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[IC] Trespassers of the Multiverse: Director's Cut: The Whole Bus


Hal Henderics

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Harry watched carefully as they did their work, not interfering, but paying close attention to how Lucille worked. She seemed capable of seeing somehow, but there might come a time when she missed something due to the quirks of light based vision, and with her magic, things could go pretty badly wrong. When it was complete, he looked it over, stuck his hand in, and was satisfied. "Nice job. Should be useful for the samples, and any food."

 

Following his own advice, he carefully placed the proffered poison sacs into the fridge, off to one side, along with the blood and tissue samples from the serpent and the wyvern. Once he had done that, he made his way over to the back of the bus, sitting down at the medbay with his own gear, the assorted tools, and the salve that Lucille had given too him. He turned to Tattletale on one of the seats. "How are you feeling? Any better?"

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"Oh yeah, tons."  Tattletale says with a smirk worthy of certain species of the canidae family.

 

"The sword has an Artificial Intelligence."  She jabs a thumb at the inert ruin that was the Shattered Greatsword.

 

"Uber and L33t don't recognize it, but it's clearly from Legend of Zelda, probably from a game that hasn't come out on Earth Bet or Aleph yet."

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"Oh, good to hear. That's the sword that decided it'd rather be here traveling at high velocity than whatever Legend of Zelda is? A video game?" That was certainly interesting. That left the unanswerable question of why it had decided to be here, rather than there, but that would probably be an unproductive line of inquiry.

 

"Did they say how well the first show went? Assuming they filmed us, of course." Harry was genuinely curious how this whole thing on Earth Bet would turn out. Would the videos be regarded as skilled editing? Maybe a Cape with illusions? It was almost certain that they would have a lot more attention on them next time they returned. "You still interested in me trying to figure something out to prevent tinker headaches?"

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Arminius, for those paying attention, has taken a scale from the Wyvern and is looking at it really hard. So hard in fact that his runes are glowing. After some time of this it disappears, being replaced with a mote of red light. Arminius frowns at it and, with a sigh, flicks his wrist causing it to disappear as his runes stop glowing.

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Kusuke, for his part, was still rubbing at his eyes (despite rewinding himself to cancel out the blindness) and trying to figure out what the hell it was that Lucille had just done. The girl herself didn't seem particularly approachable, and probably needed some rest after that, however, so he let the issue lie for now. There was another person he felt like nettling at the moment, anyway. He flopped down on a bus seat across the aisle from Satomi, and turned his head toward her. "So, you've decided that I'm not a gaijin then, Satomi-san?"

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Satomi had decided to sit down rather than to bother to try and process whatever in the worlds it was that Lucille had just done -- whatever bizarre powerful magic that was, it was frankly out of her league, and Satomi sort of didn't want to touch it. Kusuke's question, though, did at least present something of a distraction from the bizarreness of it.

 

Satomi interlaced her fingers, propped ehe elbows up on her lap, and rested her chin on her hands, looking at the time manipulator. "...well, um, I did have to put some thought into it. After the whole souls thing," a flicker of annoyance crossed her face but she forced it off, "I had to think about how I considered a lot of things, and I suppose that that may mean considering people as foreigners, rather than gaijin... and then foreigners would still not require honorifics because they aren't exactly within the Rokugani social structure... but you do seem similar to Rokugani people in a lot of ways, and I remembered you using honorifics before, so..."

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"Rokugan sounds like some kind of alternative version of Japan from several centuries ago. As far as I can tell, there are a few differences, but it's pretty tough to say they're not somehow related. Of course, it's probably better off than Japan where and when I'm from. . ." Kusuke trailed off, sounding vaguely sad. "Anyway. Uhh. . . I figured it might be a good idea, speaking of the souls bit, if we could try to have a rational conversation about it. Try to get things cleared up a bit more, you know?"

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Satomi muttered just a little disgruntledly at that. "Maybe Japan is an alternate future version of Rokugan, or something." Still, Satomi wasn't stupid, and she had heard the hint of dolor in his voice there, so she moved on to addressing his next subject.

 

Well, perhaps she sounded a little bit melancholy at that topic herself. "...right. Well... I'm not really sure what to say on that topic, honestly." Satomi shifted uncomfortably -- she didn't like to be at a loss like this, but she WAS at a loss. "I guess... ask whatever you need to."

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Jun had already wiped off most of the potentially poisonous (and thankfully cooling) blood that had covered the entirety of her white suit of power armor when she walked inside of the magic school bus once more. And she made a mental note to wipe off the blood still left on her hands on her sadly ruined cloak to clean the damned things before she did anything else.

But of course the sound of something that is big and heavy dropping somewhere behind her would cause an immediate change in her priorities. And she slowly turned around to look at it...as her mind scrambled to try and think of a technically plausible series of events that would lead to the deaths of several members of the party in a way that is triggered by a heavy object being dropped on the bus's floor. The fact that she would see absolutely nothing of interest behind her but a very overworked man dragging a rather enormous gun away from yet another mysterious portal containing yet another man in armor was quite a relief. And she would swiftly salute back at the green man...before she quietly muttered a curse when she sprayed some more blood on her visor.

 

The ambassador simply stared at Harry as he struggled to drag the big gun and stuff it underneath a nearby seat before anyone else would notice, and she quietly noted down where the damned thing was located before she finally settled down to finally finish cleaning her armor from any remaining traces of blood. And she reluctantly opened the door to the infinite expanse of the void for just long enough to throw her cloak away before she immediately closed the damn thing up.

 

She would quietly take a seat on top of the bus's most heavily armed and dangerous...seat immediately afterwards. And she then crossed her legs before she quietly replayed the infinitely enjoyable "Ferry conversations" recording, with the hopes that she might glean some new bits of information about exactly how things went horribly wrong...and perhaps finding a way to use said information to her advantage.

 



(2, 20) (71) Jun creates "(Trick) Literally the worst thing to say: While Equipped, The user automatically fails any diplomacy check, making the target highly opposed to the user politically, inciting conflict if possible."

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After the ice box had been finished, lucille had gone back to examining the staff Parias and his allies had handed them, her mind reaching out and trying to glean any information she could off it. Namely though, what she was really looking for was a way to circumvent the "Mana Drain" the priest had mentioned... she rather liked her wits, and she'd prefer not to have them dampened, even temporarily and with the promise all would return to normal if she rested after each use. 

     It didn't take long however, for her to find precisely what she was looking for- yes, that right there.... Parias had mentioned that mana functioned off of the traits of the user, the various aspects of their being. This staff functioned off blue- intelligence, wit, charisma; but... there was a way to give it the power it needed, in a far more efficient manner than letting it feed directly off her mind.

 

She could let it consume idle and residual thoughts instead, especially if she went to the trouble of generating a lot of them whenever she used the staff... yes, yes, it was so simple. Why, she even went so far as to test it out, and the knowledge indeed held true, as a small bolt of green energy formed in her hand, and though Lucille did feel a slight pull as the staff drained away a few surface level thoughts, eating them up like a hungry...well, serpent, she didn't feel anything penetrate beyond just that... the surface level of her mind. She did it again, and once more, it simply skimmed whatever it found on the surface, creating yet more small bolts, which lucille found she could easily control, with a bit of focus. 

 

Lucille has spent 2 Merit upgrading the Serpent Staff to remove it's Int Drain effect!

 

Soon enough, she was satisfied with the weapon, confident it would indeed be useful. Like her primary staff, she engraved a Miniaturization Sigil on it, entered a simple trigger word, and watched as the thing shrunk down to quite the portable size- about that of a wand -before she slipped it into her satchel. She was far from down however, for the next thing she did was examine the worn and acid burned bone armor she'd worn for.... she literally didn't even know how long it'd been since she made it. 

     The thing, just like the Galdur trees, had saved her on more than one occasion, back home. Just as it had helped her come out of that last battle only half dead, instead of quite dead... but the damn thing was pitiful in it's current condition, after that barrage of acid she'd suffered. Mavens knew how long it would last until it finally did fail her when she needed it most- and that...

 

well that was something lucille was not eager to find out. Not at all.

 

She drew yet another fusion sigil, tossed in the worn cervidae armor, and the wyvern scale she'd picked up in the hell hole they'd just got back from. Still though, it felt like something was... missing? She couldn't put her finger on it...perhaps it was the weight? or how stiffing the armor had felt as she wore it, whilst exposed to the disgusting, hot winds of that hellish world. 

     Yes actually... that was indeed it. by the time they got down and she'd removed it, she'd been sweating so much she was practically swimming- the thing could definitely do to be slimmed down, perhaps with a bit of fidgeting during the fusion....No. No... wait, yes, no, she had a better idea.

 

She emptied the pockets of her vest, and then tossed the garment into the third and final circle, and with a snap of her fingers and an activation chant, the ritual was soon going in full force. By the time it's light faded, Lucille had managed to work up a design from it's three primary components that she felt would both offer better protection than the some of their parts, as well as not make her feel as though she were drowning from her own homeostasis during especially heated engagements.

 

And what she pulled from the circle wasn't... that. But... it didn't really matter, it was still better defense wise than the old, worn armor, and it seemed to have fullfilled the second requirement decently enough. She put it back on, adjusting it here and there- twas vest like the one she had before, but now A black and red camo pattern, and to those who were sighted it would've looked like woven ordinary fabric at a glance. But to Lucille, as she brushed her hands across it's surface, it became quite clear what it was made from- Scales... countless tiny scales, all overlaid in thin layers. 

 

Lucille has crafted the following out of her old armor, her vest, and the Deathwyvern Scale!

Spoiler

Draco Vest: A small but incredibly durable vest. At a glance it appears to be ordinary fabric, but upon further examination it's actually made up of countless overlapped wyvern scales, which harden upon impact to protect the user from harm. It has several pockets which have some stretch to them, and are durable enough to hold even magma. 
~Current Effect~ [Bound. Grants +6 Res while equipped. Able to carry extremely dangerous materials without risk.] 
Level 1: [Grants +3 Res while equipped]
Level 2: [Now grants +5 Res. Becomes Bound to lucille.]
Level 3 (Crafted): [Now grants +6 Res.  Able to carry extremely dangerous materials without risk.]

      She pondered for a moment or two, before bringing out on the horns from her satchel, as well as the kazoo... just encase her analysis of it during the fusion's end had been wrong. And with a not-very-mighty, but quite quick and dextrous inward thrust, she attempted to stab herself with the nicked horn...

 

She didn't even feel it. Not in the vein that she didn't feel the pain as it entered her flesh, no, no... she did not feel it, as in the thing never penetrated her flesh at all. She looked down at the horn, and saw the tip had actually broken off, a section of the scales shimmering in the light around the point of it's impact. Lucille reached down and felt them...and that patch was as hard, if not harder, than steel. There'd been no way in hell the tusk would've ever gone through. A smirk couldn't help but form itself, even if it wasn't precisely as good as she had hoped, this thing could still easily survive Armageddon... hell, who knows what type of things the pockets could...

 

She did. She'd made and just tested the damn thing after all, and the answer to that question was already becoming quite clear. 

 

"Oh the things I could, and probably will, carry with you...." Lucille remarked, "And you even stopped me from getting stabbed, like good armor is wont to do. I think this has been an undeniable a success, one way or another...."

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Satomi was silent for a moment, which was of course nice and awkward, but after a couple of moments she nodded once, then twice, as if coming to a decision, then she spoke, even if it was after a sigh. "I... believe that I can take a guess. If I take what I remember what you were saying earlier... on the world you're from, souls play an integral piece of who a person is and... makes them a person, I suppose? So when I was assuming that foreigners don't have souls, you were assuming that I was saying that foreigners aren't people. Does that sound about right?"

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"Basically, yes," Lucille responded. She didn't really seem that surprised about soma's voice or her presence, as she set to work cleaning up her supplies "What I do is something called 'Thaumaturgy' which uh... just think of it as me taking the rules of reality, and... tweaking them a bit- like with the fusion just now. Took a few things, mixed them with a monstrous amount of calculations, raw focus, and some knowledge about the underlying patterns that causes pretty much all of reality to tick, and then I tore the objects down into their base traits, concepts, stuff like that, picked the ones I liked best, and put them back together into something new. Its uh... what? Kinda like making a recipe, I guess... except I just write the recipes as they're needed, have a lot more control over the final outcome, and don't have to wait through all the boring and time consuming parts like having to prepare all the ingredients, mix them together, measure into portions, back them, or do any decoration work after."

 

Which was, actually quite ironic, given the Mavens had forced her continue to practice the proper techniques of an Alchemist even after they'd taught her this sigil. While she had seen the principle behind it- it was better to know how to do both Conceptual and Physical Alchemy, she still felt the decision had been a bit backwards, the idea had been that even if for whatever reason she couldn't scribe the fusion sigil, she could still create something using proper tools and her own hands.

     But of course, given that sigils were piss easy to get access too, considering all one needed was something to write or carve with, or ones own verbal calculations, if one was skilled enough (which of course, Lucille herself had already done several times even before she got swept up into this mess of worlds being eaten). Actual tools, such as beakers, flasks, bottles, pedestals, etc, a fire to brew the solution over... they were not always so easy to come by. And though an Alchemist did indeed use runes and chants during the brewing process, the actual materials were still king on the physical side. A mixer who lacked his tools, and also lacked the knowledge and skill to perform Conceptual Alchemy... well, they were just shit out of luck really.

 

"By the way," Lucille continued "I don't think I ever got your name. I know from the voice you're the one who amplified my staff though...and the one who took some of the energy from that stone I examined and was laughing on the floor in her own little world..."

 

Now that she was probably as close to her as she'd ever been before, Soma probably would've noticed the very obvious issue in the other girl's eyes, if she hadn't all the times before; an issue so obvious that just about any high school dropout who'd paid decent attention during Anatomy class could've spotted it and understood why it was an issue...

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"My name is Julie Anders, and my Cape name is Somatotrope."

 

"I didn't really Amplify it.  I just Grew it.  I can take an area of space, and anything inside that area starts to grow larger, and more complex.  My power doesn't work on living things though."

 

"...  The biggest problem with my power is that objects I grow shrink back down over time.  I wonder if you could remove that "Trait" with your Thaumaturgy."

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"I....could..." Lucille said "but it would take a different spell than what I just used. Unless... you want to try and directly change whatever inside you gives you that power- which I technically can do, but shouldn't do... won't do..." there was a visible shudder as she rubbed arm, looking at the floor, and seeing literally nothing... same as always "it... it doesn't end well. For anyone. Let's leave it at that. Anyway, do you... want me to try it, I guess? Things would probably go horribly wrong again if I used the fusion ritual on you to fix your problem directly, but I should be able to use the other spell to fix any objects you alter without any trouble."

 

Come to think of it, actually.... now that she mentioned it, she could have probably Transfigured a person quite easily in order to fix chronic problems inside their bodies, and it would probably be far safer than trying to reach some macgyvered treatment by fusing them with something like the regenerative powers of the Galdur Tree. But just as quickly as the thought came, Avada's screams once more filled her mind, and she quite literally quaked in her boots as she quickly shook her head, banishing the hypothesis. 

     Didn't matter how 'safe' it supposedly was, didn't matter how many lives it could improve or outright save, if it really worked... there was no way in any of the worlds out there that she was ever letting herself repeat something like what the two of them had attempted that horrible, wretched day.

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Kusuke nodded. "Yeah. It's even more than that, honestly. It's not just what makes you a person, it holds every single detail about your life. If you use equipment that they have back on my world, you can analyze someone's soul and learn a lot about them. Not that this is a common practice; it's usually for studying the Boundary indirectly. But, yeah, that's why I got upset. That, and I know a man that perpetrates the most vicious atrocities on people because of what he thinks of people and their souls."

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Satomi crossed her arms, and her voice did carry a bit of resentment still. "So you heard me and concluded that I was the same sort of atrocity-committing monster." She was silent for a couple of moments, before she frowned. "...no... I'm sorry. I shouldn't be trying to..." She shook her head as if to shake off her previous remarks, and then went back to the topic at hand. "Souls are less central where I come from. They... I suppose it's best described that they carry some core of you, your honor, your karma, and some vague things that none can really claim to fully describe -- perhaps true lovers will feel a bond in their next life, perhaps one will feel a grudge they have no logical reason for, and that is the result of souls. They determine where you end up in your next life within the Celestial Order, whether you are kuge, heimin, or himin, your station in life. I... don't want to claim to... know anything about this now, but... in Rokugan, foreigners aren't considered part of the celestial order. That's why they're called specifically gaijin."

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"Don't pretend you don't have sore points either," Kusuke said bluntly in response to her tone. "Anyway. Now that I've actually got you talking about this, can't you see why someone would be offended if you said they had no soul in that view too? Your honor's important to you, right? And your social status." He decided that the topic of how immoral a caste system - which this sounded like - was at a later time. "You'd be saying that somebody has no honor, no place in society, and none of those sort of. . . ephemeral bonds with other people. That they're less of a person."

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"That is...  No, I reacted as I did because I am short-sighted, short-tempered, and uncomfortable in large groups," Mirri admits uncomfortably from nearby, "But that is why I was angered.  However unintentionally, you implied that the honored dead were undeserving of such respect, having no spirit to become one with the Force upon passing."

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Kusuke's tone was souring again, and now Mirri was involved in the conversation too, both of them presenting her with questions that Satomi knew had the potential to cause great offense again. Satomi took a deep breath in, and then took a slightly shaky breath out. Then she suddenly slapped her hands against the table, visibly steeling herself -- at this rate, she was going to turn into some sort of coward the way she was quaking at simply talking to people. Of course, she still had to have some care with her words.

 

First, Kusuke. "I... would not say that makes them less of a person. Just... not Rokugani. Yes, my honor is important to me. Of course it is, but I am a samurai of the Emerald Empire. I would not have expected someone from any of the foreigner kingdoms to follow Rokugani honor, and certainly no loyalty to Rokugani lords, and therefore no place in Rokugani society. But I would not expect a Rokugani to follow foreigner codes or foreigner lords, either. This... doesn't make a foreigner less of a human being."

 

Then, Mirri. "I... do not know what the Force is. Or what your world's rituals for death are. I certainly did not then. How was I supposed to? You-- you share your own views on souls, and spirits, and foreigners, but how is it fair that you two expect me to have known what they are? You cannot fix my previous confusion by pressing me on it now."

 

Her breath hitched. "Things are... they're different here, and you clearly even have advantages over me in that regard. I've seen things that I find disgusting here, yet... I never told Arminius to kill himself for being deceitful, nor did I attack him, for example, no matter how much it reminds me of the damned Scorpion. Yet... you keep wanting me to say that I was wrong for not knowing how things work on your worlds, or the previous world, as if I ever had any sort of chance of that, or-- as if it is my fault you are the first foreigners I've ever seen. I've-- I've even been trying to adjust my views, because I know now. What more could I do?"

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Frigus peeled off his armor and lent Lucille and Harry a hand, using his magic on Lucille's circle when asked.  It wasn't exactly complex or mentally draining.  After finishing he pulled out his note-pad and pen, found a spot to sit in the bus, and started finishing his report(+1 Int).  There wasn't that much left to fill out in it, just explanations of what happened mostly, plus any other world details he felt like adding.

He was done within a couple minutes if sitting and focusing on the task so he looked up and around to see what everyone else was up to.

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"I trust you, but there's no way you are getting me into one of those circle things."  Soma shudders at the thought of some of the crazy shit that has come out of them thus far.

 

"I can grow anything you think is worth growing.  It isn't like it costs me anything, and I don't have anything interesting worth growing."

Edited by Hal Henderics
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