A Conjuror's journey

"Yes, that's fine." The pinkette rasped, sipping at the offered water. Next time the others wanted to spar, she was demanding drink breaks.

"Okay... Done."

Meeting her beaming smile with a much weaker one, Louise was left with the awkward situation of not knowing what to do next. It'd probably be bad form to talk about the machine's... well, mechanical-ness. At least not when her knowing that information was probably why she was on the ship in the first place. Similarly, talks of magic or weapons wouldn't be appropriate.

What else did people talk about? Ruby was always happy to discuss weapons, Master Cynric magic, and Vicky didn't seem to mind what they talked about as long. How was she supposed to socialize with P.E.N.N.Y if her usual topics weren't available and the two weren't close enough to banter? Did the inhuman thing even care about that kind of thing? Nobody had prepared her for this situation!

Fleeing physically wasn't an option, but mentally? P.E.N.N.Y. seemed content to sit in silence as they waited for a response from the General, so it wasn't like she was abandoning the mechanical girl. Perfectly acceptable.

Focusing everything on the connection to her familiar that she was always distantly aware of, Louise prepared to try something she hadn't bothered to get around to yet. She knew the theory behind familiar summoning and bonds by heart, but so much of it was mired in the zealotry of Brimir worshiping mages and 'facts' she now knew to be false. Well, there wasn't anything stopping her from trying and making corrections as she worked.

Like a single strand of silk, the tether between them drifted in the winds of her thoughts. Catching it was a simple matter of will and she probed it to find that the strand was a raging torrent of magicka flowing back and forth between her and Tsun. Any excess energy was sucked from her soul and sent to the zombie, where it combined with Master Cynric's enchantments before the the dregs of unused magicka then came back to her to repeat the cycle.

The thrumming note produced by the river of magic in her soul was impossibly relaxing. All bodily discomforts bled away in the currents. It was so nice that she didn't notice that she was slipping further in until it was too late, her mind dragged out of her body and down the current.

Fear not her own overwhelmed all thought as she reached the end. All sense of feeling was dull, like her entire body had fallen asleep. More confusing, she faintly felt two more arms than she should and a strange... something around her groin. The more confused and agitated she became trying to piece together what was happening, the more the fear grew and made it even harder to focus. All the while a clicking, wheezing, chittering sound reverberated around her mind.

Shut up!

The shouted order didn't leave her lips, but the noise stopped as the foreign fear shrunk away and magnified in on itself. She ignored it as she could finally make sense of what she was seeing; Blake and Hinata in a small room with a metal table.

"-ould be doing something." Blackie sighed.

Watching the floor, the white eyed girl replied, "Y-you are doing something. Shino says you've been very helpful."

"I know, it's just.... ugh... there has to be something I can do besides give outdated info. They're my responsibility."

"Ano... Shino is much more capable than I am..." Hinata hedged, poking her fingers together nervously.

Blackie caught the implication in her statement and scowled. "So you're saying I'd just get in the way?"

"N-no, I-"

Cutting her off with a despondent sigh, Blake shook he head. "You're probably right."

Seeing Blackie's cute little ears flatten like that always made Louise want to pet the cat-girl to make her feel better a-and... why was she... her hand had moved on its own! She could only watch as Blake stiffened at the contact and turned in shock to regard her.

Cheeks burning scarlet, Blake stuttered, "Ts-Tsun, what?"

Well, if it hadn't been obvious from the four arms, sudden change in location, and timing of the change... This was absolutely mortifying! And why was the fear now mixed with hope and...

What, do you want my approval for this travesty?!

Status: Tsun-Tsun
Magicka: (5404/14424)

Choose:
[] So Tsun is apparently somewhat independent, nothing you hadn't suspected already.

[] Find that tether and retreat back to your own body as fast as possible.

[] Write in.

--------------------------------------------
A/N: Congrats, you've finally found the first step to properly utilizing the familiar bond. This comes with a 20% increase in magicka capacity... too bad you didn't find this until after reducing her cap.

Panicking as she tried to relocate the connection to her own body, Louise was stuck staring back at Blake from within her familiar.

Are you stupid, say something back... wait, n-

"Blake." The daft zombie said without giving her time to retract her hasty command.

Now both of the girls were staring at him in shock. Everyone knew Tsun didn't talk. It had been months and he hadn't said a single word or even grunted. Now she'd gone and made him do so, of course they'd be shocked. She certainly wasn't sticking around now.

Pushing into the terrified mass of worship, hope, and fear, Louise's mind was filled with vague images. Needle-like legs of chitin, venomous fangs, eight unblinking eyes, a cavern lit by virulent red crystals, cruel creatures with bodies like Vicky's, repeated deaths as her tiny body was destroyed by the larger arachnids in the cavern.

She would have shivered with revulsion if she could. Of course her familiar was a spider-thing. Why did it always have to be bugs?!

Pushing past the unbidden images in her now hysterical familiar's mind, she grasped the tether of magicka. As her mind slipped out of his body, one last image presented itself. A svelte woman garbed in steel hard silk and chitin so dark it seemed to drink the light around it. A fan-like crown of spikes and webbing topped her head while eight long spider legs came from her back. Superimposed atop the image of this dangerous and monstrous queen, for what else could she be, was Louise herself. Both faces' eyes seemed to lock onto her and both sets of lips quirked up in an amused smirk.

Wish a gasp, Louise sat up in her own body once more. She was back on the same bed as earlier, but this time there was a man in doctor's attire frowning at a machine connected to her bed. P.E.N.N.Y. smiled tearfully and waved from behind the doctor.

"How... You were brain-dead for ten minutes!" The doctor exclaimed in consternation.

"I'm fine now, thank you." Louise told him as she stood up and brushed herself down. Sleeping in armor really wasn't good for clothes, the fabric was all bunched up and wrinkled. Putting the disturbing images out of mind for now, she addressed the mechanical girl. "Are you alright?"

Nodding, P.E.N.N.Y. replied, "Yes, I am fine. I was really worried when I saw your Aura acting strangely and then you collapsed, so I called for help. What happened?"

"Nothing important... Did the General respond yet?" She deflected, ignoring the doctor's protests as she left the medical facility with the cheerful abomination in tow.

"Oh! General Ironwood is talking with Ruby and Yang right now, so he said we can wait."

Well... that was convenient. Now she had time to process the fact that she'd embarrassingly just made her familiar pet Blake because of her own impulses, that she could apparently send herself into her familiar to use his senses and command him in more detail, and that she needed to do something about turning her own body catatonic. Oh and the fact that Tsun was more than just a magically corpse puppet, but rather a corpse being possessed by a demonic spider that thought she was some kind of arachnid-god-queen.

It could think and feel and act without her input! The thing had been following her around for over a year without her knowing! Did Master Cynric know? He probably did, he was the one that resurrected it. Why didn't he say anything? Did he assume she knew too? Maybe it was obvious and she was just too incompetent to notice.

Did this actually change anything? She'd already suspected he was at least a little independent.

As she'd learned that morning, Tsun wouldn't dare attempt to harm her even when ordered. He feared and revered her for some reason and she honestly didn't know which emotion was stronger. Just who or what was the woman her familiar seemed to think she was?

Even with the obvious monstrous limbs sprouting from her back, the cruel beauty surpassed her in all physical regards, so it wasn't as if there was any real comparison to be made. None of the spiders or monsters in that cavern dared approach her, so she was definitely powerful. That woman had the sort of power that Louise had always craved, the kind that kept those that would want to harm her too scared to try and make those that didn't know her ire sing her praises.

Maybe... maybe Tsun was just seeing his master's potential?

As if... he's my familiar, he probably just sees me like that because that's how he interprets what I want to be like.

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As soon as the ship made landfall that afternoon, Cattleya's departure was met with various well wishes. The cruise over had been peaceful, but she wasn't a fan of these commoner ships. Why couldn't they use proper airships so that she wouldn't have to deal with sea sickness?

In any case, the cheerful and friendly acquaintances she'd made aboard were a good distraction from her bouts of nausea, but now she needed to focus on her mission. Somewhere on this landmass was a set of ruins that could help her track down these false gods.

Stepping off of the docks, she was treated to the sight of wood paneled houses, colorful clothes hung on lines above the street, and crowds of faunus milling about market stalls. There were fish mongers, linen salesmen, baubles and curios, and even a woman selling small grey bear-like creatures. And the people! She wanted to stop at all of them and see everyone! Curved horns, fluffy bunny ears, flicking kitty tails, fish people flitting through the waters at the edge of the docks, a boy with bat wings, two dog eared children; Cattleya's previous determination quickly vanished in a sea of adorableness and she lost herself in browsing the stalls as she talked with everyone she could.

It was nearing dusk when she was interrupted by a firm hand on her shoulder. Turning around, the pinkette had to look up to meet the eyes of the hand's owner. His skin was mottled with dark patches and his shoulders broad. In a deep, gravelly voice, the large man spoke, "Awfully bold of you to come here."

"Is it?" She asked, baffled as to what the man was talking about.

Snorting, he pulled her away from the stall and started toward a group of masked people in white and black. "My men have been keeping an eye on you and you seem harmless enough, for your kind, so I'll give you a warning. Humans aren't welcome here."

Shoved toward the group of masked faunus, the pinkette's arms were grabbed and bound before she had any idea what they were up to. "Take her back to the ship before it leaves in the morning, tell Sharon she'd better keep an eye on her what kind of passengers she picks up."

Baffled as to why this was happening, Cattleya wasn't going to let them just send her away. It would be easy to break her bonds by transforming and she was going to do so, but a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Wait, you're making a mistake!" Patypata shouted as she ran toward the group, only to be caught in the giant man's arms.

"Paty? What are you doing here?"

Blushing, the sheep-girl answered, "My sister caught you sneaking out and... well, somebody had to keep an eye on you. Anyways, you guys are wrong, she's not a human."

"Wha- how dare you!" Cattleya cried in shock at the accusation.

"Sounds like she disagrees. 'Sides, she's got no traits." A masked woman said from behind her.

Shaking her head, Paty argued, "You know some traits like claws and stuff are retractable, this is discrimination! Cattleya, just show them and we can be on our way."

"What are you talking about?!"

Giving her a pitying look, the sheep-girl explained, "I saw already, you don't have to hide it. We're all faunus here, nobody's gonna judge you."

Except, that didn't explain anything. What did Paty think she saw?

None of this made any sense and it only got worse when one of her captors put his face in the crook of her neck and sniffed. "Yup, it's hard to tell with her perfume, but she doesn't smell human."

"But I am human!" The elder Vallière protested, even as the ones holding her reluctantly let go.

Many of them were looking at her with sympathetic eyes, though the female among them just looked angry. "We should just off her and be done with it."

"Asena." The leader said simply, making the brutish woman go silent. "So you look human, but don't smell it. You insist that you're human even when this girl says otherwise and I bet you'll keep coming back if we send you away, right?"

Cattleya wasn't dumb enough to answer that, but silence was its own answer and he nodded. "Blindfold them and take them back to HQ, Sienna can decide what to do with them."

Status: Gloomy, but healthy.
Magicka: (5410/14424)

Choose:
[] Don't dwell on it-

[] POV Switch: Cattleya

[] Timeskip 8 hours to Cynric.

[] Write in.