Oh, I didn't think we are at any risk of physical damage to her actual body. The worst I expect is getting booted from the mindscape with maybe a killer headache from the spike malfunctioning.
Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 24: Xenial Xenos Xerox Xanthous Xiphos
Chapter 10.6 (Part 8)
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 10.6
(Part 8)
(Part 8)
***
This "Mama" figment was present in your previous interrogation of Valefor - at the scene of the crime where Aisha caught him - but as odd as her presence had been then, she had largely remained quiet save for humming a bit and being… handsy with your mental projection within this mindscape. Patting your shoulder and hand, humming absently at the memories of Valefor's actions in Philly that you dragged up; you'd been weirded out by how affectionate she was being to you despite the fact that Valefor's own mental avatar had called out to her for help several times, but she'd she hadn't spoken a word for the brief time you'd been in his head.
But the weirdest thing was that your charm didn't appear to affect her, at least directly; you normally have nearly full control of the mindscape's shape, but a few absent attempts with the POS's primary function to reform the mental 'waiting room' without her did nothing. Instead, you'd gotten the distinct impression she wasn't a part of his mind, but rather that she was - like you - simply visiting.
You had noted all this during your debrief, but while it had raised some eyebrows and generated some concern there hadn't been much of an immediate response. Only after it had been passed up the chain of command did you receive an immediate order to return from vacation and give a full break-down of everything she'd said and done. In return, you'd been cleared for an ominous explanation of what little the PRT actually knows about "Mama Mathers."
"Anyone that ever sees her goes insane. Thinkers that even try to observe or perceive her go insane. She is why we haven't brought the hammer down on the Fallen; any attempts at scouting them out risk the scouts' lives, and it's understood now that she knows when she's been perceived so they have enough warning to prepare or move."
Thankfully, the PRT's past track record with Mama Mathers indicates that you would have noticed her trying to Master you by now - you weren't forced into Master/Stranger quarantine, but Director Uriel held you back from going back into his head until this afternoon just to be on the safe side. Still, the general consensus (without Taylor's confirmation) is that your Industrial Survival Frame is yet again proving to be the most useful defensive Charm in your arsenal.
You feel so many random, light 'ping's against against your ISF these days that you have to agree.
With all that known, the decision had come down from the Chief-Director to push your advantage… and with everything you uncovered in your quick interrogation last time, your standing order to 'look, don't touch' had been rescinded.
"Not that we can see what goes on in there. Just..." Uriel had sighed, deliberately keeping his eyes on his computer screen as he shooed you out with a wave. "Be careful fighting monsters."
Frowning, you ignore Mama Mather's attempt to take control of the conversation and swipe your left hand in a wide gesture... and push.
The mountains, the trees, the house, the chairs… even your own avatar's body, it all falls apart and disperses into empty mist that leaves only behind an empty, endless white void. Valefor's mental avatar also loses much of its coherence, his expression fading from anger, to shock, to finally a half-conscious blank stare into the nothingness beyond. Here, now, in the Personality Override Spike's most primitive, most basic mindscape, only one thing remains solid.
"Ah-!"
The weathered fifty-something woman half-stands, half-floats in the white abyss, the abruptness of the scenery change fluttering her baggy green dress as she tries to 'steady' herself by clutching onto - and into - the shoulder of Valefor's avatar. Her arm find purchase somewhere in his murky form's chest, which she uses as an anchor briefly before casting her head around to look for-
"You," she hisses, cold blue eyes darting back and forth with a manic hatred. "What're you doin' t' my boy, you abomination?"
Creating an avatar for yourself had mostly been to make it easy to keep a single point of view, and a scene something for it to stand within. Now, bodiless in an empty void, you're sort of… everywhere and nowhere. It's distracting for you, but it's probably even worse for her when your reality-shaking voice comes from all directions.
"ANYTHING I WANT."
Her eyes go wide for a split-second, but then she sneers into the void with a mouthful of yellowed teeth…
… only for the sneer to quickly turn into a wicked grin.
"Me first."
Then she turns, unhinges her jaw, and blasts apart the wispy countours of Valefor's head with a soul-rending scream. The rest of his body quickly follows, with the colors and definition of the hazy avatar billowing away until all that's left is a vague colorless mist in the rough shape of a human where once floated Valefor's self-image.
As her scream dies off, Mama Mathers clicks her oversized jaw shut with a smug, ear-to-ear grin as she turns away from the empty husk of her son to stare out into the void that is you.
"Sorry, dearie. Just needed 'ta discipline 'im first."
...
You don't have a face, but you mentally adopt a flat, unimpressed expression that you make sure comes across in your tone.
"AM I SUPPOSED TO BE IMPRESSED?"
Her grin - and one of her eyes - twitches. She opens her mouth to respond, but you decide that showing is better than telling, here.
Reaching out first through the core POS Charm, you create a solid glass box around Valefor's empty mental husk - ejecting Mama Mathers' arm from it in the process, sending her spinning away in the void briefly before her image twists and distorts until she's motionless and stand-floating 'upright' again with a furious expression.
"ANYTHING YOU CAN DO…"
Then, since you just watched it all happen, you toggle the charm's Memory Implantation Surge submod and simply… rewind.
"I CAN DO BETTER."
You're not one to enjoy teasing people too much - that's Aisha's job - but… you can make a few exceptions here and there. Her rage-filled scream would be making you smile, if you could.
And really, she should be mad - if she'd done that to him when you hadn't been in the mindscape, you're not sure if your Charm would have been able to pull off a full restoration of Valefor's mind. If what she did is anything like how the Simurgh twisted Mannequin's mind (and Contessa making you stick your Spike into a brain in a jar was blech)? Your Charm can see if a person's mind and memory has been altered, but… well...
If they don't have a soul and it's not a recent change, your Charm can't really tell what was there before. You can make guesses based on context, but it's fuzzy at best - Armsmaster was lucky you were right there, and even then you weren't entirely sure how much the Simurgh twisted things.
Not that you're going to tell her any of that, of course. Still, despite the front you're putting up that was probably one of the more terrifying things you've seen. How did she do that? Judging by the little shapeshifting tricks she's doing now, she probably has control of what she looks like - the PRT said people were going insane, seeing and hearing things, sometimes even losing bits and pieces of their memories…
There was definitely no mention of people getting their minds blasted apart!
Your first plan to deal with her (if she was still here) was based on a faint idea: that maybe wiping out Valefor's memory of his mother might wipe out whatever hooks she has into his mind. But if she just wiped out his whole brain and she's still here then that obviously isn't going to work as a cure - for him or for anyone she's affected before-
The screaming, cursing form of Mama Mathers warps and expands, her human body unravelling into a gigantic, nightmarish horror that hurts to look at as she throws herself at Valefor's rematerializing form, passing straight through the box you made and tearing into his mind once again.
… You know what? Forget the other back-up plans! You're jumping straight to the experimental big gun that hasn't been tried yet!
For a brief, split second you focus your intent, causing a copy of your Alchemical body - in Maximum Hotness mode - to materialize next to the massive, reality-tearing horror that is Mama Mathers-
-and then your avatar drives a Personality Override Spike into her.
And pulls.
The Mind-Ripping Probe submod twists, and in your mind you feel… a hollowness, a wrongness. One of its functions is to absorb spirits, not… whatever the Void this thing is.
You don't care! It's like a spirit, and you want it gone!
Gritting your avatar's teeth, you can feel the entire mindscape bend and warp around the jet-black spike as you pull… and pull… and pull…
For a brief, torturous moment, it feels like you're trying to drag a mountain through a straw-
-and then there's a snap, a crystalline shattering as something gives way, and Mama Mathers' fractal, fleshy body implodes and disappears into the Spike with a twisting pull of shattered reality.
Your avatar is sweaty and panting, you feel like you just spent ten hours being tossed around the training grounds by Bladedancer, but at least you…
… wait. Shards. Oh, Maker, what did you just-?
Mentally, you peer into the part of your soul that's attached to your Personality Override Spike. There should be… huh? Nothing? Where-
In the back of your mind, in the depths of your Safe Space, a continent of metal slams down with vindictive finality.
PRISONER PROCESSING: COMPLETE
… uh oh.
***
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- Location
- California
Oh Dear, Mama. Did the Champion of the Great Maker prove a bit too much for you?
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
...Did Saki just eat Mama Mathers' shard?
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
"Yo Mama so ugly..."
If Valefor has any awareness of what just happened, how is he going to deal with a figure of literally-divine beauty saving him from his nightmarish mother's attack? That has got to leave some issues...
"Yo Mama so fat..."
... And Saki's shard is used for its original purpose! Based on the bit about a continent of metal slamming down, she pulled Mama's shard physically into the prison. Looks like Taylor's not the only one with a normal Charm that synergizes with her Shard Charm...
The question is, did we drag Mama in physically too from wherever she is? If not, is she dead? If dead, there are going to be some interesting comparisons between Saki and the first long-term resident of her prison.
If Mama is alive, is she merely depowered (and mad in one or both senses of the term)? And dead or alive, how are the no-doubt many Fallen in her family who budded from her affected?
And what's been happening around Saki outside the mindscape? Something this dramatic probably had an anima flare to go with it, so that's no doubt caused some issues. Is Saki's RIA-generated illusion of wearing her Wards costume still up?
Has Valefor reacted physically in any way to getting his mind shredded twice? Speaking of which, is Saki going to bother putting him together again for a second time?
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- Location
- California
And the funny thing is? Back in Authocthonia, Mama would be the platonic example of a dangerous void cult.
SaltyWaffles
I am dissapoint, son
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oh wow. I expected Saki to slap Mama Mathers, but I didn't expect her to bitchslap her Shard. Well done, Saki.
Note that Christine Mathers is allegedly in her thirties.
Teenage pregnancy and hard living just makes her look older.
This is presumably her big gun against hostile Thinkers.
I can see why people step so carefully around her.
Still calibrating, I see.
Post-cognition type analysis is well within the capability of charms and spells of that power.
Girl needs more Occult.
Loling at her disgust at the brain in a jar thing.
And it's interesting to note that she's apparently fixed Alan Gramme as well.
Oh dear. I think Saki just kidnapped both Christine Mathers AND her shard.
As in, physically, Mama Mathers is probably missing from her compound somewhere in the Midwest. And from the heads of everyone shes been afflicting. That's going to be fun to report. Expect instability in the Midwest parahuman scene.
SoTI sounded very satisfied with that acquisition though.
I wonder what the medical readout on her will be? And if she gets to have tea parties with Ciara.
Think that works better. Or maybe 'only leaves behind'?
Or delete 'a scene', either works.
Timerider
That guy who really should get out more.
- Location
- The End of the World.
OH, YES.
Dis' gon' be gud.
So, there was a nasty trick after all. Definitely wasn't an easy mindscape battle.
Uh oh, indeed. This wasn't part of the plan. Though, I imagine the PRT might be pleased that she is either detained or neutralized.
Mama Mathers is a Cauldron cape. I don't think anyone budded from her, even though they have Master powers that make it look like they might have.
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
If anyone else had any piece of the same shard, they will be affected. Much like how of we scooped up a case 53 shard with Balance would affect other Vase 53 balance capes.
- Location
- The Hub
Welp, Mantellum is probably fucking dead.
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
She actually had several Buds that were traded within the family, confirmed by Bow. They are used to help hide from other Thinkers as well (not to the same level of course)
The biggest issue is, that if Mama's Shard is in the Prison.... I don't know if Saki will be able to perceive or visit the Prison all that well.
Shards aren't like people, they naturally exist in multiple universes and their "powers" are just their biology at work. So while she might see a continent of Prison Bars, it's very likely that its
A.) vastly more large/expansive the closer she gets to the Prison (like how Victoria notes that Grasping Self looked only a 100 feet tall from a distance but was actually the size of a planet up close)
Or
B.) parts of the Shard aren't imprisoned (such as Buds or pieces of Eden) and this is only a section of Mama's Shard held in place.
In any case, going into the Prison is now very fucking dangerous because you have a very deadly continent to planet sized Alien God who likes it's host within.
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
Saki's original power was an Entity Shard designed to imprison other shards.
I have full confidence that it can handle it, especially now that its an Essence Behemoth shard.
I have full confidence that it can handle it, especially now that its an Essence Behemoth shard.
- Location
- Russia
I suppose that is what expending 2 (?) points of willpower in the same scene feels like from the inside.
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
Huh, I had no idea. I wonder if they'll tell the Assembly anything about how that happened...
That makes sense.
IIRC,Scion's definition of a dead shard is just a shard that is not properly hooked up to a data-sharing network like his were, and is not sharing it's data on the regular, or being calibrated. Isolated, having to work out and figure out things on their own.
It doesn't mean they aren't capable of self-reproduction or change, or exchanging data with shards that are nearby.
Autobot crafted SoTI specifically to hold dangerous things. As long as it's inside SoTI it can't take any action it's not allowed to.
It would be one way to quietly let slip data on where powers come from to the PRT.
Information that doesnt come from Cauldron, but from independent discovery, and which in part helps corroborate Armsmaster's video records of Vision lobotomizing Broadcast Shard during Slaughter Day.
Question you should be asking is:
What happens if/when she does the same thing to the Butcher and it's shard?
Because the Butcher has much the same MO as Christine Mathers, only more so.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
I love how casually Saki wrecked one of the scarier parahumans of the setting.
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
Brain, wat r u doin?
Brain! Stahp!
...
Deep within the Transcendental Prison, as a continent of metal slams down with vindictive finality, an urge bubbles up. The urge is ruthlessly crushed by the administrating spirit at the top of the prison's metaphysical heirarchy, for it is a dignified spirit and the urge is not orderly. Nonetheless, the expression of the urge is loud in its unspokenness, and the stasis holding the defeated Dybbuk Shard rings with a defined silence:
[GIT GUD OR GET REKT, N00B!!!1!1!!]
Needs more T-posing to assert dominance.
