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The building's been in repair since the explosion, Scaffolding and tools scattered around the place, a full dumpster of debris is in the alley where Klaire took them to get out of the rubbles.
The restaurant and the corner store next to the building still seem to be out of power and closed until further notice.
In front of the entry door is an old Kurdish woman in a wheelchair and a New York Ranger hat, wearing a pink pantsuit. She's looking at her phone while feeding cheese to a white mouse in her breast pocket. She is whistling a random tune.
A Plymouth Cuda’ painted a bright, banana yellow pulled up in front of the apartment complex, disgorging a rain coat wearing Phyx, dressed in boots and jeans and a turtleneck sweater. The cap on his head read ‘Al’s 24hr”, and as he looked about briefly he went to the trunk to produce a tool belt and took case.
With a cheery grin on his face he approached the older woman in the wheelchair, doffing his cap and offering a smile. “Howdy ma’am. Don’t mind me, I’m just here to start trying to figure out the electricity situation. I’m the new maintenance man for the building.” He gestured with his head towards the slowly repairing building.
WEaring a purple suit with black slacks, Bones seemed to flow into sight. Even when standing still, it seemed like she moved like a river, eyes always scanning.
She studied the site with a bit of anger, knowing what it almost did to her friends, before approaching Phyx and the Kurdish woman. The mouse and everything else drew her into hte situation.
"Good evening Phyx. Good Evening, Shala," she guessed.
Hearth's ride, in contrast, was a quintessential soccer mom minivan, complete with few years of 'My kid's an honor roll student at-' bumper stickers, middle school sport team magnets, and a stick figure family in the window. She arrived last, pulling directly behind the Phyx's car. The woman had short blonde hair, a cheerful smile, and a baby blue manicure. "Hello! I'm Hearth, nice to meet y'all."
First, the old woman's glance turn to Phyx, a quick appraising glance up and down. "I was hoping to catch a word with you, I think." She set her phone into the pocket with the mouse, the mouse climbs out of it and goes to the right hand side arm of the wheelchair.
"Yes, I am Shala." A nod of greeting as she surveys both Bones and Hearth. "Further conversation should probably be had in the building."
Phyx beamed. “Well sure, let’s chat away! Is the word ‘Sasquatch’? That’s a great word. Sasquatch!” He nodded to Bones as she rolled up, grinning and giving her a tip of his hat.
“Good to see you again. How’s it been?” As Hearth pulled up Phyx looked to the minivan with an appraising eye, head tilted to catch any sounds it made. He offered a wave and a nod to the late comer. “Howdy miss. Hearth? Phyx. Guess we’re all in this shooting match together.”
At the word from Shala Phyx just nodded, going to unlock and open the site up and let everybody in. He winced a bit at the destruction. “Boy this was a hell of a mess… stupid, cheating, obvious…” He grumbled to himself as everyone came inside.
"Hearth... of the Soul Wardens? " a grin, "I've met Harmony and Sirius both and consider them friends!"
And a bob of her head towards Shala. She happily headed in when indicated.
She leaned in to give Phyx a tight hug before walking inwards.
"I hope it won't turn into a shooting match!" Hearth said with a little laugh. "And yep, you've got me in one. Soulwarden's resident baker and chauffeur!"
The older woman runs her finger on the back of the mouse and almost as a reaction, her wheel chair turns around and moves toward what is, presumably, a construction zone with tarp covering the main entrance. Repairs are clearly going on well, though there seem to be a pause currently. The lights are off except for a few and they’re still flickering in a really bad way.
“The word’s more like I’m curious what happened here. I got told about this event and how it might pique my interest…” Shala explains “And I figure asking someone involved was a good idea.” She speaks to Phyx, then turn her attention toward Hearth and Bones.
“I’m part of the Mysterium over at the Fecund Coin, I’m a nosy one too.” A look to Hearth with raised eyebrow. “I may request your aid for both of those things, Miss. Moving around is not my specialty.”
“I’m hoping to get other magical opinion on what happened here, beyond one of those robots exploding, just in case I’m coming at this from the wrong angle.”
It is now that the mouse seems to not be normal anymore. It’s tail seem to be like a twisted, tangled wire from a computer mouse and its eyes appear to be lighting up from time to time. “And this is Click, my familiar.”
There is a squeak in response as the wheel chair stops at the edge of the path downward.
"Hello Click," a smile, "It is a pleasure to meet you as well," whether animal or spirit, they'd understand the Obrimos.
"Fecund Coin?" they engage their egregore for the membership roster, just to make sure.
"I am certainly happy to help, Master Seeker Shala."
They looked around in all three levels of twilight, while the others discussed. It was easy when you could see everything at once.
Phyx smiled and returned the hug to Bones with one his own, giving her a squeeze before setting her down.
He grinned at Hearth and raised a brow. “Baker? Cool. We should trade recipes sometime, I’m always looking to expand my portfolio.”
He nodded to Shala as she explained. “Aaaah, now I’m on the trolley.” He tapped his nose. “Sure, I can give you the run down. And if need be I can just pick you and your chair up, but it’s cool if it’s not necessary.”
As they followed Shala towards where the repairs were taking place Phyx looked around, eyeing the damage as he spoke. “We were asked to look into the power issues. Which definitely weren’t coming from any of the equipment in the basement. We know that much anyway. We got down to the basement and found one of the Mark 2s down there, trying to fix the electrical issue of all things. Psyche and I tried to capture it, but it uh… had a self destruct.” He scrubbed the back of his neck at that. “We did find out that they’re not actually autonomous. They’re piloted if they show any sign of personality. Otherwise it’s just a shell.” He shrugged. “They also nicked some of my gear, which I’m pretty pissed about. Like they stole the design somehow.”
"I am curious about why you contacted me," Hearth said, raising an eyebrow at the older woman and failing to hide her amusement. "I won't be much aid in either in fixing your nosey nature, or your status as a member of the Mysterium- though I can't blame you for reconsidering either."
TheUserWin - She/They — Yesterday at 9:25 PM
Click replies in the spirit tongue: Busy, Driving. Hello
"The Fecund Coin is the official name of the New York consilium, just like this is The consilium of the Martyr's Tree, for the consilium of Philadelphia." Shala, as best as Bones can tell is a mid level member of the Mysterium that refused to grow her place so that she could remain in a position that requires her to be in the field.
"I was talking about your baking and chauffeur services dear." Shala replied with a bit of a smile breaking out. "And I contacted you specifically because, while I am no expert, I read and discussed the Mark IIs." Then her atttention shifts to Phyx. "How did they steal your things?"
"Thank you. It's been sometime since I was to the City so nice they named it twice," she flowed around the group, just weaving in and out as the energies work around them, studying them.
"I uh... I grabbed one and tried to shove it's head off..." Phyx looked a bit sheepish about this. "It would have worked if they hadn't set the self destruct off. But it managed to copy the design of my armor. I guess by touch? Certainly not by sight, I ripped it's eyes out. Someone... who was not the original pilot, even 'thanked' me for the design. I really want to find this guy and hit him until words stop coming out..."
He shook his head. "Anyway, far as I could figure it was due to the touch. But maybe it was the specific person who set it off. It went from automated count down to definitely a controller at one point. Real smug too."
"Basically, I'm curious about the origin of that controller or what-have-yous that would be behind the theft. And I figured, Master Hearth, that your specialty might come in handy at that point. If only at eliminating the possibility." Another look at Phyx. "Do you have any remaining pieces of what was stolen? I'd appreciate the help getting where the Mark II exploded."
Click looks up to Bones speaking to him. Power Broken. Can't Connect.
She flowed around, and at that point, pulled up their mage sight of FOrces, Prime, and with a little potentia, Spirit.
"I can help you," Hearth offered, moving to help push the chair for her, expression uncharacteristically serious. "I'll pray that's the only thing I do to help and that my specialty is of no use here tonight at all."
Phyx nodded. "Oh for sure. I am as well. I'd love to have a chance to get back at em." He snapped his fingers. "That does remind me. So the original controller, the one trying to fix the electrical systems, returned to "Hermes Base" when her consciousness fled the shell. But since that's not actually a real place as I gather, we started wondering if the controllers are maybe a little more local than friggin' Mars..."
"It was someone different who snagged my designs. Different voice, different personality. I don't think it's something they can just do, I'm hoping it's just something maybe one person can do. Next time I'm just gonna shoot the damn thing.." He nodded at the question from Shala. "Sure. I've got the shreds of my armor, and I'm building a new one at the moment. If it's just the design you need, I can get you the blueprints. If it's actually a physical object..." He reached into a pocket to remove something which, on closer inspection, turned out to be a slightly melted, cracked piece of his mask, from the lenses that had protected his eyes. He held it over to Shala. "This is the best I can do. As for getting down to where it happened, we just need to go down."
"If you could lend the remains of it to Hearth for her inspection, It would be lovely." Shala says, gripping the arm of her wheel chair as people seem to be ready to move down. "I'd appreciate the help down."
Click for itself seems to study what Bones is doing in particular, just observing right this instant.
Bones remained distracted, staring at the center of the area with a strong intensity that the mages would recognize as scrutiny.
Hearth plucked the piece of scrap from Phyx's fingers and studied it critically for a few moments, turning it this way and that. Her nimbus was warm and the stuff of delicious creation. Bread rising, pie baking, and a hint of bright fire with the burned clean and pure.
“Sure as shootin’. Here ya go Miss Hearth. I hope it aids you in your quest. Cause it’s noggin boppin’ time and I got want to bop em good.” He passed the broken remains of his tech over to her.
At the request from Shala Phyx offered a thumbs up. Getting behind the chair he grabbed both arms of it and with a “one, two, hup!” picked up the whole thing, Shala and all. “Light as a feather. Which is good cause we’re gonna have to hoof it.” He started whistling cheerily as he carried the chair and mage, the tune to “I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts”.
To the untrained eyes, these things were rather invisible, but to the one studying, the room and their surrounding lit up with informations.
To Bones, her eyes received many information: Click being capable of connecting to electrical devices and controlling them in some fashion and then the local electrical circuit.
Lines and waves of glitches the very capacity of carrying electricity on the circuit, torn away and stolen. Broken off of reality. And reality fighting back by trying anyway to pass the power through a stalemate that would continue unless remedied by outside force.
To Hearth's senses? Cracks in reality letting in a darkness. Traces of an intrusion. The flow of reality disturbed along the power lines.
Within her hand, a piece of equipment stolen in all concept. The material tarnished and worst than useless, hindering.
Then her attention drift toward the most damaged room, where the explosion happened. More tarnished materials over there.
"Thank you, Mister." Shala says, running her finger over the back of Click and causing her chair to then roll further in the corridor, slowly. "Let me know if something comes through your examination."
Click controlling the chair comes up to Force and Spirit sight.
Hearth swore softly, gaze flicking from the contaminated junk in her hand to the rest of the mess. "You were right to call me, Shala," she said softly. "I'll add you to the Christmas Cookie List after this. This-" she waggled the piece at Phyx and then gestured to the damage. "and all that... We had an abyssal intrusion."
She flowed behind the rest of the others. Sure, she was studying something with mage sight, but at the same time, Space said that she couldn't be ambushed...
After a moment, she spoke in a stranger than usual, higher pitched, and also more accented with Spanish than normal.
It's been a few weeks. That makes sense given we know when it went boom... It's made by a creature of similar power level to me. So able to be a multiple degree master... Forces seems to be the arcana that has the most chance of helping fix this, so thank goodness I am here.. and there are obvious clues as to abyssal things being involved in this. I agree Hearth.
Phyx gave a nod and a tip of his cap to Shala as he set her down. "Thank you for traveling Faraday airlines, we hope you had a pleasant trip." Still grinning, he looked to Hearth with a raised brow, then the other going up.
"I don't necessarily know what that means, but that sounds bad." He looked to the piece of destroyed gear. "Is that what snagged my stuff? The second voice that showed up? Abyssal seems a good word for that." Bones' recitation got a long listen to and a thing from the lost boy. "That sounds about right. Means it's one of those... Seers? Exarchs? Trying to pick up on the lingo."
"I'm no Expert on the Seers but I'm pretty sure they're no fan of the abyss themselves." Shala comments, stopping shy of entering in the room where the explosion occurred. "The abyss are complicated to explain to someone who hasn't made the trip, but it's sort of the essence of everything wrong. A sort of anti-reality of sort that poison the world."
"Abyss eats magic, whether Pentacle or Exarch. IT's a big gap between where we get our magic and this reality," her voice was normal and she gave a little extra of her will to keep her mage sight up for the rest of the journey, or until she dismissed it.
"Anti-reality is a good way of considering it," Hearth agreed, and gave Bones a nod in approval for the explanation. "I'll do what I can to cleanse this place of its influence though I'm not ruling out burning the entire place down to ashes at this point either."
"Oh. So... worse than the magic tyrants. Greaaaaat. Could it be that the two aren't even connected? That whatever came in to replace the operator we booted is something else all together? Yikes..."
He looked over to Hearth with a raised brow. "I just bought this place. I'd like to be able to give the people who lived here their homes back. I guess if worst comes to worst I can get a different building, but still..."
"I'm guessing it depends on if Bones can fix this properly." Shala says, moving into the space finally, studying it in passing. "And I think that might be what happened, Phyx, or maybe it was something else that happened. But that's a pretty good deduction."
Shala looks to Hearth. "If it's all the same, I may request a birthday cake instead of the christmas cookies." spoken in a light hearted tone.
Click squeaks loudly, not saying anything with it, just an expression of joy or celebration.
"Property means exactly zero versus letting the Abyss out. Think Anti-matter, but on a magical level..." she said to Phyx.
And she kept her gaze on the effects as they look at 'ground zero.'
"I'll do what I can," she said frankly. "But if I can't, would you really want to house people in a place that's been corrupted? Even if it miraculously never attracted any other Abyssal entities or their adherents. It could very well have long-term psychological effects and if someone who lived here ever Awoke I dare say they'd be at an elevated risk of becoming Scelesti." She beamed over to Shala. "I do enjoy making cakes too! So sure."
"Well of course if there's no choice, yes let's turn it to rubble and I'll just get another place to put everyone who got dispossessed. I admit I don't know what a Scelesti is, but nothing you said made it sound good, so I got that much out of it."
Phyx grinned at Shala and tipped his hat. "Why thanks ma'am. I clearly have to admit to being a bit in the dark here, but then that's not the end of the stick I'm at. How do we deal with it?"
"Right now, Bones seem to have part of the solution and Hearth may be able to help." Shala says, inspecting the room with a keen, interested eyes. "If what I'm reading about the room is right, I... don't know how you or anyone else even survived the explosion."
"I think my biggest worry here would be if the thing stole anything from the Mark II. But I admit, I have no idea how to verify any of it."
As the mystery has already been reveal to Bones' scrutiny and Hearth's attainment, there seem to be a distinct track of what caused the explosion and remains what hasn't been swept away in repairs seem to indicate small shards of the same sort of tarnished materials in the walls and such. Remains of the Mark II
She focused on her inner being. Bones was short for the Bones of Magic. Bones of Truth. With that in mind, she sought the truth of other wavelengths of twilight, akin to those she already could see...
As she cast, no magic could be felt, or nimbus flared, due to her veiling spells.
"I had some very, very high end armor that it shredded." Phyx gestured to the broken piece. "And that thankfully ate most of it. And I'm pretty sturdy. And... I was just standing in front of Psyche, so managed to take some of the blast for her. But yeah, we were lucky. It was way stronger, way more powerful than it should have been. Presumably boosted further by whatever abyss thing showed up. I dunno if the self destruct is normally that powerful. I'd figure no, given if one went up in public it could do waaaaay more damage..."
He stepped back a bit, letting the mages do their thing, taking a moment to make sure they weren't going to be surprised, another ping against the building giving him a sense of their environment.
As Bones got to work, Hearth did too, taking out a sprig of mistletoe and tucked it behind her ear before began directing her soul to dispel what had been done and was left behind. She hummed as she worked, the tune vaguely reminiscent of Fantasia where Mickey bespelled the broom to clean for him.
The only thing that would show up to Bone's strange new set of vibration, truly, was Click's active use of electronic and spiritual magic. No sign of additional wrongness or presence than the ones already detected would be revealed.
"Courageous." Shala comments to Phyx as she wheels out of Hearth and Bones' way, watching them work, each their own ideas and magic. She took off her rangers cap and set it on her lap, running a hand through her grey-white hair.
The work that Hearth put in however was different, when completed, something lifts from the air, something feel a little safer to breathe in. The problems persisted, but somehow., the cause pushed back away, cleansing the entire block from the influence. The Abyss just told to Be Gone are indeed, gone.
"Good job, hearth... the heart of a home... and you cleansed this home for those who live here in the future..." she said in her flowing speech as she looked around to see if the Supernal Dispellation did enough to fix the strange energy flux or not .
Phyx just ducked his head at the compliment, scrubbing a hand at the back of his neck. "If I'm being honest, I tried to get it under control and couldn't manage it. I thought I might be able to contain it, but all it really ended up doing was redirecting the explosion a bit. That probably also helped a little. But I still kind of feel like I screwed up. Need to get better."
He looked over to Bones as she spoke, looking around the area. "I gather that means you were successful in clearing whatever it is out?" His gaze went to Hearth, tipping his hat. "It's much appreciated. And I'm sure the tenants will thank you as well."
Hearth beamed, and bowed her head to Bones in acknowledgement. She carefully put the sprig of mistletoe away. "I've done what I can. If you ever feel anything strange here though, or something else happens, please come speak with me immediately. Especially after Sleepers move in."
"Or you can call the Ghost busters too, which, to be fair, is calling you too, since you're a Moros, I believe." Shala says, presumimg knowledge of Death. "I think maybe the only thing left for repair is maybe reminding reality how electricity works."
Shala looks around. "I'm glad I came here, it's not an exploration of a dream ruin or sleeping in a forgotten temple at edge of reality, but it's real and tangible."
She pulled her perfected stone wand from her bag, as well as her perfected siderate and orichalcum flask. She began to chant in the high speech and splash water from the flask like one would expect a priest to bless holy water. The wand began to weave into and out of the air. The Bones of Magic were being channeled...
"Sure, but I'm not a ghosty goth Moros," Hearth countered. "I'm a 'Matter-includes-Pastries-Damnit' Moros. We're by far the best and most fun flavor of mages who walk the path!"
At that comment Phyx's head turned to look at Hearth. "Reeeeally? I've been trying to catch up and learn stuff, but I understand Matter stuff is where I want to be looking. Bones and Fox explained Perfected Materials to me... wondering if that might help deal with the Mark 2s..." He shrugged. "But either way, thanks for doing that. I'm glad we don't have to tear it all down. S'winter after all."
"Matter is great! I have the feeling we'd apply it differently but you're welcome to come visit and bake with me sometime."
As soon as Bones' magic is over, woven into reality, the lights turn on, the buzz of electricity returns, covering the silence immediately.
Click beeps and its eyes turn from red to green, like LED lights. Power. Fixed. Connection Possible. Thanks.
"I might stick around the area for a while. Just in case I'm needed for something or another." Shala says with a frank smile. "This went better than I had hoped for."
"Never thought I'd use the Supernal to reinforce the laws of the fallen world..." she muttered, "But to make it safe to learn things? That's the goal, right Master Shala?"
Phyx blinked and grinned. "I think you're probably right. Baking did not occur to me. But yeah I'd love to. I do a sideline in edibles and other weed stuff, so new recipes would be great. Plus it's pretty zen." He chuckled. "I was more thinking stuff more... metallic, for a start."
When the lights came back on Phyx gave a cheer. "Amazing! I bet the other stuff all got fixed then as well, lights should be fine on the street too." He nodded to Bones and Hearth. "It's much appreciated you two. If there's anything I can do to help with something, let me know." He nodded to Shala. "That's for sure. I didn't get blown up by a bomb or anything. It's like one thousand percent better."
"There's a difference between enforcing the fallen laws and making sure the world remains in one piece." Shala says with a chuckles. "But it's a good thought exercise, I suppose to consider the metaphors behind our supernal action."
"Master Shala, I would like to meet with you at the Athenaeum when you are available."
"No matter how much you enjoy the Mistborn novels, you shouldn't eat metal," Hearth said with a laugh. "And well done, Bones. You did good work here tonight. Kept it all nice and tidy. Does anyone need a ride home or elsewhere tonight?"
"I am good, I think. I want to return with Phyx to his Armory."
"I'd love a ride back to my hotel room." Shala says to Hearth, then her attention turn to Bones. "I'll let you know when I'm available, I have to clear a thing or two with some people before I get access."
The Phyx in question nodded. “Yeah sure, I can give you a ride back to my place.” He boxed to Hearth and Shala. “I’m pretty solid myself. Glad this all got settled. If anyone needs a hand, I’m always contactable through Augur. But I’m always around. And if you want me to supe up that wheelchair, I can give that a shot too.”
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