A Conjuror's journey
nmWarden
Webcomic Glutton
- Location
- Texas
I haven't even played Mass Effect, yet Trobror is warming me to it. More likely than not I'll just search for ME fanfics, ideally ones with humans hugging and horrifying the galaxy. Hmm. I wonder if Trobror will act as Hinata's mentor for the rest of the arc. Whatever the case I'm in full support of more chapters from Trobror's perspective.
Vicjer
The One Who Knows Less Than Nothing
- Location
- The Space Between Spaces
[X] Leave the prisoners to Xcom and go to sleep early. Tomorrow-
-[X] Help Raymond with his daughter project.
[X] POV Switch:
-[X] Louise.
I'm still curious about what Louise is doing. I'm pretty sure last we saw her she was dealing with the horrors of Fallout's ocean.
-[X] Help Raymond with his daughter project.
[X] POV Switch:
-[X] Louise.
I'm still curious about what Louise is doing. I'm pretty sure last we saw her she was dealing with the horrors of Fallout's ocean.
[X] Leave the prisoners to Xcom and go to sleep early. Tomorrow-
-[X] Study parahuman powers and symbiotes.
-[X] Study parahuman powers and symbiotes.
In The Background
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
Thomas Calvert was a man used to things going his way and yet equally, if not more so, accustomed to failure. The difference was that for normal people, failure was something to live with and move on whereas Thomas hadn't been forced to deal with such absolutes in years. What was a setback when he could simply erase any reality where he didn't succeed, taking the knowledge and experience from his failure and using it in the next reality he created.
It was just how his powers worked... or rather, that was what he had thought until recently.
Lately there seemed to be an increasingly large series of holes in that logic, since several times over the past month had seen him keeping a reality where he'd succeeded in one goal or another, only to find the moment he did so that something entirely different had happened. Of course, he had narrowed down the cause rather quickly. The new healer that had appeared at the Bank while he moved on the Alcott girl.
Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière; physically regressed transmigrant from some alternate dimension. Her presence anywhere near one of his objectives always threw a wrench in his plans and nothing he'd done to remove her had stuck. Kidnapping her for an 'interview' while she was recovering from healing Bakuda's victims had ended when rather than having her locked away in his bunker like he'd known to be true, the capture team were found by hospital security, covered in pin-sized bruises and unable to move thanks to the next migraine inducing traveler to arrive.Sending a sniper to put a bullet in the both of them as they left the hospital had worked until he'd kept that reality and discovered that the girls had never been seen leaving the building despite no longer remaining within. His powers simply treated them as if they were a pair of ordinary humans and failed to take their abilities into account.
Then the two had opened up a portal to another dimension, revealed their origins to the PRT, and even more blind spots appeared to set up a FOB.
It was maddening and his time spent as Coil had started to revolve around keeping track of where the few to leave their little camp went and only activating his powers when his men confirmed them to be in areas outside of where he intended to send his team. Nerve-wracking didn't begin to describe how it felt to be forced into no longer keeping a failsafe reality open, but he was beginning to suspect that he'd misunderstood his power all along. How could it truly be creating or even looking into alternate realities if the results were so much different from what he witnessed once he stopped using it. The thought that he'd been risking his life with simple precognition every time he was killed in a timeline made him sick when it'd first ran through his mind, but it was the most logical explanation.
It was also infuriating, as even Dinah's power proved next to useless at predicting anything that might happen in longer than an hour after questioning her and anything involving X-com came back as both one hundred percent and zero percent before knocking the brat out with a headache!
His only relief came from the newest acquisition to the Undersiders, who had proven quite useful in the recent developments involving the Vallière girl. Repeated interrogations of Skitter had provided information on many things from the powers of many of the new arrivals, confirmation of the reason for their arrival being resources, the admirable ruthlessness of both the Vallière and her faction, and perspective on their base that his Tattletale hadn't been capable of due to her injuries. Of course, he also learned of her intentions to betray him, but simply threatening her father was enough to ensure her compliance each time without needing to risk killing a useful underling when the timeline could have become the one he kept. It hadn't and he'd she had no idea that he knew her plan, but that sort of caution was just one of the many small changes he'd been forced to make to his operations.
It wouldn't do to create a situation he couldn't back out of.
In the end he had chosen to keep from engaging the new group in any way other than facilitating the Undersiders' interactions with them since the pink haired nuisance was intent on spending time around his minions. At least this X-com had managed to salvage the impulsive Lindt girl and repair his Tattletale's eyes... though the both of them had exhibited peculiar changes in their personalities, Bitch becoming much less confrontational over perceived slights and miss Livsey losing herself in thought at random intervals.
He would need to keep an eye on them, especially around the Hebert child.
There had been no signs of upcoming betrayal or any upheaval of his plans over the next few days and the only sign of unusual activity came when that nightmarish Case53 that was the other world's Victoria Dallon deciding to move in with the rest of the Dallon family. Thomas had to question Cauldron's competence upon discovering that they'd not only allowed that one to escape with her memories intact, but that they didn't even stop her from meeting her alternate self and potentially drawing attention to themselves. It was a development that he just could not reconcile with Contessa's existence. Hopefully it meant he wasn't the only one with holes in an otherwise unbeatable power, but knowing her, it could just as easily be part of some ridiculously long plan.
Despite her appearance stirring unpleasant memories, the half spider heroine's choice in residence did give his men the perfect opportunity to learn of the X-com capes' plans to strike at Hookwolf's faction. With the city slowly stabilizing after the recent string of insanity, this chance to advance his takeover was too fortuitous to not take advantage of. Unable to trust his power to run multiple plans, he simply used it to have his own body in two different places for his own security. Short bursts to receive an update on the fight against Hookwolf and modify the plan accordingly was the best he could do to avoid falling into the trap of long term precognition.
The Travelers would subdue the Merchants and either bring them into the fold or eliminate them while the Undersiders dealt with Oni Lee. Circus and Trainwreck would of course need to wait for a status update on Hookwolf and his rabble, but they would mop up the last vestiges of the Empire if the joint venture between X-com and New Wave was successful. He would need to rescue or replace any of his teams that failed, but at least he should survive to reap the benefits of such a risky operation.
And it would be quite beneficial indeed.
If all went well, he could take his time in removing Piggot without anyone interfering with his powers. After that, Coil would simply move to Boston and die for underestimating a powerful Villain such as Accord while Thomas Calvert stepped in to fill the shoes of a courageous woman taken before her time.
The rules may have changed, but years of work ensured that the game was still squarely stacked in his favor.
--------------------
A/N:
Hope this answers your question.
It was just how his powers worked... or rather, that was what he had thought until recently.
Lately there seemed to be an increasingly large series of holes in that logic, since several times over the past month had seen him keeping a reality where he'd succeeded in one goal or another, only to find the moment he did so that something entirely different had happened. Of course, he had narrowed down the cause rather quickly. The new healer that had appeared at the Bank while he moved on the Alcott girl.
Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière; physically regressed transmigrant from some alternate dimension. Her presence anywhere near one of his objectives always threw a wrench in his plans and nothing he'd done to remove her had stuck. Kidnapping her for an 'interview' while she was recovering from healing Bakuda's victims had ended when rather than having her locked away in his bunker like he'd known to be true, the capture team were found by hospital security, covered in pin-sized bruises and unable to move thanks to the next migraine inducing traveler to arrive.Sending a sniper to put a bullet in the both of them as they left the hospital had worked until he'd kept that reality and discovered that the girls had never been seen leaving the building despite no longer remaining within. His powers simply treated them as if they were a pair of ordinary humans and failed to take their abilities into account.
Then the two had opened up a portal to another dimension, revealed their origins to the PRT, and even more blind spots appeared to set up a FOB.
It was maddening and his time spent as Coil had started to revolve around keeping track of where the few to leave their little camp went and only activating his powers when his men confirmed them to be in areas outside of where he intended to send his team. Nerve-wracking didn't begin to describe how it felt to be forced into no longer keeping a failsafe reality open, but he was beginning to suspect that he'd misunderstood his power all along. How could it truly be creating or even looking into alternate realities if the results were so much different from what he witnessed once he stopped using it. The thought that he'd been risking his life with simple precognition every time he was killed in a timeline made him sick when it'd first ran through his mind, but it was the most logical explanation.
It was also infuriating, as even Dinah's power proved next to useless at predicting anything that might happen in longer than an hour after questioning her and anything involving X-com came back as both one hundred percent and zero percent before knocking the brat out with a headache!
His only relief came from the newest acquisition to the Undersiders, who had proven quite useful in the recent developments involving the Vallière girl. Repeated interrogations of Skitter had provided information on many things from the powers of many of the new arrivals, confirmation of the reason for their arrival being resources, the admirable ruthlessness of both the Vallière and her faction, and perspective on their base that his Tattletale hadn't been capable of due to her injuries. Of course, he also learned of her intentions to betray him, but simply threatening her father was enough to ensure her compliance each time without needing to risk killing a useful underling when the timeline could have become the one he kept. It hadn't and he'd she had no idea that he knew her plan, but that sort of caution was just one of the many small changes he'd been forced to make to his operations.
It wouldn't do to create a situation he couldn't back out of.
In the end he had chosen to keep from engaging the new group in any way other than facilitating the Undersiders' interactions with them since the pink haired nuisance was intent on spending time around his minions. At least this X-com had managed to salvage the impulsive Lindt girl and repair his Tattletale's eyes... though the both of them had exhibited peculiar changes in their personalities, Bitch becoming much less confrontational over perceived slights and miss Livsey losing herself in thought at random intervals.
He would need to keep an eye on them, especially around the Hebert child.
There had been no signs of upcoming betrayal or any upheaval of his plans over the next few days and the only sign of unusual activity came when that nightmarish Case53 that was the other world's Victoria Dallon deciding to move in with the rest of the Dallon family. Thomas had to question Cauldron's competence upon discovering that they'd not only allowed that one to escape with her memories intact, but that they didn't even stop her from meeting her alternate self and potentially drawing attention to themselves. It was a development that he just could not reconcile with Contessa's existence. Hopefully it meant he wasn't the only one with holes in an otherwise unbeatable power, but knowing her, it could just as easily be part of some ridiculously long plan.
Despite her appearance stirring unpleasant memories, the half spider heroine's choice in residence did give his men the perfect opportunity to learn of the X-com capes' plans to strike at Hookwolf's faction. With the city slowly stabilizing after the recent string of insanity, this chance to advance his takeover was too fortuitous to not take advantage of. Unable to trust his power to run multiple plans, he simply used it to have his own body in two different places for his own security. Short bursts to receive an update on the fight against Hookwolf and modify the plan accordingly was the best he could do to avoid falling into the trap of long term precognition.
The Travelers would subdue the Merchants and either bring them into the fold or eliminate them while the Undersiders dealt with Oni Lee. Circus and Trainwreck would of course need to wait for a status update on Hookwolf and his rabble, but they would mop up the last vestiges of the Empire if the joint venture between X-com and New Wave was successful. He would need to rescue or replace any of his teams that failed, but at least he should survive to reap the benefits of such a risky operation.
And it would be quite beneficial indeed.
If all went well, he could take his time in removing Piggot without anyone interfering with his powers. After that, Coil would simply move to Boston and die for underestimating a powerful Villain such as Accord while Thomas Calvert stepped in to fill the shoes of a courageous woman taken before her time.
The rules may have changed, but years of work ensured that the game was still squarely stacked in his favor.
--------------------
A/N:
Hope this answers your question.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Yeah, quite.
I don't even remember us interacting with Bitch all that much.
What was that about their attitudes changing?
I don't even remember us interacting with Bitch all that much.
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
That's because you didn't. You did pawn her off on Louise for healing however.
- Location
- The United States
@PieceThruWar
I just remember you mention in this many updates ago, but is it still on the table for Cynric to get a Cauldron vial for some of those delicious powers?
I just remember you mention in this many updates ago, but is it still on the table for Cynric to get a Cauldron vial for some of those delicious powers?
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
Kind of? I mean, you could find(unlikely) or buy them if you know where to look, but I don't remember that comment. I might have been talking about making potions out of Shards or something, but there's definitely people in Brockton and Boston that could help you buy a vial.
To Emulate Seht: Enabling Processes
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
The group soon arrived back at the outpost and carried the prisoners through the Oblivion Gate. From what little you know of Carol and the other adults in New Wave, you attribute their lack of interest in the Empire parahumans' ultimate fate to the disorientation of disconnecting from their symbiote. Even with that though, the fact that Cattleya actually devoured a human being in front of them has most of the family keeping a suspicious eye on the pinkette. Cattleya wasn't in any mood for it however and quickly stormed off to another part of the base to recover from her transformation, leaving you to deal with them.
Or rather, leaving you to distract them with the origin of parahuman powers. With Vicky's curious intelligence as well as Amy's medical interest, it is too easy to shunt the responsibility of watching them to Moira's team of scientists. Victoria obviously saw through the convenient distraction, but chose to keep quiet in favor of sating her own curiosity on the subject, leaving you and Trobror to carry the prisoners toward a secure holding cell.
------------------------
"Hépíng! Pea-" Louise blasted the zombie back with an explosion before it could do anything more than voice its attention toward in her arrival.
She'd spent half a day already in the dark waters and was in a foul mood. Her hair clung in greasy clumps from the mud, gore, and general filth that filled the sea around her new ship. And it was HER ship, since she wasn't going to give it up to anyone after being forced to battle horrible monsters in that black abyss. By all rights she should have been dead, having expended over a dozen times more magicka than her maximum in the fight against that tentacled abomination. In the end, she'd had to put all of her energy into a shaped explosion that obliterated half of the beast as well as miles of seabed beyond it.
Seeing as how there was a zombie wandering aboard, Louise concluded that the original crew must have died or fled at some point and the ship would be free of any living inhabitants. As such, she did what she normally would have been much less willing to do outside of a secure location and removed all but her soggy undergarments, which she dried with a light application of Flames. Wringing out the rest of her stained clothes and running a hand through her matted hair in disgust, she silently thanked her Master for letting her learn his version of the Waterbreathing enchantment. She did not want to think about how bad she must have smelled.
Her distracted thoughts were interrupted by a pained groan. The rotting corpse apparently wasn't finished by her first attack, as it was now dragging itself across the floor of the ship with a sword in its hand. As the pinkette smirked in slight amusement at its persistence, it coughed and gargled, "Qù sǐ ba!"
Turning her back to the thing, she distantly noted the sound of her Tsun repeatedly stabbing his fellow zombie as she set about inspecting her new vessel. The room she was in had large come-pewters and strange devices all around, leading her to assume it was where the captain and navigator would work, even if she had no idea on the funct-
Her hand began to glow with an intense light the moment she ran it across one of the computers, flooding her mind with foreign information. The ship was a Yangtze class nuclear submarine, built by the People's Liberation Army of China for long range stealth and bombardment missions. It could hold a payload of six strategic Nuclear Sea-Launched Ballistic Missiles as well as forty-six multi-role tactical nuclear missiles. Through her new insight, she learned that five of the Strategic missiles were launched and even a single one would be capable of the destruction she'd seen on the local landscape.
Grinning like an idiot, Louise assimilated the information with glee and turned to what she would need to do to make the ship work once more. While she could apparently replace the damping coil, whatever that was, and fuel the submarine with the materials in the remaining missile, she really didn't want to do so and then find out that Shen could do better. Besides, she didn't even know where to find a 'damping coil'.
---------------------------------------
Stepping into Raymond's private laboratory, you're greeted to the sight of him assembling his daughter's mechanical skeleton. "Good morning." The man says without looking away from his work. "Congratulations, I hear you brought our resident alien home yesterday."
"Yes, Trobror ran into a few complications that needed sorting out, but we managed. Niceties aside, how are things progressing in here?" You ask, setting your rucksack on a workbench to pull out several strips of metal and a trio of filled soul gems.
Standing and wiping his hands on a rag, Shen steps back to reveal an almost complete skeleton. "I'm just finishing the general assembly. As you can see, I only need to finish welding the hip joints closed around each femoral head. It isn't exactly how biology normally handles it, but it shouldn't cause problems with her movements... thank you for enchanting the bones, I can tell by the weight difference that you put some effort into it."
Waving him off, you proceed to carve a series of intricate Ehlnofex, an almost poetic language that requires indirect statements for any sort of effect. Creating the needed enchantments is delicate and time consuming work that will be vastly improved by having a physical translation of the intended magics. Denoting control for obvious reason, articulation for both fine movements and speech, color and focus to enable sight, a whole slew of words to describe touch, and identity for proprioception. Scent and Taste are harder to reason out without outright saying them, but in the end you go with a mix of words related to minerals, alchemy, and chemicals in general to hopefully make the senses work.
After the groundwork is laid, you hammer the bands into place on the interior of the skull and force the energy of a captured soul into the newly engraved metal. Following that, you use the other soul gem to enchant the spine of the skeleton to use a minuscule amount of magicka from Lily's soul to create an electrical charge that will power whatever Raymond intends to attach to it. The last soul gem you have is placed inside the chest cavity to supplement Lily's soul in producing power for the body... not that you think it will be necessary, but the girl would be a rather poor proof of concept for a potential method of immortality if her soul turned out to be too weak to even do it's job.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (650/650)
Choose:
[] Stay and work on Lily.
[] Leave Lily to Raymond and focus on-
[] POV Switch: Louise.
[] Write in.
Or rather, leaving you to distract them with the origin of parahuman powers. With Vicky's curious intelligence as well as Amy's medical interest, it is too easy to shunt the responsibility of watching them to Moira's team of scientists. Victoria obviously saw through the convenient distraction, but chose to keep quiet in favor of sating her own curiosity on the subject, leaving you and Trobror to carry the prisoners toward a secure holding cell.
------------------------
"Hépíng! Pea-" Louise blasted the zombie back with an explosion before it could do anything more than voice its attention toward in her arrival.
She'd spent half a day already in the dark waters and was in a foul mood. Her hair clung in greasy clumps from the mud, gore, and general filth that filled the sea around her new ship. And it was HER ship, since she wasn't going to give it up to anyone after being forced to battle horrible monsters in that black abyss. By all rights she should have been dead, having expended over a dozen times more magicka than her maximum in the fight against that tentacled abomination. In the end, she'd had to put all of her energy into a shaped explosion that obliterated half of the beast as well as miles of seabed beyond it.
Seeing as how there was a zombie wandering aboard, Louise concluded that the original crew must have died or fled at some point and the ship would be free of any living inhabitants. As such, she did what she normally would have been much less willing to do outside of a secure location and removed all but her soggy undergarments, which she dried with a light application of Flames. Wringing out the rest of her stained clothes and running a hand through her matted hair in disgust, she silently thanked her Master for letting her learn his version of the Waterbreathing enchantment. She did not want to think about how bad she must have smelled.
Her distracted thoughts were interrupted by a pained groan. The rotting corpse apparently wasn't finished by her first attack, as it was now dragging itself across the floor of the ship with a sword in its hand. As the pinkette smirked in slight amusement at its persistence, it coughed and gargled, "Qù sǐ ba!"
Turning her back to the thing, she distantly noted the sound of her Tsun repeatedly stabbing his fellow zombie as she set about inspecting her new vessel. The room she was in had large come-pewters and strange devices all around, leading her to assume it was where the captain and navigator would work, even if she had no idea on the funct-
Her hand began to glow with an intense light the moment she ran it across one of the computers, flooding her mind with foreign information. The ship was a Yangtze class nuclear submarine, built by the People's Liberation Army of China for long range stealth and bombardment missions. It could hold a payload of six strategic Nuclear Sea-Launched Ballistic Missiles as well as forty-six multi-role tactical nuclear missiles. Through her new insight, she learned that five of the Strategic missiles were launched and even a single one would be capable of the destruction she'd seen on the local landscape.
Grinning like an idiot, Louise assimilated the information with glee and turned to what she would need to do to make the ship work once more. While she could apparently replace the damping coil, whatever that was, and fuel the submarine with the materials in the remaining missile, she really didn't want to do so and then find out that Shen could do better. Besides, she didn't even know where to find a 'damping coil'.
---------------------------------------
Stepping into Raymond's private laboratory, you're greeted to the sight of him assembling his daughter's mechanical skeleton. "Good morning." The man says without looking away from his work. "Congratulations, I hear you brought our resident alien home yesterday."
"Yes, Trobror ran into a few complications that needed sorting out, but we managed. Niceties aside, how are things progressing in here?" You ask, setting your rucksack on a workbench to pull out several strips of metal and a trio of filled soul gems.
Standing and wiping his hands on a rag, Shen steps back to reveal an almost complete skeleton. "I'm just finishing the general assembly. As you can see, I only need to finish welding the hip joints closed around each femoral head. It isn't exactly how biology normally handles it, but it shouldn't cause problems with her movements... thank you for enchanting the bones, I can tell by the weight difference that you put some effort into it."
Waving him off, you proceed to carve a series of intricate Ehlnofex, an almost poetic language that requires indirect statements for any sort of effect. Creating the needed enchantments is delicate and time consuming work that will be vastly improved by having a physical translation of the intended magics. Denoting control for obvious reason, articulation for both fine movements and speech, color and focus to enable sight, a whole slew of words to describe touch, and identity for proprioception. Scent and Taste are harder to reason out without outright saying them, but in the end you go with a mix of words related to minerals, alchemy, and chemicals in general to hopefully make the senses work.
After the groundwork is laid, you hammer the bands into place on the interior of the skull and force the energy of a captured soul into the newly engraved metal. Following that, you use the other soul gem to enchant the spine of the skeleton to use a minuscule amount of magicka from Lily's soul to create an electrical charge that will power whatever Raymond intends to attach to it. The last soul gem you have is placed inside the chest cavity to supplement Lily's soul in producing power for the body... not that you think it will be necessary, but the girl would be a rather poor proof of concept for a potential method of immortality if her soul turned out to be too weak to even do it's job.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (650/650)
Choose:
[] Stay and work on Lily.
-[] Make some last minute additions. Write in.
-[] Begin the final phase.
-[] Begin the final phase.
[] Leave Lily to Raymond and focus on-
-[] creating a way to condense Victoria into a more convenient body shape, if only temporarily.
-[] working with your secondary and tertiary students' magical studies.
-[] Researching Parahumans.
-[] working with your secondary and tertiary students' magical studies.
-[] Researching Parahumans.
[] POV Switch: Louise.
-[] The known fix: Search the ship for information on this 'damping coil' and try to find one.
-[] High risk, high reward: Clear the ship and try to find your own solution to its immobility.
-[] Forfeit the right of dibs: Tow the ship back to University Point and let them sort it out.
-[] High risk, high reward: Clear the ship and try to find your own solution to its immobility.
-[] Forfeit the right of dibs: Tow the ship back to University Point and let them sort it out.
[] Write in.
[X] Stay and work on Lily.
-[X] Begin the final phase.
-[X] Begin the final phase.
Parzival094
The Observer
- Location
- Ontario
[X] Stay and work on Lily.
-[X] Begin the final phase.
-[X] Begin the final phase.
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
Probably going to add it in either way, it's just that you can only direct one POV at a time. Any guesses on which choice Louise will make by default? I can tell you it isn't the last one.
- Location
- canada
Heh, going by the update and your words, I'm guessing 'High risk, high reward', the choice I would've voted for!
To Emulate Seht: Breathing Life Into The Imperfect
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
More time had passed than you expected while you had been creating the required enchantments and Raymond had been anything but idle.
The prematurely aging man had assembled the rest of the skeleton and moved on to installing a series of woven metal sacs inside the ribcage. A small box with a dim green light went inside the skull with the other gem before he sealed the compartment shut and then added a black crescent shaped object where the stomach would be. Another series of tubes and sacs took the position of the rest of her organs and you can't help but ask their purpose.
Looking to you with something between grief and pride, Shen explains, "I want her to be able to at least fake a normal life, so eating and drinking are going to be an issue. For the most part, the 'organs' will just be storage space for additional Meld and resources the microscopic machines pull from what she ingests, but-" Pointing to the large wireframe in the shape of a liver, he says, "I plan to add a small production unit when Moira manages to reverse engineer the technology behind creating Meld."
"'When', not 'if'?" You ask humorously, sensing the flickering of the girl's consciousness attempting to surface from within the gem's housing.
"Oh, I have no doubt she'll crack it in time. It doesn't matter if its the technological peak of an ancient space-faring empire, Doctor Vahlen has never stood for anything less than completely eclipsing her opponents in every field of research."
Surreptitiously suppressing Lily's mind before she can awaken prematurely, you nod in acceptance. "An admirable trait if tempered. On a more immediately relevant note, we should perhaps move this along."
---------------------------
Listening to the growls and choking coughs of the zombies as Tsun effortlessly defends his position as the best zombie, Louise walked through the uninhabited vessel with one goal in mind.
The Reactor core.
Doctor Vahlen had said on several occasions that magicka and radiation are the same thing or at least related. If the sudden knowledge she'd gained from touching the Yangtze's computer were correct, the reactor core was supposed to be extremely radioactive and therefore it could be used a source of magical power. She wouldn't need a damping coil or any such gadgets if she could just directly harness the reactor core directly.
Marching over broken bodies, she approached the machinery. It was a bulky looking thing and she wouldn't have paid it a second thought beyond it's pretty light if not for the inspiration granted by her familiar runes. At one point in time, she'd found it somewhat humiliating to have the runes reflect off of Tsun onto her own skin, but they'd been nothing but helpful. Once more those same runes began to glow as she touched the machine and used the knowledge to open the slot for the damping coil.
Reaching inside with her bare arm, the bright blue light intensified and she threw herself back with a pained scream. Her vision warped and twisted for a moment, only relenting when she passed out into blissful unconsciousness. The last thing she could see was Tsun's body struggling to regenerate as blue light spread from his runes and disintegrated his arm.
----------------------------
Watching the orange liquid swirl and congeal into human flesh was both fascinating and disconcerting on a visceral level. Using genetic material from Raymond and a random mixture of female members of X-com, the Meld builds layer after layer of muscle, blood vessels, fats, and all skin. Even knowing the purpose is benign and having years of experience in necromancy doesn't stop the instinctual response of seeing something so obviously inhuman grow to blend perfectly in a crowd of people.
Shaking it off, you check your datapad to make sure the organic components are linking properly with the machinery. Thanks to the web of black strands that function as artificial nerves and your own enchantments to grant the soul gem access to the body, Lily should have full control and access to her senses... though you doubt that they will be exactly the same as a regular human's. While the eyes and nose and other such organs will be human, the way the enchantments translate their signals into the child's soul remains to be seen.
The whole process takes almost twelve hours, during which you continue to closely observe for any flaws. Not only for correcting in order to make the test worthwhile and for your own future reference in reproducing the technique, but also for the Shen family, since both would be quite upset over a serious error and possibly reluctant to assist in other projects... So it isn't entirely altruistic of you, you suppose. Not that you ever really are as far as you care to remember, but it is probably better not to voice your reasons, even if Raymond might have an idea of your personality by now.
As the child-like body finishes 'growing' hair and other such cosmetic changes such as a darkening skin pigmentation, the tank begins to drain. Raymond himself rushes out of the observation room and helps one of Moira's numerous disciples to carefully place the child on a surgical table. Samples are taken, pads are attached to her skin, a rod is put in her mouth, and scanning tools are run all over her body to check everything.
"Hmm... Vitals check out, no signs of abnormality as far as a basic check-up could detect. Meld is a bit slow to self-destruct when removed from the body, so any blood tests done immediately after drawing might give her away." The white clad woman says as she slides the blood sample out of the advanced microscope. "I'd say she's perfectly safe so long as she avoids metal detectors... weight might not be an issue, but half of her body is made of metal."
All of this information is updated on your datapad before Shen sends out a command from his own that locks the entire project file behind the highest classification X-com has. You raise an eyebrow at him, but it isn't really an impediment to your future perusal. A simple Unlock spell should work just as well as it did on the electronic locks of the old base, but you can always demand clearance befitting your role in the organization if not.
Your questioning look goes unnoticed by the man though, since he is too busy inspecting his daughter. Both you and the woman leave the two of them alone in the room, heading out of the gene-labs to go your separate ways. While you could wait around for the two to finish their reunion, making up for an entire day of skipped meals is the obvious choice.
When you finally sit down in the cafeteria building, appreciating how far it has come from the earthen walled hovel it once was, a familiar face sits down opposite you. "Not gonna lie, leaving someone under a tarp while they puke their guts out? Kind of a dick move."
"You seem to have recovered just fine." You tell Espinoza after a brief look toward the man shows no visible ailments.
Grumbling something about tentacles of all things, he pokes at his food. Blessed silence reigns supreme for several long minutes as you eat, but the peace is broken when he sighs, "You and the little princessa really are similar, you know that? I get that not everyone's gonna be super friendly all the time, but would it kill you to at least apologize?"
"Of course I can apologize, I do so whenever the situation merits." You tell the man, setting down you utensils and wiping your mouth before continuing. "The fact of the matter is, you volunteered for the experiment and came out unscathed in the end. I can somewhat understand Miss Granger's annoyance at having the choice removed, even if she did benefit from the potion, but you do not have the same justification for your own. As for my apprentice? Louise was raised to disregard anyone without noble blood or magic. Expecting her to apologize for whatever slight she may have performed upon a 'commoner' such as yourself is not only foolish, but willful ignorance toward her circumstances."
"Look man, it's not like I hate her or anything, but damned if she doesn't do her best. Call me whatever you want, but it's not my fault she's such an unrepentant bitch at times. Seriously, if her sister doesn't treat everyone the way she does, I don't get why she should get away with it."
Scoffing, you ask, "Have they told you nothing of their origins or are you too dense to understand? Of course Cattleya is going to be less derisive, her disease led to a sheltered life and far fewer expectations heaped upon her. Louise was the last hope of her house to produce a suitable heiress, of course she is going to have be closer to the cloth of her parents! That is how nobility works, they shape their young into as close of a copy of themselves as they can in order to prolong whatever views or rulings they side with long after their own demise. The fact that she even has any sort of positive interaction with you should be enough for now."
Your response doesn't seem to appease him, but he doesn't argue your point anymore. Instead, he moodily eats and speaks around the food in his mouth, "Fine, whatever. What's your excuse for not even letting a medic know to check on me?"
When you shrug and refuse to answer, he leaves you to finish your meal in peace. Honestly, just because Louise enjoys spending time around him doesn't mean he should feel free to demand answers from you. Even if she wasn't some sort of daughter figure for you, or as much as is possible for someone like you, your response would have been much the same. Pride in her accomplishments or incomprehensible attachment to the pink haired girl notwithstanding, that plays no part in your annoyance at Espinoza's lack of consideration for your apprentice's situation. If he had a valid complaint other than whining about unfairness then perhaps you would be more sympathetic. As it stands, he is simply irritating and you feel no reason to be anything but glad for his absence.
Of course, that state doesn't last long as It isn't even twenty minutes before Raymond enters the building with an awkward and nervous looking Lily holding his hand. Many of those around are curious to know about the new face, but the chief engineer is quick to politely rebuff them and lead his daughter to the stack of trays and other dishes. The child's movements are unsure and while it could be written off as childish clumsiness, you know better. She is obviously still adjusting and you can see small muscle spasms beneath the few spots of skin left exposed by her clothes.
Her occasional jerking head movements give the impression of fear at a place full of new faces and while it is probably partially true, you have the suspicion that there might have been an unfortunate miscalculation on either Raymond's end or your own. Your suspicions are almost immediately proven correct when she trips over her own foot and her hand shoots out to catch herself far too quickly to be normal. The action causes her small bowl of soup to go tumbling and when she reaches for it with her free hand, the impact with her palm causes it to shatter.
With all eyes turning toward the noise, Raymond's attempts to comfort her fall on deaf ears and artificial tears begin to fall.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (650/650)
Choose:
[] Leave and let Raymond deal with his child.
[] Approach the Shens and try to cheer Lily up while you study her reactions.
[] POV Switch: Louise.
[] Write in.
The prematurely aging man had assembled the rest of the skeleton and moved on to installing a series of woven metal sacs inside the ribcage. A small box with a dim green light went inside the skull with the other gem before he sealed the compartment shut and then added a black crescent shaped object where the stomach would be. Another series of tubes and sacs took the position of the rest of her organs and you can't help but ask their purpose.
Looking to you with something between grief and pride, Shen explains, "I want her to be able to at least fake a normal life, so eating and drinking are going to be an issue. For the most part, the 'organs' will just be storage space for additional Meld and resources the microscopic machines pull from what she ingests, but-" Pointing to the large wireframe in the shape of a liver, he says, "I plan to add a small production unit when Moira manages to reverse engineer the technology behind creating Meld."
"'When', not 'if'?" You ask humorously, sensing the flickering of the girl's consciousness attempting to surface from within the gem's housing.
"Oh, I have no doubt she'll crack it in time. It doesn't matter if its the technological peak of an ancient space-faring empire, Doctor Vahlen has never stood for anything less than completely eclipsing her opponents in every field of research."
Surreptitiously suppressing Lily's mind before she can awaken prematurely, you nod in acceptance. "An admirable trait if tempered. On a more immediately relevant note, we should perhaps move this along."
---------------------------
Listening to the growls and choking coughs of the zombies as Tsun effortlessly defends his position as the best zombie, Louise walked through the uninhabited vessel with one goal in mind.
The Reactor core.
Doctor Vahlen had said on several occasions that magicka and radiation are the same thing or at least related. If the sudden knowledge she'd gained from touching the Yangtze's computer were correct, the reactor core was supposed to be extremely radioactive and therefore it could be used a source of magical power. She wouldn't need a damping coil or any such gadgets if she could just directly harness the reactor core directly.
Marching over broken bodies, she approached the machinery. It was a bulky looking thing and she wouldn't have paid it a second thought beyond it's pretty light if not for the inspiration granted by her familiar runes. At one point in time, she'd found it somewhat humiliating to have the runes reflect off of Tsun onto her own skin, but they'd been nothing but helpful. Once more those same runes began to glow as she touched the machine and used the knowledge to open the slot for the damping coil.
Reaching inside with her bare arm, the bright blue light intensified and she threw herself back with a pained scream. Her vision warped and twisted for a moment, only relenting when she passed out into blissful unconsciousness. The last thing she could see was Tsun's body struggling to regenerate as blue light spread from his runes and disintegrated his arm.
----------------------------
Watching the orange liquid swirl and congeal into human flesh was both fascinating and disconcerting on a visceral level. Using genetic material from Raymond and a random mixture of female members of X-com, the Meld builds layer after layer of muscle, blood vessels, fats, and all skin. Even knowing the purpose is benign and having years of experience in necromancy doesn't stop the instinctual response of seeing something so obviously inhuman grow to blend perfectly in a crowd of people.
Shaking it off, you check your datapad to make sure the organic components are linking properly with the machinery. Thanks to the web of black strands that function as artificial nerves and your own enchantments to grant the soul gem access to the body, Lily should have full control and access to her senses... though you doubt that they will be exactly the same as a regular human's. While the eyes and nose and other such organs will be human, the way the enchantments translate their signals into the child's soul remains to be seen.
The whole process takes almost twelve hours, during which you continue to closely observe for any flaws. Not only for correcting in order to make the test worthwhile and for your own future reference in reproducing the technique, but also for the Shen family, since both would be quite upset over a serious error and possibly reluctant to assist in other projects... So it isn't entirely altruistic of you, you suppose. Not that you ever really are as far as you care to remember, but it is probably better not to voice your reasons, even if Raymond might have an idea of your personality by now.
As the child-like body finishes 'growing' hair and other such cosmetic changes such as a darkening skin pigmentation, the tank begins to drain. Raymond himself rushes out of the observation room and helps one of Moira's numerous disciples to carefully place the child on a surgical table. Samples are taken, pads are attached to her skin, a rod is put in her mouth, and scanning tools are run all over her body to check everything.
"Hmm... Vitals check out, no signs of abnormality as far as a basic check-up could detect. Meld is a bit slow to self-destruct when removed from the body, so any blood tests done immediately after drawing might give her away." The white clad woman says as she slides the blood sample out of the advanced microscope. "I'd say she's perfectly safe so long as she avoids metal detectors... weight might not be an issue, but half of her body is made of metal."
All of this information is updated on your datapad before Shen sends out a command from his own that locks the entire project file behind the highest classification X-com has. You raise an eyebrow at him, but it isn't really an impediment to your future perusal. A simple Unlock spell should work just as well as it did on the electronic locks of the old base, but you can always demand clearance befitting your role in the organization if not.
Your questioning look goes unnoticed by the man though, since he is too busy inspecting his daughter. Both you and the woman leave the two of them alone in the room, heading out of the gene-labs to go your separate ways. While you could wait around for the two to finish their reunion, making up for an entire day of skipped meals is the obvious choice.
When you finally sit down in the cafeteria building, appreciating how far it has come from the earthen walled hovel it once was, a familiar face sits down opposite you. "Not gonna lie, leaving someone under a tarp while they puke their guts out? Kind of a dick move."
"You seem to have recovered just fine." You tell Espinoza after a brief look toward the man shows no visible ailments.
Grumbling something about tentacles of all things, he pokes at his food. Blessed silence reigns supreme for several long minutes as you eat, but the peace is broken when he sighs, "You and the little princessa really are similar, you know that? I get that not everyone's gonna be super friendly all the time, but would it kill you to at least apologize?"
"Of course I can apologize, I do so whenever the situation merits." You tell the man, setting down you utensils and wiping your mouth before continuing. "The fact of the matter is, you volunteered for the experiment and came out unscathed in the end. I can somewhat understand Miss Granger's annoyance at having the choice removed, even if she did benefit from the potion, but you do not have the same justification for your own. As for my apprentice? Louise was raised to disregard anyone without noble blood or magic. Expecting her to apologize for whatever slight she may have performed upon a 'commoner' such as yourself is not only foolish, but willful ignorance toward her circumstances."
"Look man, it's not like I hate her or anything, but damned if she doesn't do her best. Call me whatever you want, but it's not my fault she's such an unrepentant bitch at times. Seriously, if her sister doesn't treat everyone the way she does, I don't get why she should get away with it."
Scoffing, you ask, "Have they told you nothing of their origins or are you too dense to understand? Of course Cattleya is going to be less derisive, her disease led to a sheltered life and far fewer expectations heaped upon her. Louise was the last hope of her house to produce a suitable heiress, of course she is going to have be closer to the cloth of her parents! That is how nobility works, they shape their young into as close of a copy of themselves as they can in order to prolong whatever views or rulings they side with long after their own demise. The fact that she even has any sort of positive interaction with you should be enough for now."
Your response doesn't seem to appease him, but he doesn't argue your point anymore. Instead, he moodily eats and speaks around the food in his mouth, "Fine, whatever. What's your excuse for not even letting a medic know to check on me?"
When you shrug and refuse to answer, he leaves you to finish your meal in peace. Honestly, just because Louise enjoys spending time around him doesn't mean he should feel free to demand answers from you. Even if she wasn't some sort of daughter figure for you, or as much as is possible for someone like you, your response would have been much the same. Pride in her accomplishments or incomprehensible attachment to the pink haired girl notwithstanding, that plays no part in your annoyance at Espinoza's lack of consideration for your apprentice's situation. If he had a valid complaint other than whining about unfairness then perhaps you would be more sympathetic. As it stands, he is simply irritating and you feel no reason to be anything but glad for his absence.
Of course, that state doesn't last long as It isn't even twenty minutes before Raymond enters the building with an awkward and nervous looking Lily holding his hand. Many of those around are curious to know about the new face, but the chief engineer is quick to politely rebuff them and lead his daughter to the stack of trays and other dishes. The child's movements are unsure and while it could be written off as childish clumsiness, you know better. She is obviously still adjusting and you can see small muscle spasms beneath the few spots of skin left exposed by her clothes.
Her occasional jerking head movements give the impression of fear at a place full of new faces and while it is probably partially true, you have the suspicion that there might have been an unfortunate miscalculation on either Raymond's end or your own. Your suspicions are almost immediately proven correct when she trips over her own foot and her hand shoots out to catch herself far too quickly to be normal. The action causes her small bowl of soup to go tumbling and when she reaches for it with her free hand, the impact with her palm causes it to shatter.
With all eyes turning toward the noise, Raymond's attempts to comfort her fall on deaf ears and artificial tears begin to fall.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (650/650)
Choose:
[] Leave and let Raymond deal with his child.
-[] Go find Cattleya and work with her on her control.
-[] See if New Wave are still around.
-[] Begin necromancy lessons.
-[] See if New Wave are still around.
-[] Begin necromancy lessons.
[] Approach the Shens and try to cheer Lily up while you study her reactions.
-[] Write in.
[] POV Switch: Louise.
[] Write in.
- Location
- canada
Oh no! She's not adjusted to her new body yet!
[X] Approach the Shens and try to cheer Lily up while you study her reactions.
-[X] First, cast defense enhancements for more toughness, then go to Lily and give her a hug to show she doesn't need to be that afraid of her own body since Cynric is not so easily harmed. Then, follow up with taking knee to face her at her eye level, and tell her that like any training and exercise, she needs to take things slow and not try to hurry impatiently, particularly when she is going through the equivalent of a full-body therapy recovery. After that, tell her that she still has her father to depend on for support, and if she needs help she can ask him for it, such as building things like tougher utensils for her personal use before she has fully adjusted. Finally, remind her that people learned to walk before they ran, but they also fell before they learned to walk, so what she is going through is normal for a newborn like her, and thus she has nothing to be ashamed for. What's important is not how many time she falls down, but how many times she gets up after.
-[X] Maybe suggest throwing her a birthday party to celebrate since this is technically her new birthday? Presents could help, such as something enchanted to be unbreakable for her to keep.
And that's all from me. Sorry if it's too long, but my experiences with my own cousins came into mind when I read the scene, and I just couldn't help it. Gah.
[X] Approach the Shens and try to cheer Lily up while you study her reactions.
-[X] First, cast defense enhancements for more toughness, then go to Lily and give her a hug to show she doesn't need to be that afraid of her own body since Cynric is not so easily harmed. Then, follow up with taking knee to face her at her eye level, and tell her that like any training and exercise, she needs to take things slow and not try to hurry impatiently, particularly when she is going through the equivalent of a full-body therapy recovery. After that, tell her that she still has her father to depend on for support, and if she needs help she can ask him for it, such as building things like tougher utensils for her personal use before she has fully adjusted. Finally, remind her that people learned to walk before they ran, but they also fell before they learned to walk, so what she is going through is normal for a newborn like her, and thus she has nothing to be ashamed for. What's important is not how many time she falls down, but how many times she gets up after.
-[X] Maybe suggest throwing her a birthday party to celebrate since this is technically her new birthday? Presents could help, such as something enchanted to be unbreakable for her to keep.
And that's all from me. Sorry if it's too long, but my experiences with my own cousins came into mind when I read the scene, and I just couldn't help it. Gah.