to have his forehead pressed onto someone else's decision. | |||
They probably couldn't have called on a better man to ask that of, really. "Proceed," is his instruction. Quincunx has the kindness to at least offer Yoshitsune an understanding smile when the word is spoken. | |||
Weaver hops down off Yoshitsune and springs through the air overtowards Fox, at whom he begins waggling his pedipalps and clacking rapidly, sometimes buzzing, sometimes popping. | |||
Fox pulls her hands from her pockets and gently adjusts her stance to be able to catch Weaver when he jumps at her. She listens and watches/listens, at the end shaking her head slightly and setting him onto the top of her head or her shoulder, whichever he prefers. | |||
Sometimes an Orphan just likes to be a hat. It happens. | |||
Once he's settled, she makes a little rattling sound in the back of her throat, opening into a small yowl and a high, climbing cry. It's brief, it's definitive, and for those who understand her, it sums up to I've known that man for ages and ages, he never shunned me, I'd sooner cut my tail off than hurt him, with a side of and you hurt my feelings a little by asking. And then she inclines her head to Yoshitsune once more. "I asked you here for your advice on how to proceed, though we know we must." A tight smile. "I've never rescued Guardians and taken in a Pylon on the same day." But Yoshitsune must have, once. Right? | |||
"Neither have I, come to think of it," Mei remarks after Fox's comment, and after a brief look at Fox for the sound that just came out of her, too. | |||
Clearly, a funny joke comes to Kay's mind and they decide not to make it out loud, whatever it was probably linked to their own Cadre. Their attention shifts toward the Verge for a brief instant, trying to peek into it in a more direct fashion, hoping to maybe see and learn more about the ghost that's said to be within, with their spells, sights and general expertise. | |||
"Only minor rescues and assist on my end." | |||
"He has an overdeveloped sense of honor," Weaver explains to Fox through another series of vibrating arm hairs. "If I don't look out for him, you know exactly what will happen." And she does, too, and Weaver doesn't say anything more on the subject, as they're both still nursing the loss of Balm. They didn't mean anything by it, in other words. | |||
Still, with all the necessary parties assembled, it's Quinn who finally moves matters along, "I would suggest we start by securing the anti-toxin. Or trying at least. Which would, I believe, be your role, Emissary to the Ancestors." He's indicating Kay with his pointy nose. | |||
At that, Yoshitsune snaps his blades from their sheathes and begins moving towards mouth of the verge. His blades begin to him with potentia to those with the eyes to see it, no doubt enabling them to strike even the dead. | |||
"Sure, I can do that. It'll be a fun thing to record as a Talekeeper." Kay corrects with a smile, moving toward the Verge and using her whole array of skills to at least perceive and sense the ghost. Just her Spore clouds attainment should be enough to feel its presence within their radius. | |||
"Hello? I'd like a word please" Kay adresses the ghostly presence, attempting to find what they're dealing with. | |||
There's a soft huff, in which she accepts Weaver's not quite an apology and lets it all go. "We can be both, I think," Fox shrugs. "Right, Weaver?" She shrugs vaguely. | |||
"Hmm. I think. If Pavlichenko were here... " And then her left hand carves through the air, the Siderite ring with its hidden Lunargent and Brontium tracing the sigil she makes as sort of a trippy trail on the back edge of her hand. It looks a little like conducting Rachmaninoff in the air, perhaps. The shimmer of benevolent Fate curls around willing participants. | |||
The thing with verges is that they serve to conceal the outside from the inside and the inside from the outside. So it won't be until Kay enters the verge properly that communication can take place. The verge is responding, the purple light in the forbidding blackness grows a more inviting purple color. But no words come back. | |||
"I will go first, if you wish," Yoshitsune volunteers, because of course he does. And he accepts the luck, to boot. As people watch, his figure begins to fill out his armor. He doesn't get taller. He's just perfecting the shit out of that adept under there, apparently. "I promise to apply only diplomatic use of kendo." | |||
And thus in Kay goes, with Yoshitsune, to help defend herself as they make it in. "Be careful, in and out are two different places." once inside, she re-iterate her greetings. "Hello, I'd like a word please." | |||
Alexis looks as if she wants to ask how the hell diplomatic kendo works for a moment before deciding better of it. Instead, she starts working on a spell to help deal with the mundane side of the possible immediate medical emergency they will have to deal with. | |||
Mei hooks her thumbs on the pockets of her jeans and waits, at this point. There's no need to rush things, and until they're ready to move on to the next stage of this situation there's not much specifically for her to do, except to observe, learn, and keep her eye out for trouble. | |||
Passing through the lens of the verge is a tactile experience. There's a presistance to the air, like a membrane of fleshy tissue that one has to press past. One that bursts, that pops open like a sore, and expresses you. | |||
And once through, true to Kay's prediction, it's a different place. Or a different idea of the same place, perhaps? The room is very Of A Period. Lots of wood, lots of conspicuous brass, too many forks. Too many glasses on the table. People don't sit like this any longer in rooms like these. And they're not dressed in such fine suits with such fine round hats. | |||
The ghost that sits at the table flickers like an old, old film. Shuddering and jittering in the chair he occupies like a memory caught in negative and developed much, much later, and that can only live in the light. A beam of light in which he sits at present, being cast from some far off point, gleaming but unseen. | |||
The ghost's skin looks dead, but not the pale blue sickly death of a white man. The ashen russet death of a black one. One that had a fine beard, strong mutton chops. A thick, shiny nose. And apparently, as of this moment, no eyes to speak of. Just two gaping bloody-- well, "bloody", this is all in stuttering black and white --wounds in the middle of his head. He considers the party and rises from his chair, lifting the hat from his head and offering Kay a slight bow. | |||
There are no words spoken, just a sense of hospitable welcome. | |||
"Ah, A pleasure to meet you. I'm known as Kay." They offer a similar bow, trying to read the ghost for signs of preferred mannerism or greetings. "What's your name?" a quick glance backward, just to see if there's anyone else coming in and then a look to their hand as if to try and perceive what was felt in their hands just a moment ago. "What are you doing here?" | |||
The Gentleman, and Kay is not certain how she knows that, but now she is very certain that his name is The Gentleman, or that at least that is what everyone calls him that call him anything these days. All of that occurs to those within the verge as the ghost walks casually from his table over to the sideboard where a tray is set out with drinks. Those who might like one find themselves presented with a glass, filled with rich amber liquid that smells of smoke and oak. It becomes obvious, as he gestures to indicate the lavish living arrangements that he lives here. This is his home. And really, it ought to be him that asks the questions. Not to be rude. Not to be impertinent. But he has friends he must look after, they all realize. And so must understand his position. | |||
She stands there thoughtfully, her gaze drifting to the floor, and Fox shifts her weight from one foot to the other. Mei, definitely, will know that this is how Fox looks when she's thinking of Ways To Be Terribly Clever. Well, mostly when she's thinking, but it does tend toward 'how can I be Most Clever, for I am the cleverest' since... it's Fox. | |||
"Okay. I'm going to ask for the help of anyone who knows literally anything about Time," Fox offers thoughtfully. "I'm going to hang a Temporal Summoning the moment triggered to the moment that the temporal bubble drops, and pull out an older version of the Major Arcana, from before Centralia. Quincunx, I think it would be -- useful -- if you might be prepared to quickly convince the Major Arcana not to attack us for being in their Sanctum. My thinking here is that doing this will pull their past selves to the present and replace their present selves, who, if what that rancid fart of a human being said is true, will be injured and poisoned. Might not make the kill shots not kill shots, so of course we'll want to deal with the Forces matter," and here she looks at Mei, clearly deferring to the Obrimos on all things Forces, "before we drop the bubble. But it will give us crucial time to unwind any other issues before their past selves become their present selves." | |||
Kay looks over at the entrance of the Verge, being a little confused at the lack of further entrance, but they pick a seat when invited to do so and waits for the question to come, for the moment, they do not acquire any drinks at the moment, uninterested at the idea of drinking in the current situation, like, at all. "Thank you for the invitation, Gentleman." (edited) | |||
The Gentleman helps Kay into her chair before circling back around and retaking his own seat. No servants come to the bare, if set table. No cook brings a meal. Dust specks settle through the flickering distant point of light in which the image of the gentleman flickers and stutters and skips. He smiles slightly, inclines his head at the thanks, and then gestures airily with his hand Kay's way. | |||
This is not a place for the living to come wandering through idly, it occurs to her. And this is his home. So clearly she would have to have come here for a reason, and it's probably what he wants to know. Why she's here, interrupting his meal. The fact that 'interrupting a meal' is the last thing she is doing right now makes it clear the origin of this thought is not actually Kay. | |||
"There's a situation currently, that requires my attention within this place." Kay vaguely gestures toward the position where the time frozen people. "People that need our help in some manner." Kay motion between themself and Yoshitsune to indicate who is wanting to help, also toward the 'exit' too. "I overheard that they're sick and need some kind of antidote to save them, among other things." | |||
Yoshitsune, contrary to type, has sheathed his weapons, though he has not moved to sit. He stays near to Kay, protectively, but content to let her do the talking. It's her wheelhouse, after all. | |||
The Gentleman glances between the pair, not that his eyes are there to see anything at all any longer. He nods his head, causing a strand of sticky meat to slap out of his eye socket and down his cheek. He understands. You've come to get the antitdote the imposter gave to the Gentleman, no doubt. You will not object if he comes out of the verge to confirm all of this, of course? | |||
He's already starting to rise, plucking the kerchief from his jacket pocket to daub at the smear of gore on his face. | |||
"To confirm what exactly? I'm not sure what that means and I would not want to mislead you." Kay says, just wanting to clarify, just in case she misunderstand something | |||
There doesn't seem to be any active menace from the ghost. At least none that seems to carry in this apparently psychoreactive little bit of his domain. He plucks a cane from the rack near the door and taps his hat brim with it as he glances back to regard Kay. | |||
He's going to go confirm which person telling him tales has been lying. | |||
It is more or less at that moment that a large manifested ghost comes stepping out of the verge, washed out gray like a flickering old movie, looking like someone went at his eyes with the claw end of a hammer. His gaze accuses. It's the only thing a gaze like that can do. But the voice that booms out from the empty air around the ghost is a deep, rich, warm baritone. It just isn't accompanied by the ghost moving its jaw, or anything. | |||
"Good evening. Where is Cypher?" He might get around to apologizing for being brusque when he sorts out what all these people are doing in his house. | |||
Kay follows outside "Cypher is locked away into your home, wounded and in need of help, which include the antidote you have." Kay explains. "We're here to help him and the others, would you help us?" | |||
Meanwhile, outside the Verge, Fox tips her chin up toward Alexis, accepting her assistance in setting up the hung spell. Fox's spellcasting is both incredibly ritualistic and very ... regimented. It might be surprising, or unsettling, or just -- a reminder -- to know how much Mysterium theory informs the renunciate's magic. Or maybe Fox is just playing nice to make her magic work more easily with Alexis' Time abilities. | |||
The work completes, and dwindles down to a spark, hanging in Time and metered to Fate. "Okay. Next up. Who wants to be faster than their problems?" she laughs. Somewhere, Vasha is very, very proud. | |||
She pauses, though, when Kay follows a ... giant manifested ghost... out of the Verge. Her shoulders roll and she manages a lopsided curtsy, taken a little off-guard. When Kay speaks, Fox follows up with a nod. "Cypher is being held captive inside a sort of snow globe outside of Time, a pocket. I'd really like to make him ... not be poisoned... when we drop that, so, yeah, could you help? That would be really great." (edited) | |||
Mei fiddles with her magical tools and speaks some words of High Speech as she puts a spell into place to protect those within them temporal pocket from high-velocity harm when the spell drops. Nothing within the area of that field will be able to go particularly fast, and that should suffice. | |||
Once the magic is worked and there's a ghost there talking to them she smiles at it, having not actually spoken with a ghost before, and says, "what she said." | |||
Everyone's seen the horror movie. That myopic zoom that makes it seem like the walls are breathing. Like the ghost is growing somehow nearer without moving at all. A gust outside causes the air pressure to change, and the windows and doors all sigh and belch and shudder as one. Or maybe it's the ghost making its displeasure known. He takes a step forward and the furnace clicks on, the whoosh of fire, and the hiss of the fans as they begin to churn the exhaust of these more enlightened times. | |||
Without moving from its spot, the ghost seems to take the measure of each and every person in the room. And then he's gone into nothingness. Evaporated into twilight, most likely. The room, the basement, they're all very, dreadfully, boringly normal for several seconds before the Dutch Angle takes over on the cameras and The Gentleman looms up out of the floor in front of Kay. He's holding in his hand three syringes. | |||
"If Cypher dies, you will want to leave slightly faster than those you hate here." | |||
"Thank you very much, Gentleman. We'll take care of Cypher." Kay takes the syringes from him and looks over to the group. "Anyone here feels comfortable administering vaccines? I don't have any training to do that." | |||
"Way ahead of you Kay, just hand them over." Alexis smiles at her cadremate and holds out her hand | |||
Normality resumes when the ghost once more disappears from reality. But one can safely assume he is still very much here in every sense that matters, taking a very great interest in the goings on with respect to his master. | |||
Yoshitsune has headed back to reconnect with Weaver, gingerly claiming them from atop Fox's head. Given the way Yoshi is leaning his head in the spider's direction, they're exchanging updates on what the other missed when they were mutually separated. | |||
Kay smiles and gives the Syringe to Alexis. "There you go." | |||
"Don't use them when I pull their old temporal selves into our time. We can't help them until they're in present time," Fox prompts. "Everyone's about to get very very fast. If you're not used to Acceleration, be careful." Her fingers curl in the air, and Fox looks just a little bit more tired. She's been chewing through her potentia, even with everything she's regained, and will most likely need the very biggest nap when this is all over. And pets. Lots of pets. | |||
"Ready when you are," says the Time Adept. Vasha's sense of humor apparently came with the instruction in his favored Arcana. | |||
"If you need a battery recharge, Fox, I'm all okay to share part of mine if you want to." Kay offers, as they feel time alter how fast they can go, causing them to tense harshly at the sensation, then mumble something about therapy as they take a deep, deep breath. | |||
The look that Fox gives Kay aside is grateful for the offer, and followed by the smallest nod. Maybe she's been, you know, trying not to let on how much this takes out of her in front of the Big Kids. | |||
"I also have no shortage of potentia that I could share with you," Mei remarks, since she has a pretty massive reserve to draw on at this point, and has used almost none of it. "But I'm ready, otherwise." | |||
It's hard to unwind all the contingencies that are folded in and over one another. All the hair triggers artfully laid one over the other by this Fate Adept and that Fate Master. Strike a ball of rubber bands with a good sharp sword, and what results will look like chaos but stem from order. That's how fate magic is sometimes. Just a ball of rubber bands being whacked with a good sharp sword. | |||
A spell makes certain that the Major Arcana that is trapped inside the time bubble that no longer exists aren't the ones from a year ago. No. They're the ones from a bit before that. Which sets off the marble of this Rube Goldberg of potentiality. The bullets in the air, firing at the wrong people, it decides to stop trying so hard and falls to the ground with a clatter. They all do, one after the other. Clack, clickety, clack-clack. | |||
But the Major Arcana are no less bound, no less gagged. They're no more clothed, no more standing upright rather than lying prone in a pool of a future self's blood and vomit. Being attacked isn't really a thing that's going to be happening right now. They look terrified, and ready to respond accordingly. | |||
And then Quincunx steps forward, the air about him illumined with the Words of Truth. He crouches down in the blood of a torture they've yet to experience, gets his knee right in it with that $3,000 suit, and says right into their eyes, "I am a Lictor of the Magisterium. You are being rescued. Be strong. We're not going to leave you." | |||
And it's hard for anyone hearing that and seeing that not to want to act on that imperitive. We are rescuing them. And we're not leaving them. | |||
Not that she wasn't already inclined to that? But Fox's resolve feels... quite redoubled, thank you. She'll think later about how utterly terrifying it is how ... true everything feels when Quincunx says it. There's time for those thoughts another time. | |||
Right now she scrambles after the Lictor and drops herself to the floor so she's kneeling by the head of whoever is in the middle. "Hi, it's me." She knows they know who she is, whether they like her or not. "Listen, right now for you it is before Centralia. Good news -- that went very well! We handled that threat. However, I am sorry to report," and she does sound genuinely sorry, all of her bitterness at the Guardians of the Veil as an organization just sort of vanishing under the green fog of needing to take care of the tribe, seeing all this blood and vomit on the floor, these terrified human beings in pain, "that you were replaced by Detective Trenchcoat's Pylon at that time. You've been in a Time bubble for ... about a year, and before they put you in the bubble, they poisoned and tortured you. Right now, I have temporally summoned the you which existed before Centralia in order to move you out of immediate danger and make sure we'd caught all of the booby traps that dickhead put in place." | |||
"In order to help you," she explains, her fingers rapidly moving to ungag the central figure, "I'm going to need to let that spell go and bring the present you back into place. And that, I am afraid, is really going to hurt for a few seconds, and we can't do very much about that." Yes, ungagging them means that they could try to cast things. She does it very purposefully. It is a gesture of trust. "I know it's a lot. Please take a breath and tell me that you understand, if you do. If you have questions, please ask them." | |||
A second later, she adds, "Can someone grab some sheets at least?" They are, in fact, naked. | |||
Kay as everything speeds around like there's no body's business and through the spore clouds, Potenia dashes from one spore to another and then into Fox, replenishing the reserve as much as they can. "I understand this is terribly confusing and upsetting, we're here to help you." they speak when there's a good moment for it. Taking a step back for a moment, ready to counter spell or perform magic to save people further. | |||
Mei waves a hand through the air and mutters a few words of High Speech, and then she's holding blankets. They're blankets made entirely out of magic, but they're blankets none the less. "Of course," she says, moving forward with them and putting blankets over naked forms. "It's kind of a weird situation, but that's kind of our life as mages, isn't it?" she says rather casually, like it's not really all that big a deal, in the hopes that her own not being extremely worked up about it all won't push people who are on edge further toward going over it. (edited) | |||
It's a bit much to believe, but with the Word of Truth up and a Lictor standing over her shoulder, nodding his head gravely to add veracity to every claim she's making, it is starting to sink in. It happens to be Gardener in the middle, though she is by no means the decision maker in her cadre. She keeps squirming, trying to find her friends. Her nimbus flaring as though threatening to respond as her training dictates. Which is no doubt very impolitely. | |||
Man? Oh, characteristically mum, that one. Cypher, on the other hand, keeps calling for someone named "Clive". And it isn't until the ghost manifests near the Moros and takes the Guardian's hand, that the shouting stops. Perhaps some manner of ghostly familiar? | |||
No words are ever exchanged between the trio, but Gardener finally grits her teeth and says, "Do it." As though this is as prepared as they're getting. | |||
Fox attends to the cadre's bonds, because she wouldn't want to be tied up either in this situation. "Okay. Rashida, please give one of the needles to Parhelion," with a nod to Mei, "she's good with first aid too. Diamond, if you can handle a needle, I need you to take the third one. I'm going to hang some healing contingent on when I I drop the Time effect, so it'll hit as fast as possible, and I can follow up with more as needed. Diamond just refilled me so I'm good to go." Bossy little vulpine! She waits for everyone to be ready before starting a countdown, of course. | |||
Alexis reaches over to hand Mei one of the syringes, taking a deep breath. | |||
"Alright, I'll try my best." she grabs one and gets ready with hers. | |||
Mei takes the syringe with a nod, double checks it to be sure there are no surprises waiting in how it works (probably not), and then prepares herself. "I'm ready," she says. | |||
As the countdown plays through, Fox gets to watch Gardener try to guess what expression she'll likely have when the time stutter happens. Will she look smug in the face of the bullet? Will she try to hide it, to keep her would be killer from learning he's been had? The most awful realization of it is that Fox is watching someone try to figure out how "normal people" deal with imminent mortality. | |||
And when it happens, it comes with all the confirmation bias of a Navy modeled on a ship of war called the SS Dunning-Kreuger. Its overton window focuses lasers that can cut steel. She's seen it in a lot of Guardians over the years. Vasily used to get that look now and then, when everything was coming up Milhouse. | |||
It's the expression of someone who trusted in something she believed in and had it confirmed with her very life. So. That's a thing Fox knows now. | |||
But it still leaves three bodies, three wracked bodies on the floor. Not to belabor the point, but they've been tortured within an inch of their lives and would have succumb to their numerous lethal injuries in short order had Fox not interceded on their behalf. All the healing seems to have done is make them fully conscious and aware of everything that's happening to them quite suddenly. | |||
But between the slowing of the toxins and the healing of what wounds there were that could be healed by such an ersatz spell, they are out of the woods in the most immediate sense. Even if they are now starting to gag and choke and asphyxiate again. (edited) | |||
Kay plops down the syringe in one of the three bodies, having gotten closer to one of them, she rapidly injects her part and it comes MUCH easier than they expect too, thanks to Fox's nimbus. Meaning, more of her potentia flow through the spore cloud as she grant each of Major Arcana the ability to heal themselves with their own potentia as if they were disciples of Life, just in case it might help. (edited) | |||
Mei starts moving immediately, going to the side of the one of the trio that isn't being attended to already by one of the other mages. The first thing she does is administer the antidote that she's been equipped with, but she follows that up with a touch using her legacy's fifth attainment, which starts immediately mending wounds with little more than a touch of her hand. Even scars knit away to nothing in a moment, under the touch of a Cherub. "I'm sorry about what you went through, but you're going to be okay," she says at the same time. "We can provide you with everything you'll need to be sound of body again, and then proceed from there." | |||
For once, Fox manages to just look like someone who is doing her job and not let on that she sees all of this playing out across Gardener's face. "Okay. We're ready. This is going to suck, but we're not going anywhere. I promise." She's made promises to Guardians before, but rarely outside of her cadre, because she really doesn't trust any Guardians outside her cadre further than she can throw them when she's a fox. But this time? She means it. | |||
"Just keep breathing," she prompts. "Keep breathing. We've got you. We're here." Revontulet's hands shimmer in the air as she continues to work Life into the bodies of the brutalized cadre. | |||
Alexis takes only a split second to judge her spot and then plunge her injector in, hands unnaturally sure and steady even before Fox's nimbus takes hold. She then starts working on any remaining injuries left untreated by magical means and checking them over to see if any other unnoted effects are still about. | |||
He didn't warn you that the anti-toxin burns. He forgot to mention that. Because apparently it does. It burns like hell. Gardener can't keep her lid on it and starts shrieking until her air gives out and she passes out. (That's probably a mercy.) Man? Oh, he's a go down with the ship sort. He's not saying anything. He's not even choking. He's just raw dogging it like the freak that he is. Cypher alone is just human enough to not respond to this sort of thing with naked aggression or some sort of preternatural reserve of moral stoicism. That guy is just plain old suffering, even if he's holding the hand of a ghost while doing it. | |||
It's working, though. Cypher's color is starting to improve just a bit. Even as he chokes back against the urge to scream. One can imagine Trenchcoat Detective has the line muted to hide his laughter. | |||
This isn't showing off, not really. This is just Doing The Work. But this? This is a literal Master at work. She looks aside at Mei when she comes to heal one of the Major Arcana, mouthing a silent thank you before putting her hands right down onto the wounds of the Major Arcana -- gently, nimbly, but right across those wounds, fingers flicking blood into the air. Low, animal sounds curl in her throat, and she stays knelt at Gardener's head, her hands curling yantras in the air, painting the sacred words of Life into the world as Lunargent and Brontium and Siderite streak across the visual planes of those Guardians who remain awake. | |||
The vulpine shrieks and cries clatter off the walls and fill the room, eventually resolving into "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," as their wounds close. "I'm so sorry." Their bodies close up their wounds, leaving not even a mark behind. "I'm so sorry. It'll be over soon." | |||
Mei smiles at Fox when given that look, and comes around behind Little Fox to continue the healing. She has plenty of her Potentia reserves left to go around, and she's a Master of Life much as Fox is, so her ability to continue healing and her potential for doing quite well at it are both ready to go. It's only a matter of seconds, and the liberal application of magic that causes glowing auras around Mei that look much like her namesake, to take care of the last of the wounds on the Major Arcana members, including wiping away all the scars of their injuries. | |||
She leans back a little bit into Mei when the Obrimos comes around behind her. She continues to work Life over the bodies of the Major Arcana, restoring their patterns fully in concert with her cadremate. "Okay," she offers in a hoarse voice once all that vulpine invocation passes. "I think you can get up now, if you want to." Her hand comes down to rest on the top of Gardener's head, just briefly, and her gaze flicks to Cypher, specifically. | |||
"She'll be okay," the Thyrsus assures him quietly, with a gentle and rueful little smile. It's as much telling the Guardian what I know now as it is actually reassuring him. "She just passed out from the pain. She'll come to in a minute." | |||
Kay shakes her head, taking a deep breath, emotions rippling through her expression and she quietly makes an exit with her gaze floating about to see any further magic so she can stop it, or at least try to. | |||
The anti-toxin has an exponential effect. The relatively gradual onset is soon followed by miraculous recovery. And not just because Thyrsii and those trained in their arts about to mend wounds. For all that the anti-toxin burned, it burned away. And as the pain worsened, so did the recovery hasten. But in the wake of it, wracked by agonies they're likely not too keen to describe right now, and lying covered in blankets in their own blood and puke, are a fully healed and very much rescued Major Arcana. And their ghost. Familiar? Butler? Boyfriend? They're weird, these three. (Four?) | |||
It's only with the Gentleman's assistance that Cypher is helped to his feet. And though nobody knows it, they've just earned the respect and appreciation of an Epopt. So they've all got that going for them, which is nice. He holds the blanket around himself with difficulty as he leans on his ghost. "So..." he begins, gesturing with one blood caked hand, "This is the basement. Needs... some work." He manages a grin at that before collapsing against the Gentleman again. | |||
"I can help clear your thoughts, at least for the moment? Assuming you are alright with me using Mind, of course." Alexis offers to the recovering Guardians. | |||
"If you'd like, we could also bring you upstairs, let you get some clothes, all of that," Mei offers. "It might be nice to get cleaned off, considering..." she looks around them at the mess. "We're here to help you, ultimately, so..." She spreads her hands. "We're happy to help." | |||
"The basement needs some work," agrees Fox gently, still kneeling by Gardener's head. Perhaps it's the intimacy of having watched her facial expressions as she tried to steel herself for the pain to come, but she's not leaving the woman, just watching and waiting for her to wake up. "And you need a bath, and a minute." A glance aside to Mei as the two have the same thoughts. | |||
"There's more to tell, but it can wait." Until everyone has some pants on and isn't covered in their own puke. | |||
When Gardener regains her senses enough to respond properly to any of this, it's to agree that yes, they really do need a moment. "Why don't you go upstairs. Order some food. Don't sweat the cost. Make it good food. Stuff you want to eat, too. Plenty of drinks. We're going to clean up down here-- I still have a job I do. And we'll be up in a bit." Which is a pretty diplomatic offer from a Sentinel without clothes in whose sanctum you're standing. | |||
Man has managed to sit up, at least. Still hasn't said a word, and probably still won't. He seems stubbornly disinterested in leaving the pool of his own blood. No, audience. I will not be standing with you here. | |||
One of her hands touches the top of Gardener's head ever-so-briefly before she rises. It's a reflexive, animal sort of thing; one might wonder if Fox even knows she did it, that little 'I have seen to you and you are All Right Now'. "Would you mind terribly if I ducked into the workshop for a moment?" she asks, gesturing at her own blood-and-puke-covered clothing. "I won't touch anything." Fox just wants to borrow the demesne to Matter the stuff on her clothing into nothingness. You know. In case they would prefer she doesn't carry any of their DNA out of their Sanctum. | |||
"Sounds like we're heading in the same direction, then," Gardener offers as she begins to walk unsteadily towards the stairs in her bare feet. Which is to say she doesn't mind, particularly. At this point, they're going to have to build a new one anyway. | |||
Mei looks down at herself, from where she had been crouching to tend to injuries as well, and asks, "would you mind taking care of that for me, as well? And I'll see about getting in an order for some lunch. Does anyone have additional food requirements that I should know about? Dietary restrictions, etc?" She seems pretty casual about the whole thing, like their having come to the rescue is just in a day's work, and she's certainly not going to make a big deal out of it if nobody else does. | |||
After the moment when Fox expunges all of the blood and puke from everyone's clothing by simply unraveling its being, and after the part where they explain to the Major Arcana that, well, they did in fact agree to accept Detective Trenchcoat's unconditional surrender along with his Pylon in exchange for information (and the Marks and the astral machines), including the information which saved them, she pulls the phone back out of her pocket, makes sure everyone knows she's about to drop the effect, and then does so. | |||
Customer Service Fox returns. "Thank you for holding!" The 'asshole' on the end of that sentence is implied. "Your offered information has secured you a life long enough to surrender with, at the very minimum. I have some friends here who are very excited to talk to you," she chirrups. "Now. Let's talk practical details of surrender." And she flips the phone to speaker, letting those with bigger, shinier hats start hammering out the hows and wherefores. | |||
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Revision as of 01:46, 14 March 2022
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