- Location
- Other side
I wasn't around for the moon vote, so let me have this! I mean John's useful... He could help us with our
A Conjuror's journey
I wasn't around for the moon vote, so let me have this! I mean John's useful... He could help us with our
- Location
- Michigan
If nothing else we could always summon Kyubey from Madoka, make Louise into a magical girl, and offload her soul damage onto suffering children soul gems/grief seeds. Kyubey would probably wreak havoc on Remnant afterwords, and that's even if Louise didn't turn into a world ending witch immediately, but it'd be really funny- I mean It'd help Louise right?
Would Skyrim soul gems and Madoka soul gems be interchangeable for our purposes or would we have to keep her stocked up? Assuming we can actually do this and she's not to old. Though having access to a world where it's denizens willingly soul trap themselves would be pretty useful.
Would Skyrim soul gems and Madoka soul gems be interchangeable for our purposes or would we have to keep her stocked up? Assuming we can actually do this and she's not to old. Though having access to a world where it's denizens willingly soul trap themselves would be pretty useful.
Soul Gems: TES VS PMMM
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
The only exposure I have to Madoka is through quests, but I'm fairly sure they're different types of soul gems... I'll have to get back to you on that.
Edit: Upon further examination, I have concluded that the PMMM soul gems serve the same function as Lily's soul gem+enchantments on her body, but with the added
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- Location
- Earth
[X] Apologize to Cattleya and help her with the Kwama mine.
Kwama Miner Louise
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
"That's sweet, Louise, but I was going to do it alone anyway until the hospice called to let us know you'd woken up."
It came as no surprise that Cattleya had eagerly accepted her apologies and the immediate forgiveness she'd received left a bitter taste in her mouth. With anyone else she would have believed they were just letting her get away with such behavior because of her injuries, but she knew better. Her sister had never been one to hold a grudge as long as she could remember, but Louise had never abandoned her in a foreign city before. It didn't feel right, like she was taking advantage of Cattleya's kindness to relieve her own guilt.
She would need to do something to properly make amends.
When she was finally let free from the resulting hug, she tamped down on the immediate indignation at being lifted bodily from the ground and offered, "Still, I shouldn't have worried you. Can I make it up to you by helping you today?"
"I suppose..." Her sister began, tapping her chin in thought. "I'm not running the booth again today though."
Ignoring the warning tone in her voice, Louise insisted, "That's fine, I'll do whatever you need of me. Cleaning the storage rooms can't be that hard if the maids at home could do it, I can still move some of the lighter boxes without magic, or even carry food out to the customers..."
Pausing for a moment, she pondered the wisdom of offering to deal with more people so soon. After last night, Louise was determined not to let her new deformities rule her actions, but maybe easing into it would be a better plan. No, she'd already offered, so she would just have to deal with it. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check, so she hesitantly asked, "Y-you don't need me to serve food, though, right?"
Gracing her with a soft smile, Cattleya shook her head, "No, but I wouldn't turn away help in the mine."
"I can do that."
---------------------------
"I can do this. I can do this. I can definitely do this." Louise repeated quietly as she walked through dimly lit tunnels. Staring down at the wiggling, eyeless monstrosity in her gauntleted hands, Louise tried her hardest not to think about the way its three tentacles occasionally brushed against her legs or how its teeth clacked against her armored fingers. Why do these disgusting things even have teeth, aren't they bugs?!
Stepping over a trail of conical worms that were inching along the tunnel floor, she was beginning to wonder if forgiveness was really worth it. Surely her guilt would have been better than whatever nightmares she was going to have after this.
Scuttling, scrapping claws on stone as workers dug the beginnings of a new tunnel with two toed feet, large fangs, and horizontal jaws. The menacing stomps of hive warriors approaching to sniff at her, only to leave once finding that she smelled similar enough to Cattleya to be acceptable. Dozens of those sickening worms making squelching noises as they dragged chunks of offal . On top of the horrible sights and sounds was an omnipresent aroma that defied description other than that it was sour, damp, and unpleasant.
At least the mine had a simple enough layout at the moment, with only one main tunnel leading down to the queen's chamber and six branching side chambers that hadn't yet been expanded. Apparently this whole place was beneath a collapsed tower many miles from Vale, but as her sister had only left a large enough opening to the surface for the forager worms and scribs to escape, Louise had yet to see it for herself.
When she arrived at the side chamber containing the tools she needed, Louise gingerly placed the scrib on a bench and strapped it down. Opening a small jar, she removed her gauntlets to for the delicate work ahead and scrapped the waxy buildup from around the insect's mouth into the container. Careful to avoid letting the creature come anywhere near her unarmored fingers with its paralyzing bite, she methodically cleared away the hardened secretions and resealed the mostly full jar before releasing the scrib back into the tunnels.
Cattleya had explained that the stuff was called 'cuttle' and could be used in alchemy as well as being used in more mundane crafting due to its wax-like nature and how it expands when heated. Whatever the reasons though, Louise was not enthused by the method of acquiring it. Still, her job of collecting cuttle was better than what her sister was doing.
In her usual carefree and frankly disturbing delight in tending to animals, Cattleya had chosen to brush her way past the defensive warriors that violently rebuffed everyone else who tried to enter the queen's chamber. Even Louise hadn't been allowed in when she'd tried to follow, but her sister had claimed that everything was fine, so Louise had relented. The brief show of seeing her sister reach elbow deep into the grotesquely bloated queen's hindquarters to help ease out an ovoid egg that was lodged inside was more than enough to make her accept any other job.
Spotting Hinata carrying a pair of the large eggs into the room and past what she now knew was the 'jelly press', Louise gave a sympathetic wave. Never before had she thought of how terrible it must be to see through walls, but if the other girl couldn't escape watching Cattleya at work, then those eyes had to be a curse. After a few moments to watch Hinata activate the portal back to Vale to deliver what they'd gathered throughout the morning, she went back out to search for her next victim.
Only six more jars to fill before she could go back to the apartments above the store and sleep... and find food that wasn't made of bugs. Hopefully the doctor wasn't lying and she'd be able to do some magic when she woke up.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (12000/12000)
Tomorrow:
[] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
[] Use magic to try and erase these hideous scars!
[] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
[] Write in.
It came as no surprise that Cattleya had eagerly accepted her apologies and the immediate forgiveness she'd received left a bitter taste in her mouth. With anyone else she would have believed they were just letting her get away with such behavior because of her injuries, but she knew better. Her sister had never been one to hold a grudge as long as she could remember, but Louise had never abandoned her in a foreign city before. It didn't feel right, like she was taking advantage of Cattleya's kindness to relieve her own guilt.
She would need to do something to properly make amends.
When she was finally let free from the resulting hug, she tamped down on the immediate indignation at being lifted bodily from the ground and offered, "Still, I shouldn't have worried you. Can I make it up to you by helping you today?"
"I suppose..." Her sister began, tapping her chin in thought. "I'm not running the booth again today though."
Ignoring the warning tone in her voice, Louise insisted, "That's fine, I'll do whatever you need of me. Cleaning the storage rooms can't be that hard if the maids at home could do it, I can still move some of the lighter boxes without magic, or even carry food out to the customers..."
Pausing for a moment, she pondered the wisdom of offering to deal with more people so soon. After last night, Louise was determined not to let her new deformities rule her actions, but maybe easing into it would be a better plan. No, she'd already offered, so she would just have to deal with it. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check, so she hesitantly asked, "Y-you don't need me to serve food, though, right?"
Gracing her with a soft smile, Cattleya shook her head, "No, but I wouldn't turn away help in the mine."
"I can do that."
---------------------------
"I can do this. I can do this. I can definitely do this." Louise repeated quietly as she walked through dimly lit tunnels. Staring down at the wiggling, eyeless monstrosity in her gauntleted hands, Louise tried her hardest not to think about the way its three tentacles occasionally brushed against her legs or how its teeth clacked against her armored fingers. Why do these disgusting things even have teeth, aren't they bugs?!
Stepping over a trail of conical worms that were inching along the tunnel floor, she was beginning to wonder if forgiveness was really worth it. Surely her guilt would have been better than whatever nightmares she was going to have after this.
Scuttling, scrapping claws on stone as workers dug the beginnings of a new tunnel with two toed feet, large fangs, and horizontal jaws. The menacing stomps of hive warriors approaching to sniff at her, only to leave once finding that she smelled similar enough to Cattleya to be acceptable. Dozens of those sickening worms making squelching noises as they dragged chunks of offal . On top of the horrible sights and sounds was an omnipresent aroma that defied description other than that it was sour, damp, and unpleasant.
At least the mine had a simple enough layout at the moment, with only one main tunnel leading down to the queen's chamber and six branching side chambers that hadn't yet been expanded. Apparently this whole place was beneath a collapsed tower many miles from Vale, but as her sister had only left a large enough opening to the surface for the forager worms and scribs to escape, Louise had yet to see it for herself.
When she arrived at the side chamber containing the tools she needed, Louise gingerly placed the scrib on a bench and strapped it down. Opening a small jar, she removed her gauntlets to for the delicate work ahead and scrapped the waxy buildup from around the insect's mouth into the container. Careful to avoid letting the creature come anywhere near her unarmored fingers with its paralyzing bite, she methodically cleared away the hardened secretions and resealed the mostly full jar before releasing the scrib back into the tunnels.
Cattleya had explained that the stuff was called 'cuttle' and could be used in alchemy as well as being used in more mundane crafting due to its wax-like nature and how it expands when heated. Whatever the reasons though, Louise was not enthused by the method of acquiring it. Still, her job of collecting cuttle was better than what her sister was doing.
In her usual carefree and frankly disturbing delight in tending to animals, Cattleya had chosen to brush her way past the defensive warriors that violently rebuffed everyone else who tried to enter the queen's chamber. Even Louise hadn't been allowed in when she'd tried to follow, but her sister had claimed that everything was fine, so Louise had relented. The brief show of seeing her sister reach elbow deep into the grotesquely bloated queen's hindquarters to help ease out an ovoid egg that was lodged inside was more than enough to make her accept any other job.
Spotting Hinata carrying a pair of the large eggs into the room and past what she now knew was the 'jelly press', Louise gave a sympathetic wave. Never before had she thought of how terrible it must be to see through walls, but if the other girl couldn't escape watching Cattleya at work, then those eyes had to be a curse. After a few moments to watch Hinata activate the portal back to Vale to deliver what they'd gathered throughout the morning, she went back out to search for her next victim.
Only six more jars to fill before she could go back to the apartments above the store and sleep... and find food that wasn't made of bugs. Hopefully the doctor wasn't lying and she'd be able to do some magic when she woke up.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (12000/12000)
Tomorrow:
[] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
-[] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
-[] Vaguely beg forgiveness and for continued lessons.
-[] Vaguely beg forgiveness and for continued lessons.
[] Use magic to try and erase these hideous scars!
[] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
[] Write in.
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- Location
- Other side
[X] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
I'm feeling lucky.
And when that inevitably fails...
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
I'm feeling lucky.
And when that inevitably fails...
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
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- Location
- Michigan
[X] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
Louise needs more reassurance from someone she looks up to, and who knows? Maybe Cynric will be impressed by her terrible feat of destroying a whole world.
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
Louise needs more reassurance from someone she looks up to, and who knows? Maybe Cynric will be impressed by her terrible feat of destroying a whole world.
- Location
- canada
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
Those scars aren't going anywhere any time soon, but mostly I'm just leery of letting Louise cast any spells in her current recovering condition and potentially make things worse. The Aura thing is new though, and need investigating on it's uses and limits.
Those scars aren't going anywhere any time soon, but mostly I'm just leery of letting Louise cast any spells in her current recovering condition and potentially make things worse. The Aura thing is new though, and need investigating on it's uses and limits.
Vicjer
The One Who Knows Less Than Nothing
- Location
- The Space Between Spaces
[X] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
-[X] Vaguely beg forgiveness and for continued lessons.
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
Never directly admit to any wrongdoing if you can avoid it! The key to any good apology (good for the one making the apology, at any rate) is to be as vague and unclear as possible; the more misleading the terminology, the better.
-[X] Vaguely beg forgiveness and for continued lessons.
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
Never directly admit to any wrongdoing if you can avoid it! The key to any good apology (good for the one making the apology, at any rate) is to be as vague and unclear as possible; the more misleading the terminology, the better.
- Location
- Other side
I just really want Cynric's reaction. We've been so laid back with Louise's shenanigans, I doubt we'd be truly angry. Besides our master/apprentice relationship has no place for secrets!
That is a very real fear, one I'm changing my vote in consideration for. She's already lost 2000 Magicka... but maybe she'd go splat with her next spell?
- Location
- US
[X] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
I get the feeling that her sense of confidence would go way up if she wasn't scarred. On the other hand... a more grizzled Louise would be more fun.
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
I get the feeling that her sense of confidence would go way up if she wasn't scarred. On the other hand... a more grizzled Louise would be more fun.
Barnes
Laughing on the outside, laughing on the inside
- Location
- Definetly not my parent's basement
Oof, that 2k drop. Though, is it due to damage Louise sustained to her soul, or is that 2k being used to maintain her aura? Like say, if Cattleya's aura was unlocked, would her max magicka then drop by a few hundred points?
I think he'd be more irritated that most of his stuff was on said world when it was destroyed; best to obfuscate.
[X] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
-[X] Vaguely beg forgiveness and for continued lessons.
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have.
[X] Try to work up the courage to speak with Master Cynric. 25% chance of failure. If successful:
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
I mean Cynric's pretty much us right? so he shouldn't react too badly
right?
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have
I feel like this quest could do with moremad ethically challenged scientist
-[X] Blubber incoherently about destroying the moon and ruining everything.
I mean Cynric's pretty much us right? so he shouldn't react too badly
right?
[X] Speak with Vahlen about this aura magic that you suddenly have
I feel like this quest could do with more
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Vahlen's Aura Testing
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
As expected, Louise spent much of the night waking in a cold sweat. She hardly got any rest between dreams of ominous blue lights, falling moons, her tears turning into spiders as kwama larva ate their way out of her stomach, and vaguely familiar children with bloody faces that she couldn't place.
Giving up on feeling any less tired by ten in the morning, she skipped breakfast in favor of doing something productive. Since she didn't want to face the fact that the medical staff had lied about her being able to cast magic again and couldn't bear the veiled disappointment her teacher would probably have upon seeing her, the 'something' ended up being a visit to Doctor Vahlen's makeshift laboratory underneath the storage room. Though her arm twinged in discomfort at the way she was forced to lift the heavy hidden door, she soon found herself seated opposite the older woman.
Doctor Vahlen stared back at her with fingers laced as the woman's eyes traced their way up and down Louise's scarred face. Irritated at the blatant inspection, Louise was about to voice her complaints, when the scientist hummed, "You've made a remarkable recovery."
"Remarkable?!" Louise spluttered in disbelief. "I'm repulsive!"
With an oddly melodious laugh for such a cruel and unusual woman, the brunette shook her head. "Your friend Victoria said much the same during her little rant the other day when she got back from setting up the mine... something about fetishists, I believe. Anyway, so what if you've got some scars, you should be glad to be alive even if you look a bit more distinctive."
"My hair is distinctive enough, I don't need a melted face to attract attention!"
"Trust me, it could be worse." At first she had trouble comprehending the meaning behind the woman's words, since she could hardly think of much worse than a wound that actively did the opposite of healing under Restoration magic, but Vahlen's smirk spoke of things she knew she'd regret hearing. "Your uninvited interruptions to my work would be quite a bit more unpleasant if I had to deal with you attempting to speak with half of the musculature missing from your face. At least your new Aura did as advertised."
I... I wasn't that bad, was I?
The thought was immediately countered by a phantom pain in her cheek where she recalled feeling the wind blow through as she laid dying on the Yangtze. Unbidden, the image of a half-skeleton version of herself popped into Louise's mind. It might have been a comical thought if it hadn't come so close to being true if Master Cynric hadn't summoned her back for taking too long. Closing her eyes and trying to think of anything other than herself didn't work when she couldn't help but wonder if she wouldn't be more useful as a zombie. At least then she couldn't ruin things... not on her own.
"Oh yes, your Aura. Speaking of which; Glynda Goodwitch, the deputy headmistress of Beacon Academy, wanted you to have this." The doctor said, pulling her back to the conversation just before tossing a white rectangle her way.
Catching the object, Louise noticed the tiny arrows facing outward from a central button. Pressing and pulling accordingly produced a thin screen that was far too durable for its paper thin size to be glass. "It's a Huntsman specific model Scroll with a built in Aura monitor... well, the basic version that Beacon students are given. I trust you can follow directions well enough to complete the built in tutorial program, so don't ask me to teach you how to use it."
"Of course I can figure it out, I learned how to use your people's data pads and cellphones didn't I?" Louise said with a huff, reluctantly grateful for the distraction... not that it would be necessary if the woman hadn't spoken in the first place. "Why did she leave this for me?"
Shrugging, the doctor pulled out one of her own that appeared much sturdier. "Probably some misguided good will toward someone she thinks is a child. We would have gotten one for you like we did with everyone else, but that one's Aura sensor was useful for reverse engineering. Now, sit still."
"Wh-" Before she could finish, Vahlen pressed a button and a puffing noise came from a crudely constructed tube-like device on her desk. More concerning was the slight pain Louise felt in her stomach. Looking down, she saw a small metal dart laying on the floor.
"Hmm... Wincing in pain? I expected something more impressive."
"Did you just shoot me?!"
Ignoring the question, Vahlen typed some more commands into her Scroll and Louise's lit up to show a green bar. "No noticeable change from full, so that's good. I suppose some sort of training would help."
Without warning a sharp pain dug into Louise's hand and dropped the Scroll that had apparently bitten her. Clattering on the ground, she saw a glint of metal where a small needle had extended outward from the gadget. Her wound was already healing, but that didn't stop the heiress's indignation from flaring as the brunette casually closed the distance to inspect the damage.
Wrenching her hand away from Vahlen, Louise stood to her, unfortunately unimpressive, full height and demanded, "Just who do you think you are?!"
"Somebody who hasn't repeatedly failed at every task she's been given, now please sit back down."
Like being drenched in cold water, Louise's anger fled and she did as told. The calm and unconcerned declaration coming from a commoner, skilled and intelligent scholar or not, was a slap in the face. How had things gone so wrong? Hadn't she been improving? To think that she'd be the reason that even the peasantry could justifiably claim to be superior to a Vallière... she'd have just ruined Wardes' line as well if that marriage had gone through... maybe she should have just stayed locked away at the estate and waited for execution.
"If you start crying, I will sedate you." The doctor sighed, wrapping elastic bands around the pinkette's arms. "Pull your hands apart as hard as you can."
Unable to muster up any will to argue at the commands, Louise went through a hundred or so similar tests over the next few hours. From the bands, to weight lifting, to jumping and running, and even being stripped and submerged in a barrel of water and forced to hold her breath; the pinkette morosely did as told. At least following such simple commands was something she couldn't mess up.
"Alright, just one more test and then you can go do whatever it is you usually waste your time with." The doctor announced boredly as she strapped Louise's arm into a machine. Once secured and activated, the pinkette realized with growing dread that the contraption was slowly angling upward in the middle of her forearm! "This will hurt a lot, but after some training and a sessions of these same tests, we should be able to establish a baseline for the supposed exponential enhancements we can expect Aura to generate over time."
Struggling did nothing to free herself and she was beginning to feel an ache in her bone. Attempting to stretch and reach the buttons Vahlen had pressed gave way to frantic pounding on the machine. Her tiny fists did nothing to the uncaring metal and she screamed as a snap resounded through the room.
--------------------------
Vahlen had made good on her word and sedated Louise at the first sign of tears. When she'd woken up, she was sitting on a bar stool by the door to the storage room. How she'd gotten there, she had no idea, but her broken arm was covered in plaster and mouth tasted fuzzy. That 'fuzzy' wasn't a taste didn't even register in her mind should have been a clue as to why she felt so strange, but she didn't know what she didn't know.
Scooting closer to the bar that normally held coffee, she slumped over onto it with a sigh of relief. It was easy to ignore the sounds of people shuffling the occasional box or loose object around as she dozed in and out of awareness. One of the times she woke back up, she noticed a pair of white tablets and a note saying to swallow them, which she did without hesitation before resting her head back down and tracing the glassy swirls beside her head in a state of semi-consciousness.
"Hey, Catt- you're not Cattleya." A girl's voice called out from where Louise was resting her head on a cool obsidian counter. Through the drug induced fog in her head, she eventually remembered to her manners and turned to greet the speaker.
Of course, seeing a taller girl in black and white looming over her, Louise's response was a less than dignified groan at the way her head swam from being forced to look so high. "S-stop being bigger than me."
"Are you alright?" The girl asked, awkwardly shifting her eyes away from the burns one Louise's face and taking in the pinkette's plaster-bound arm.
"No, I'm Louise." It'd seemed like a reasonable answer when she'd thought it, but the other girl looked to have trouble processing such a simple statement. Maybe she's like Taylor. "Are you like Taylor?"
"Who?"
"What?"
"You asked if I was-" Going rigid, the girl took a step back when Louise reached a hand out toward the girl's fluffy cat ears. Possibly because she'd done so with the arm that was in a cast, she belatedly realized. Not that it kept her from trying again with her good arm. "Stop that! Please don't touch my bow."
Blinking slowly, Louise looked again and saw that those ears were indeed just a black bow on the girl's head. Giggling, she replied, "Oops, thought you were a cat."
"Seriously, are you okay? Shouldn't somebody be watching you right now?"
"Meow." Was all that the pinkette said, imagining the girl before her chasing giant mice.
Squinting her slit-pupiled eyes, ones that just cemented Louise's drug addled conclusion on her cat-ness, the girl sighed and poked her head into the front room to call for somebody. When nobody understood kitty speech, the girl came back to the only one that could. "I guess you're Cattleya's sister?"
Nodding, Louise explained, "Meow."
"Gods, this is my punishment, isn't it... I just wanted to ask... Whatever, let's just get you upstairs to a bed so I can get back to work."
Letting the black and white kitty pick her up, Louise snuggled closer and tried to purr comfortingly. It came out oddly since she was just rolling her tongue and exhaling, but that just made her try harder.
"Eww, you're getting spit on my vest!"
Status: Drugged to the gills, broken arm.
Magicka: (12000/12000)
Choose:
[] POV Switch:
[] Let the kitty cat put you to bed and sleep until the next day.
[] Cling to the kitty cat and don't let her go back to work alone, she needs you to translate for her!
[] Write in.
Giving up on feeling any less tired by ten in the morning, she skipped breakfast in favor of doing something productive. Since she didn't want to face the fact that the medical staff had lied about her being able to cast magic again and couldn't bear the veiled disappointment her teacher would probably have upon seeing her, the 'something' ended up being a visit to Doctor Vahlen's makeshift laboratory underneath the storage room. Though her arm twinged in discomfort at the way she was forced to lift the heavy hidden door, she soon found herself seated opposite the older woman.
Doctor Vahlen stared back at her with fingers laced as the woman's eyes traced their way up and down Louise's scarred face. Irritated at the blatant inspection, Louise was about to voice her complaints, when the scientist hummed, "You've made a remarkable recovery."
"Remarkable?!" Louise spluttered in disbelief. "I'm repulsive!"
With an oddly melodious laugh for such a cruel and unusual woman, the brunette shook her head. "Your friend Victoria said much the same during her little rant the other day when she got back from setting up the mine... something about fetishists, I believe. Anyway, so what if you've got some scars, you should be glad to be alive even if you look a bit more distinctive."
"My hair is distinctive enough, I don't need a melted face to attract attention!"
"Trust me, it could be worse." At first she had trouble comprehending the meaning behind the woman's words, since she could hardly think of much worse than a wound that actively did the opposite of healing under Restoration magic, but Vahlen's smirk spoke of things she knew she'd regret hearing. "Your uninvited interruptions to my work would be quite a bit more unpleasant if I had to deal with you attempting to speak with half of the musculature missing from your face. At least your new Aura did as advertised."
I... I wasn't that bad, was I?
The thought was immediately countered by a phantom pain in her cheek where she recalled feeling the wind blow through as she laid dying on the Yangtze. Unbidden, the image of a half-skeleton version of herself popped into Louise's mind. It might have been a comical thought if it hadn't come so close to being true if Master Cynric hadn't summoned her back for taking too long. Closing her eyes and trying to think of anything other than herself didn't work when she couldn't help but wonder if she wouldn't be more useful as a zombie. At least then she couldn't ruin things... not on her own.
"Oh yes, your Aura. Speaking of which; Glynda Goodwitch, the deputy headmistress of Beacon Academy, wanted you to have this." The doctor said, pulling her back to the conversation just before tossing a white rectangle her way.
Catching the object, Louise noticed the tiny arrows facing outward from a central button. Pressing and pulling accordingly produced a thin screen that was far too durable for its paper thin size to be glass. "It's a Huntsman specific model Scroll with a built in Aura monitor... well, the basic version that Beacon students are given. I trust you can follow directions well enough to complete the built in tutorial program, so don't ask me to teach you how to use it."
"Of course I can figure it out, I learned how to use your people's data pads and cellphones didn't I?" Louise said with a huff, reluctantly grateful for the distraction... not that it would be necessary if the woman hadn't spoken in the first place. "Why did she leave this for me?"
Shrugging, the doctor pulled out one of her own that appeared much sturdier. "Probably some misguided good will toward someone she thinks is a child. We would have gotten one for you like we did with everyone else, but that one's Aura sensor was useful for reverse engineering. Now, sit still."
"Wh-" Before she could finish, Vahlen pressed a button and a puffing noise came from a crudely constructed tube-like device on her desk. More concerning was the slight pain Louise felt in her stomach. Looking down, she saw a small metal dart laying on the floor.
"Hmm... Wincing in pain? I expected something more impressive."
"Did you just shoot me?!"
Ignoring the question, Vahlen typed some more commands into her Scroll and Louise's lit up to show a green bar. "No noticeable change from full, so that's good. I suppose some sort of training would help."
Without warning a sharp pain dug into Louise's hand and dropped the Scroll that had apparently bitten her. Clattering on the ground, she saw a glint of metal where a small needle had extended outward from the gadget. Her wound was already healing, but that didn't stop the heiress's indignation from flaring as the brunette casually closed the distance to inspect the damage.
Wrenching her hand away from Vahlen, Louise stood to her, unfortunately unimpressive, full height and demanded, "Just who do you think you are?!"
"Somebody who hasn't repeatedly failed at every task she's been given, now please sit back down."
Like being drenched in cold water, Louise's anger fled and she did as told. The calm and unconcerned declaration coming from a commoner, skilled and intelligent scholar or not, was a slap in the face. How had things gone so wrong? Hadn't she been improving? To think that she'd be the reason that even the peasantry could justifiably claim to be superior to a Vallière... she'd have just ruined Wardes' line as well if that marriage had gone through... maybe she should have just stayed locked away at the estate and waited for execution.
"If you start crying, I will sedate you." The doctor sighed, wrapping elastic bands around the pinkette's arms. "Pull your hands apart as hard as you can."
Unable to muster up any will to argue at the commands, Louise went through a hundred or so similar tests over the next few hours. From the bands, to weight lifting, to jumping and running, and even being stripped and submerged in a barrel of water and forced to hold her breath; the pinkette morosely did as told. At least following such simple commands was something she couldn't mess up.
"Alright, just one more test and then you can go do whatever it is you usually waste your time with." The doctor announced boredly as she strapped Louise's arm into a machine. Once secured and activated, the pinkette realized with growing dread that the contraption was slowly angling upward in the middle of her forearm! "This will hurt a lot, but after some training and a sessions of these same tests, we should be able to establish a baseline for the supposed exponential enhancements we can expect Aura to generate over time."
Struggling did nothing to free herself and she was beginning to feel an ache in her bone. Attempting to stretch and reach the buttons Vahlen had pressed gave way to frantic pounding on the machine. Her tiny fists did nothing to the uncaring metal and she screamed as a snap resounded through the room.
--------------------------
Vahlen had made good on her word and sedated Louise at the first sign of tears. When she'd woken up, she was sitting on a bar stool by the door to the storage room. How she'd gotten there, she had no idea, but her broken arm was covered in plaster and mouth tasted fuzzy. That 'fuzzy' wasn't a taste didn't even register in her mind should have been a clue as to why she felt so strange, but she didn't know what she didn't know.
Scooting closer to the bar that normally held coffee, she slumped over onto it with a sigh of relief. It was easy to ignore the sounds of people shuffling the occasional box or loose object around as she dozed in and out of awareness. One of the times she woke back up, she noticed a pair of white tablets and a note saying to swallow them, which she did without hesitation before resting her head back down and tracing the glassy swirls beside her head in a state of semi-consciousness.
"Hey, Catt- you're not Cattleya." A girl's voice called out from where Louise was resting her head on a cool obsidian counter. Through the drug induced fog in her head, she eventually remembered to her manners and turned to greet the speaker.
Of course, seeing a taller girl in black and white looming over her, Louise's response was a less than dignified groan at the way her head swam from being forced to look so high. "S-stop being bigger than me."
"Are you alright?" The girl asked, awkwardly shifting her eyes away from the burns one Louise's face and taking in the pinkette's plaster-bound arm.
"No, I'm Louise." It'd seemed like a reasonable answer when she'd thought it, but the other girl looked to have trouble processing such a simple statement. Maybe she's like Taylor. "Are you like Taylor?"
"Who?"
"What?"
"You asked if I was-" Going rigid, the girl took a step back when Louise reached a hand out toward the girl's fluffy cat ears. Possibly because she'd done so with the arm that was in a cast, she belatedly realized. Not that it kept her from trying again with her good arm. "Stop that! Please don't touch my bow."
Blinking slowly, Louise looked again and saw that those ears were indeed just a black bow on the girl's head. Giggling, she replied, "Oops, thought you were a cat."
"Seriously, are you okay? Shouldn't somebody be watching you right now?"
"Meow." Was all that the pinkette said, imagining the girl before her chasing giant mice.
Squinting her slit-pupiled eyes, ones that just cemented Louise's drug addled conclusion on her cat-ness, the girl sighed and poked her head into the front room to call for somebody. When nobody understood kitty speech, the girl came back to the only one that could. "I guess you're Cattleya's sister?"
Nodding, Louise explained, "Meow."
"Gods, this is my punishment, isn't it... I just wanted to ask... Whatever, let's just get you upstairs to a bed so I can get back to work."
Letting the black and white kitty pick her up, Louise snuggled closer and tried to purr comfortingly. It came out oddly since she was just rolling her tongue and exhaling, but that just made her try harder.
"Eww, you're getting spit on my vest!"
Status: Drugged to the gills, broken arm.
Magicka: (12000/12000)
Choose:
[] POV Switch:
-[] Cynric
-[] Cattleya
-[] Cattleya
[] Let the kitty cat put you to bed and sleep until the next day.
[] Cling to the kitty cat and don't let her go back to work alone, she needs you to translate for her!
[] Write in.
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Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
I enjoy Moira so much, could we get her POV at some point?
Oh, yeah, she isn't Moira from Overwatch, I always forget. (To be fair, they are very similar in personality.)
She probably isn't Aura.
PieceThruWar
Not an eldritch abomination
- Location
- The Server Farm
How dare you, she can be Aura if she wants to be. Next you'll say that dogs can't fly if they put their hearts into it and Snoopy will need to have a few words with you.
