Overshadowed[Young Wizards/Worm]

[CaesriusPolybius]

Welp, rhiow and closet, it looks like...

Okay, Rhiow's character sheet up next, snip up later. Short one, I'm afraid- one more setting-customizing option, and then you can have proper interaction come next update after this(when I have more than 1.5 hours of sleep to my name).

EDIT: In Young Wizards, the bit about cats having nine lives is true. Rhiow is currently on her 5th life, Arhu is on his 1st. A feline wizard can sacrifice up to an entire life to empower their wizardry; Rhiow did so in "The Book of Night with Moon", before which she was on her 4th life. (Nita sacrificed 3 years of her life in direct combat with the Lone Power in High Wizardry, powering a shield that drained time off her life in exchange for negating an attack; each of the Lone Powers' attacks knocked one year off, while something like a bullet would only knock off a few seconds or so.)

Click to shrink...

I remembered the nine lives bit, though it's mostly just fun trivia since there's no guarantee that you'll even remember your past lives in your next one. I always forget about the life-powered wizardry bit, though. Ninelived added to Rhiow's character info.(And thanks for the life listing- This is why I'm rereading the books...)

I only read "To Visit the Queen" once, and never even saw a copy of "The Big Meow".

Click to shrink...

No surprise on the last one- The Big Meow was a web-novel. A poorly-managed one that may or may not have been disowned(Which is a shame- what I read of it was fun).

Also, I'll put stuff in the General Info. Whoops...

 

[Finagle007]

Oh, I almost forgot about the Living Ones...

"After your ninth life," Saash said, "well, no one's really sure what happens… but there's a story. That, if in nine lives you've done more good than evil, then you get a tenth."

"With a mind that won't get tired," Urruah said, "and a body that won't wear out, too fast and tough for even Death to claw at… so you can go on to hunting your great desire, right past the boundaries of physical reality, they say, past world's end and in toward the heart of things…"

"If you ever see a Living One, you'll know it," Rhiow said. "They pass through, sometimes, on Iau's business.…"

"Have you ever seen one?" Arhu said, skeptical again.

"As it happens, yes."

"What did it look like?"

Rhiow threw an amused glance at the sphinx. "Not like that," she said, remembering the glimpse she had once caught, very early in the morning, of a feline shape walking casually by the East River in the upper Seventies. To the superficial glance, ehhif's or People's, it would have appeared to be just another cat, a dowdy tabby. But the second glance showed how insubstantial, almost paltry, mere concretely physical things looked when seen with it, at the same time. Shortly thereafter the cat shape had paused, then jumped down onto the East River, and walked off across it, with a slightly distracted air, straight along the glittering path laid along the water by the rising sun and out of sight.

Click to shrink...

Saash herself becomes such a Living One at the end of The Book of Night with Moon, having suffered her ninth death just before the climax.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Oh, I almost forgot about the Living Ones...



Saash herself becomes such a Living One at the end of The Book of Night with Moon, having suffered her ninth death just before the climax.

Click to shrink...

...
[muffled]Thank you[/muffled]

Doesn't amount to much, but still worth noting...

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Spoiler: No longer happened; Kept just in case

[X] You pop into existence in an enclosed area. On further investigation, it's a janitor's closet.

It is, predictably, a bit cramped, so you open the door and exit quickly(aided by your nausea), followed by Nita and Rhiow. You lay there on the floor for a moment, letting your stomach settle, and then get up off the floor. You notice lockers lining the hallway- a school?

"Rhiow, what was-" You hear Nita start, only for her voice to peter out quickly. Your gaze shifts to the cat, and you're somewhat startled to see the cat sitting still, her ears back.

"The gate's gone…" she mewls, seeming very small for a moment. "HOW COULD THE HIHHHH GATE JUST DISSAPEAR?!" She continues. Her timidness is gone as quickly as it appeared, her head suddenly held high and tail lashing wildly.

"It's not the first time a 'gate's moved," you say. "I mean, look at Penn Station's 'gate recently-"

She interrupts again. "Even if it moved, it still should have left an obvious connection to the natural mooring structures; It's as if the vrai thing just appeared there, dropped us off, and vanished again, but if it was just a temporary location the mooring structures wouldn't have formed!"

This is not the end of her rant - far from it, in fact - however, it is the end of the portion that you can understand. Were Sker'ret here, or another member of a worldgate maintenance team, they likely could, but you have no background or training in the matter.
Rhiow suddenly stops her (admittedly rather soft) yowling with a sigh. "It's a moot point, anyhow," She says, calming down. "I'll stay here and try to determine where the 'gate went."

"Right," Nita replies. "We'll try to determine where we are."

Rhiow nods her assent, and you and Nita head down the hall, looking for a door out. You do notice several doors that presumably lead into classrooms, and you both rapidly activate invisibility spells. Before you can check the doors, however, you hear a banging noise.

You meet eyes with Nita, and dash to the source of the noise- a locker, apparently. Your nose involuntarily wrinkles in disgust at the odor coming from within.

You grab the lock, examining it for a second before attempting to convince it to open. Your fumblings are apparently noticed, since whoever was inside starts crying out(though the words are almost english-sounding, they make no sense until you listen with the Speech- They translate approximately as 'Let Me Out'). Your attempts pause for a moment, however, when shortly afterwards both the pounding and the voice stop.

Feeling justifiably frantic, you snarl '[OPEN]' at the offending lock, substituting raw power for the diplomacy and finesse that such would usually require. This is far more difficult for you than it would have been a year ago, but it is enough, and the lock pops open.

You are so focused on doing this that you barely notice Rhiow bolting towards you and Nita, yowling something about a 'fouled planeshift' and 'ripples'. As you sit, exhausted from the sudden exertion, you similarly almost miss Nita removing the lock and opening the locker(and likewise, the… waste hitting the floor, and Nita catching the person inside to keep them from doing the same).

Thanks to some very deep breaths, you're quickly aware enough that you catch the end of the cat's explanation.

"… of it is that something is going to open a transplanar [WINDOW] within that girl's head. It's distinctly not a worldgate or anything like a worldgate, though there seems to be a primitive mooring structure forming. As such, it could be beneficial. Given the reported… unique nature of this world, however, it is doubtful. The formation could be stopped easily enough… if I had enough time. As it is, I'll be working against the clock."

You meet Nita's eyes, and both know decide on a plan near-instantly.

[ ] "Take the chance," says Nita. "Whatever it is, it's unlikely to be friendly or helpful, especially considering that she went unconscious in that locker beforehand," you add. "We can't let it get a foothold," Nita finishes.

[ ] "Don't take the chance," you say. "Whatever it is, you said that a mooring structure is forming. Worst comes to worst, we could likely dislodge it," Nita adds. "Considering when it happened, it could be in response to emergencies," you finish.

[ ] Write-in!

Welp. Here it is, the first write-in! Most future votes should have it as an option, but remember, you're Kit. If you're going out of character, it's going to need justification. Also, remember the Oath. Anything can be in-character with sufficient justification, but the Oath is a hard-limit.

In any case, I'm going to try to make keep Write-ins around for two reasons: 1) It's young wizards; Taking a Third Option is tradition by this point. And 2) I have only a minimal idea where this is going anyways, why limit it?

 

[veekie]

[X] Hook a probe into the mooring structure while its still forming, it'd be easier to remove properly later if we know how it works and theres no way its unrelated to whatever is wrong with this world. We can backtrace it after that with that and keep an eye on things if its up to no good.

 

[Finagle007]

[X] "Take the chance," says Nita. "Whatever it is, it's unlikely to be friendly or helpful, especially considering that she went unconscious in that locker beforehand," you add. "We can't let it get a foothold," Nita finishes.

Yes, that's most likely QA trying to form the connection with Taylor. But we've got wizards here; we don't need QA to deal with Zion now.

 

[veekie]

I figure its our best chance to get a good look at a trigger event in action.

And find out where Shards are based.

 

[Markala]

[X] Hook a probe into the mooring structure while its still forming, it'd be easier to remove properly later if we know how it works and theres no way its unrelated to whatever is wrong with this world. We can backtrace it after that with that and keep an eye on things if its up to no good.

 

[Beyogi]

[X] Hook a probe into the mooring structure while its still forming, it'd be easier to remove properly later if we know how it works and theres no way its unrelated to whatever is wrong with this world. We can backtrace it after that with that and keep an eye on things if its up to no good.

 

[Assembler]

[X] Hook a probe into the mooring structure while its still forming, it'd be easier to remove properly later if we know how it works and theres no way its unrelated to whatever is wrong with this world. We can backtrace it after that with that and keep an eye on things if its up to no good.

 

[Hestia&theCourt]

[X] Hook a probe into the mooring structure while its still forming, it'd be easier to remove properly later if we know how it works and theres no way its unrelated to whatever is wrong with this world. We can backtrace it after that with that and keep an eye on things if its up to no good.

 

[wingstrike96]

[X] Hook a probe into the mooring structure while its still forming, it'd be easier to remove properly later if we know how it works and theres no way its unrelated to whatever is wrong with this world. We can backtrace it after that with that and keep an eye on things if its up to no good.

 

[Regeral]

[X] Hook a probe into the mooring structure while its still forming, it'd be easier to remove properly later if we know how it works and theres no way its unrelated to whatever is wrong with this world. We can backtrace it after that with that and keep an eye on things if its up to no good.

For Science Wizardy!

 

[Pridakarbiter]

[X] "Don't take the chance," you say. "Whatever it is, you said that a mooring structure is forming. Worst comes to worst, we could likely dislodge it," Nita adds. "Considering when it happened, it could be in response to emergencies," you finish.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Spoiler: No longer happened; Kept just in case

"What if we link a scanning spell into the mooring structure?" Nita asks, laying the person down away from the mess on the floor. "We can trace it later if something goes wrong, it probably wouldn't be difficult to remove, and it would allow us to keep an eye on whatever's happening."

Rhiow seems to think about it for a bit, before making a movement that, if looked at sideways, vaguely hints at a nod. "There is one that has been used in the past to monitor particular finicky fixed gates that don't want to stay as such. We'll have to implement it quickly, however; the connection's about to be made."

Rhiow starts speaking, and the spell unfurls around you, clearly displayed. You and Nita, not knowing the spell, simply hook the short-form version of your Names into open 'print to' slots, and read them accordingly when Rhiow reaches them. You feel the universe leaning in, seeming almost giddy, eager to hear the words.

Rhiow speaks the final words of the spell, and the universe lets off, seemingly almost disappointed(?) as it carries out the feline's request. You notice the person on the floor (girl? You think she's female, at any rate) change in some paradoxically imperceptible way, but you leave it be for the moment.

"Anyone else notice that?" you whisper. Though the spell is already gathering data, it won't actually transmit any of it to you for another half minute, so you try to face another issue that's bothering you.

"How reality almost seemed overjoyed while Rhiow was Speaking?" Nita replies. "Yeah. Thinking back, it did the same for the invisibility sp-"

Rhiow's tail lashes once, and then goes stock still. She looks stunned. "And the [MOORING] [FOLDED] upon itself…" She mutters, seemingly confused again. "The transplanar [WINDOW] formed for less than a second and then instantly disappeared from my senses," she says, louder. "The mooring structure also [FOLDED] upon itself the moment the [WINDOW] vanished- It's still there, but barely. It may actually be worth implementing for fixed gates…" she trails off.

Before you can comment on that, you hear the person groan. Knowing that your invisibility wizardry is still running, you begin to sneak away, but stop when she asks, "Who are you?"

Startled, you open your manual and check- you were right, it's still running.
"I'm Nita. This is Kit, and that's Rhiow. We're [WIZARDS]." Nita replies, using one of word in the Speech that describes your position.

"Mages," the girl responds in a highly dubious tone.

"Not quite," Rhiow says. "We-"

The girl looks at her with a mix of confusion and apprehension, and interrupts. "Did that cat just talk?"

"It doesn't matter, at the moment," You say. "We used a process to analyze an unusual event happening to you, and it's still running. Considering the circumstances, we'd believe it would be best to discuss the results, and what we do from there, with you. However, considering that this is a school, and we're currently invisible, we'd like to not be trampled when the next bell rings."

She looks appalled. "What right did you have to-"

Rhiow interrupts her, tail lashing. "A MULTIDIMENSIONAL HOLE WAS OPENING IN YOUR HEAD AND PUTTING SOMETHING IN THERE, YOU SSWIASS! Considering the conditions, and the fact that you were unable to act for yourself at the time, we most certainly had the right."

The native looks somewhat stunned at this. "Oh. Wait, invisible?"

"Just us. In any case, a safe location?" You ask.

Before she can respond, however, someone steps into the hallway- a janitor, if you had to guess. Him not seeing you isn't a big surprise; his gasp at the malodorous mess on the floor is also expected. The fact that he doesn't seem to notice the girl(even though she's standing right next to the open locker), however, is somewhat worrying. A second check of your manual reveals something your brief glance didn't see before- another name clipped into your invisibility spell.

The man moves away, likely to get a member of the faculty.

"Nevermind what I said about it just being us, then…"

She looks somewhat shaken. "I- uh, I think I'd rather just go home, if they can't see me anyways. Kind of a mess at the moment. Not like anything would change, anyways…" she mutters the last part. "Uh, I'm ah, I'm Taylor, by the way."

___

You're somewhat surprised at how easily she invites you into her home when you get there- she seems somewhat out of it the entire trip there(you ended up dropping the invisibility shortly after exiting the school(the fact that you could just exit the school out a side exit without setting off any alarms was simultaneously telling and worrying, but you let it go), and taking a public bus to the general area(again, the fact that the bus lets you, Nita, and Taylor on in the middle of the school day is somewhat worrying, though admittedly the bus driver seemed awfully inattentive anyway)), but when your small group gets inside, she closes the door behind you.

"Okay then. Would you care to share this incredibly important and secret information, then?" Her voice is practically dripping with sarcasm.

[ ] Point out to her that she wanted to get clean. While she does so, examine the results of the scan alongside Nita and Rhiow, and consider several other things that are bothering you.

[ ] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.
-[ ] How much of the information?(optional; default is all of it)

[ ] Write In?

Heeeey! … Yeah, I don't really have a good excuse. Damnable writer's block… At least it's up now…

 

[veekie]

[X] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.

No reason not to that I can think of

 

[Assembler]

[X] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.

 

[Markala]

[X] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.

 

[Finagle007]

[X] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.

Deception and omission are the Lone One's tools. Truth and openness are our best options here.

 

[wingstrike96]

[X] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.

 

[Regeral]

[X] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.

 

[Hestia&theCourt]

[X] It is about her, to be fair; she deserves to know. Examine the results of the scan, and share the information with her.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

I'd like to apologize. I don't intend to let this die, but these past few weeks have been a consistent mishmash of more important stuff, being distracted by video games, and the story refusing to be written.

One of the causes of #3 is a few headaches over how YW works(not even really related to this snip, sadly...). Mainly, over where the hell the mind is hosted. Because, though Like Reality Unless Noted would put the hosting purely on the wetware(with wizardries hosting in the case of shapechanges, like whalesarks and the 'elemental duel' thing in GWP), during HW, when the mobiles are going to pause entropy(to allow themselves time to try and patch it out)it's seemingly implied that consciousness would be maintained during the whole 'pause entropy/time thing'. I put a post on the YW Forum about it, but that thing's kind of like Eden- Mostly dead, with a few blips here and there.

I should have the snip up by this evening/tomorrow morning.

 

[CaesriusPolybius]

Spoiler: No longer happened; Kept just in case

"Okay then. Would you care to share this incredibly important and secret information, then?" Her voice is practically dripping with sarcasm.

Click to shrink...

"We're going to need to look over it, first." Rhiow replies(Taylor distinctly doesn't look at the cat as she speaks). "It shouldn't take to long to bring up, though."

You and Nita open your manuals(not having had a chance to return them to your personal claudications), and turn to the first of the pages the scanning spell is printed to. Rhiow sits, her ears twitching as she presumably does the feline equivalent. You look down at the page…

And see a lot of jargon that you don't understand.

To be fair, you can understand some of it; you may not have any talent for organics(that's more Nita's field), but you know many of the words used(a more difficult feat than one would think, with the Speech), and understand some of it by virtue of sharing a species with the person being scanned.

Notably, however, you most certainly don't understand the information being provided about the planar link. You know a relatively small number of the words presented, by dint of a combination of worldgate use, modifying your 'beam me up' spell, and the 'leash' you made for Ponch. That doesn't help much, though, as even the small number of words you do know are used in contexts that are utterly alien to you.

Despite being resigned to the fact that you can't really help much, you continue to watch the page- maybe you'll recognize something helpful. At the very least you can try to follow along as Rhiow and Nita analyze it.

After a bit, Rhiow says, "The window appears to have stabilized. Though greatly diminished in size, it is still there. It also seems that, when the mooring structure [FOLDED], it got moored to a part of the brain. The only thing coming from it at current is a signal that I don't recognize."

"On the subject of the brain," Nita continues, "The part that the window ended up moored to was altered during the event, as were the connections to and from it. Several other connections were strengthened or weakened, though to what end I'm not certain."

She seems to be leaving something out, but you don't ask- she likely had a good reason for leaving it out. You do seem to notice something off about the description of the brain, but you're uncertain…

Rhiow continues where she left off. "The signal originates from a colossal structure on the other side of the window, and appears to transmit for approximately 173 meters before terminating. It does not appear to be affected by obstructions. Said structure appears to continue for as far as the scan can detect, and appears to be… alive?"

"Alive by human standards, at least, though it's definitely not organic," Nita picks up where Rhiow trailed off. "In any case, the signal appears to respond to changes in the altered segment the window was moored to. We could theoretically dislodge the window and undo what it did to you, but it would likely be permanent, and would be rather time-intensive to do."

Taylor seems rather bemused, if anything. "So this colossal creature altered my brain and is transmitting some kind of signal, and you think you could just undo it? I… I think I need to think about this a bit. I'm going to go get this… stuff… off of me."

She walks away, grumbling.

Nita sighs, and says, "Well, now she thinks we're nuts. Great."

"What did you leave out about her brain?" You ask.

She looks down at her manual. "The mental structure that was massively altered by the formation doesn't really… exist, in our brains, and her neurons were more active than ours ever are- not quite sure what that indicates, honestly. However, her brain was like that before the scanning spell was activated, and all the other changes happened after the activation."

"In any case," Rhiow interrupts, "We should plan our next move. Considering how misplaced the 'gate was, I believe I should go and check the Grand Central gate- I'm not entirely certain we ended up in the right universe."

"Right. Considering she was locked in a locker full of waste, she could probably use someone to talk to. It would also be a decent way to get some information, from how the world is doing to if there's any way we can help with whatever situation she was in." Nita says.

You are here for a reason, and with Rhiow looking into your transportation problems, there's no real reason to not gather information.

[ ] You decide to stay with Nita and talk to Taylor- The girl likely needs a friend at this point, and just asking someone is a good way to learn about the world.

[ ] You decide to go to the nearest library, where you will use books on recent history alongside the public computers, to learn about the global situation. Taylor should have help with whatever's going on, but Nita is better than you at that sort of thing, and her own bullying situation was worse than yours before your Ordeal.

[ ] Write in

Again, apologies for the wait.

 

[Hestia&theCourt]

[X] You decide to stay with Nita and talk to Taylor- The girl likely needs a friend at this point, and just asking someone is a good way to learn about the world.

People are complicated. Better to give Nita a little backup just in case.