So the aliens think that they can steal your apprentice from you just because they've discovered non-magical mind powers? If they think they can ruin all the work you've put into training and influencing the girl into a worthwhile companion, they don't realize the threat they're up against. Magic or not, you refuse to suffer fools that think they can steal from you.
Focusing almost the entirety of your magicka into the spell, you fortify Louise's resistance to Illusion effect to hopefully increase her resistance to the next attempt made to invade her mind. Using the remainder of your energy, you siphon her own energy to refuel yours as you begin nonstop casting a myriad of variations of spells. Hours pass as you use up most of her magicka on everything from Silence to Reflect in an attempt to sever whatever unseen connection exists between the girl and the invaders, but until they attempt anything, you won't know if you succeeded. Neither Dispel magicka nor Banish Daedra have any effect and Resist Magicka only seems to make the siphoning less intense.
Clairvoyance being a spell often used to find unknown objectives, it turns out to be surprisingly useful when the golden light leads directly to the base of her skull and you focus your diagnostics to that area. Unnamed Mysticism techniques passed on through the teachings of Sotha Sil are put to use as you follow the connection through her brain, your perception warping as you spend strange eons sifting through a sea of constantly shifting reality, time losing all meaning as the trail you follow grows ever thinner. Gravity has no hold on anything within sight and objects pass your mind faster than you can observe them as you follow the golden light of magic into the twisting ether.
Eventually the light of your spell merges with a cluster of violet threads that lead back the way you came. Following the light to your objective, your vision snaps back into more understandable reality as you peer through the eyes of another body beyond your control. You can feel another forty or so minds riding inside the head of your current host, whom you realize is a four armed creature with a rather frail body.
Robe and Helmet adorn the being whose eyes you use, it's hands moving in odd patterns beneath the blood red cloth as you feel it think-speak to the others. You can't understand the whispers at the edge of your mind, but it won't be long before you're noticed. These creatures aren't simply unaware of magic, they're completely lacking in any trace of Magicka... something you had previously thought impossible. Is not Magicka an innate part of the soul? Never before had anyone you know found or created life without magicka, not even the Dwemer.
Around the soulless being are a dozen others in silent conversation with another of their kind, the
obvious leader wearing an ornamental helmet much wider than the rest with a much flatter top and a distinct lack of any opening on the face. The leader turns it's eyeless gaze to your host and you can actually feel the weight of it's attention on your hosts mind. Not willing to wait to be discovered and unable to effectively spy on them without knowing the language, you cast Firestorm without protecting the body of your host as you flee.
The return trip is much shorter for some reason, simply leaving the mind of your host having shunted you back to your own body. Looking around the genetics lab, you notice that the clock has completed almost an entire rotation while you were away... much less than you'd expected. Topping off your Magicka, you see that your apprentice appears almost unaffected by the constant siphoning of her energy and you feel an irrational spike of jealousy. The wonders you might accomplish with that level of magicka is astounding, no doubt you would be among the legends such as Shalidor and Mannimarco themselves.
Shaking such pointless thoughts from your mind, you leave a note for Vahlen to attempt crafting a method to detect the aliens' mental abilities in a similar manner to how the locals had detected your own magic, detailing your experience with their mind powers to provide firsthand insight. The next hour or so is spent preparing the room to contain Louise's soul in the off chance that she is killed by an alien counterattack or by a guard defending themselves from her mind-controlled rampage if she escapes the pod, not willing to allow a petty conditions such as death to steal her away. With that done, you set off to find some food and inform Cattleya of her sister's condition.
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Sitting beside Cattleya for an early lunch in the forest outside the base, you watch as a horde of chaurus of all sizes battle with each other to sit beside the elder Valliere, acting like giant puppies rather than giant ravenous insects. If the Nords could see this nonsense...
"She... she's going to be alright... isn't she?" Cattleya asks, the first words out of her mouth since you'd pulled her from the throngs of admirers gathered around her table in the Cafeteria and told her of the aliens' recent machinations. "You can fix this?"
Nodding, you swallow a spoonful of the strange tomato soup, wondering at the purpose of the letter shaped noodles. "Of course, even in the unlikely event that Moira and I cannot prevent her from being influenced, it would be a simple matter of taking Louise to another realm to sever all contact with the aliens. To be honest, I would much prefer a more convenient solution than exiling Louise from any world where mental attacks are present." Perhaps you would think them a form of scrying if the locals made use of magic, using the letters to devine distant events or send messages. Clearing such perplexities from your thoughts, you point your spoon at the young woman, "Still, she is your sister... what would you propose we do?"
Looking down at her untouched food, she remains silent. "I don't know... I don't know what to do to help." She eventually whispers. "I've never had to make these kinds of decisions... I don't even know what
I'm supposed to be doing anymore... I-I never knew what it felt like to be a normal girl. I was sick most of my life, as you already knew... and suddenly I'm free to do whatever I feel like whenever I feel like doing it... It was exhilarating... I could run in the garden, eat as much as I like, it was a dream come true! Now I look back on these last few months... my family would be so ashamed. I didn't mean to go so far... it was just so dreadfully boring being stuck inside after finally being able to play outdoors! I knew men would ogle me from the social events hosted at our estate, so I thought 'why not use that?' After all, I just wanted to go outside the base... The poor man on guard duty didn't stand a chance. Agreeing to share a meal was all it took for almost free reign with his escort around base. We started spending more time with his together and he introduced me to his friends at the tavern, just drinking and talking really... Next thing I know, I'm waking up every morning with a headache from the alcohol and I've hardly even seen my sister in weeks."
"Maybe... maybe I shouldn't have accepted that potion from Louise... Mother and father did their best to shelter me from the world, maybe they knew how poorly I would handle it. I would sit in my room and watch the birds sing, the butterflies flutter, the deer bound across the garden. I guess I started collecting pets because they made me feel less confined. It took years for me to stop trying to sneak out and accept my fate... Even if I would never be free to do as I wanted, I only had to look to my little sister to know things could be worse... I think Louise gave me the strength I needed not to fall into despair. Just thinking about what would happen to her if I just collapsed in on myself... abandoning her to wallow in misery... I couldn't do that to her." The coral-haired young woman says, roughly shaking her head as she begins to tear up at the thought.
"Eleanor used to resent me for being a terrible sister-" You choke on your soup when she says that. By the divines, this Eleanor must be soft in the head. The woman had risked her life helping Louise escape persecution at the hands of their mother and she's a bad sister? If your brother had been half the sibling Cattleya seems to be, maybe you would have taken the time to try and rescue him from the bandits that kidnapped him all those years ago. Seeing your disbelieving expression, the woman swats at your arm. "Oh don't give me that look, she was just a child who wanted a playmate, she grew out of it... but I know that's why she doesn't know how to handle Louise." Smiling sadly in reminiscence, she runs a hand across one of the chaurus' head. "Louise... sweet Louise... it would tear Eleanor to pieces every time that girl failed to cast a spell. At first we thought our little sister had caught my illness too, but she never got weaker, unlike me... she just couldn't cast any spells. The explosions started once she got a few years older. My elder sister would cry herself to sleep whenever another tutor would declare Louise magic-less. Eventually she decided that our baby sister's only chance at happiness was to marry someone with enough influence to outshine her shortcomings."
"But she's grown so much lately thanks to you... and now this happens." Sniffling, she wipes her nose with a handkerchief and sighs. "I'm sorry, I don't even know why I'm telling you all this."
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (650/650)
How do you respond?
[] Write in
Plan for afterward:
[] Vahlen said before that she needs a psionic specimen, time to hunt some aliens.
[] General plan write in.
[] Work with Shen to speed up construction on the prototype armor.
[] Receive gene-mods.
[] Write in.
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A/N: So... Cattleya has been on a downward spiral toward a bad end. I was wondering if you guys would take the Cattleya option whenever I presented it and then you choose it when it wasn't even an option. Oh... and you accidentally an ethereal. Oops?
