Pinball Wizard
Ball 2
Who wants to be a wizard?
If you're not jumping up and waving your...
Ball 2
Who wants to be a wizard?
If you're not jumping up and waving your...
Pinball Wizard [SI, Keychain of Creation]
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Ball 2
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Pinball Wizard
Ball 2
Who wants to be a wizard?
If you're not jumping up and waving your hand going 'I do! I do!' at least a little on the inside then you have no sense of fun. And or are probably lying through your teeth.
I picked up the cup of tea from the tray with a little smile, blowing on it softly as I cradled it in my hands, "Thanks."
"You're welcome." The young man bowed slightly and moved to offer our shared boss the jug of sake, which she took daintily.
Everyone, at some point in their lives, wants that bit of wonder, that hint of amazement and beauty, that impossible thing called magic in their lives. We want it. We crave it. We almost breathe it. Maybe not for our entire lives, maybe not forever, hell, maybe even not for long. But everyone, at some point or another, wants to speak those silly faux latin words and wiggle their fingers and tell the universe to sit down and shut up, and for the universe to go 'Yes mass'ah'.
I took a careful sip of the scalding hot tea-!
"Gack-!"
My boss tittered at that, the damn witch, "The hell'd you do? Enchant the cup so that it didn't transfer the heat? Guh…"
Vainly, I blew out through my mouth to try and cool my scalded tongue as the woman proceeded to guffaw quite inelegantly for someone as beautiful as her. But then again, that was her prerogative.
If you put your mind to it, you could probably put any number of logical reasons behind people wanting to have magic, or be wizards, or however you wanna say it. There were probably plenty. But generally, we grow up to accept that no, we can't be true wizards. Myself included.
And, no, this is not the point where I say something like 'But now I'm an exception' or such as that. I still accept that I'm not going to be a true wizard, because there's a difference between doing magic and being a wizard. That and I accepted this under duress and I don't think that counted.
"So how'd things go?" she drawled, idly swirling the blatant jug of sake about, still giggling slightly as she reclined on the cushion across from me.
But I was a magic user. Which was nearly as cool.
"Oh come on boss, you know exactly how well." I rolled my eyes at that before muttering, scowling down at my too hot tea, "Not at all. I'm lucky to still have all my limbs and most of my brain cells."
A soft clunk drew my attention back up to my boss, she'd set the jug of sake down a bit harder on the matts of the floor. But what made me pause was that instead of a teasing or mocking smile on her pale face, there was a serious and concerned look, "Boss?"
So my master decided that was a great time to throw me for a loop, "I can't see you in the realms I send you."
I very nearly fumbled my tea straight into my lap, but Kimihiro beat me to the question I'd wanted to ask, "What?!" The serving tray he'd been using was pointed angrily at our boss as he shouted, "You're sending him into dangerous places without even a way to check up on him?! What kind of crazy boss are you?!"
She beamed serenely at the tall young man, waving off his concerns, "Oh Watanuki, don't be silly, of course I have a way to check up on him." The dark haired Asian teen started to relax before Yuko tilted her head to the side and continued blithely, "We're doing it right now~"
"That's not any better!" Kimihiro shrieked, making Yuko giggle and myself chuckle in spite of myself. He was way too easy to rile up.
"Don't worry Watanuki, Jacob was perfectly safe," I snorted even as the younger man started to relax, "He's so much more reliable than you that there's nothing to worry about."
"Grk," the words hit Kimihiro like an arrow to the heart, making him flinch, "I'm not-!"
"He immediately got along with Mokona. Handles the spiritual realm just fine. And even handled pipe fox quite handidly."
Further metaphorical arrows struck Kimihiro even as I rolled my eyes. Our boss was exaggerating by a mile to mess with Kimihiro, but the kid made it way too easy. A happy little trill came from the fuzzy length of spirit wrapped around my neck was mentioned. Obligingly, I reached up to scratch the top of pipe-fox's head, getting a little kiss on my cheek in return.
Yuko's shop was a nice place honestly. It seemed like a classic Japanese mansion of sorts, somewhere between mansion and shop. The girls were out and about in the shop for some reason or another, as was Mokona. I didn't want to think too hard about what the Black Mokona was getting up to.
The story of how I got roped into this is actually surprisingly boring.
I walked into a shop for some strange reason, and was made an offer I couldn't refuse.
Yuko and Kimihiro bickered back and forth some… better described as Yuko trolling the ever loving fuck out of the teen as he sputtered and ranted and raved. And these were my boss and co-worker respectively.
… eh, I've had worse.
And weren't we a hoity toity trio? I was in a full, black three-piece business suit, infuriatingly pale with my brown hair cut short. Kimihiro Watanuki was in his usual japanese school clothes, he was distinctly Asian, and a surprisingly experienced eye told me he was somewhere between Chinese and Japanese, which was unusual. It was also a bit unusual that he was taller than me. I mean, I'm far from tall at five and a half feet, but it was still rare to see an Asian definitively taller than me. Yuko on the other hand didn't count, pale as the grave and yet still beautiful, with black hair long enough to touch the floor when she stood and with more layers to it than an ogre, she had on an expensive as hell Chinese dress that was more expensive than even my own suit.
Yuko and I were sitting on a pair of cushions on the mats, my shoes were off in the corner somewhere, as was my overcoat, and Kimihiro was up and about, doing his 'job' of serving Yuko as an assistant and getting us drinks. Tea in my case, and alcohol for our boss.
"I am too reliable!"
Speaking of which, "If I may, Kimihiro-kun?" I interjected before Yuko could continue messing with him.
Immediately, the Japanese polite upbringing kicked in and he straightened out, bowing just a bit, "Ah, yes?"
"The tea is wonderful, though I'm still pretty hungry after getting back." I bowed slightly, "I'd really appreciate it if you could make a little something."
"Oh sure, what would you like?"
I smiled a bit, "Whatever you're comfortable making really. I'm not a huge fan of sushi though."
"Sure. I'm happy to make something for someone that asks nicely!"
The last bit was shouted at Yuko, but rolled off of her like water off a duck's back as she beamed at him, "It'd be great if you got some treats for me too Watanuki~"
"Get some yourself you old hag!"
Despite the interplay, the teen still turned around and half stomped half walked towards the shop's kitchen, muttering under his breath like good ole' Yosemite Sam.
Moments after Kimihiro had left the room, Yuko turned back to me with a contemplative look in her eyes. She knew I'd gotten Kimihiro out of here for a reason, but I didn't do her the satisfaction of jumping straight into it. Instead, I sipped my tea with a smile, I might suck at the whole 'subtle' thing that wizards are supposed to do, but I could at least try for mysterious.
"What happened there, Jacob?"
"Well, first day went pretty well. Arrived in a totally new world with minimal fuss and terror, only panicked for a little while. Went out to get some stuff going, try out that little bit of magic you bestowed on me…" I trailed off for a moment before waggled my fingers at my temple, "And got discovered and mind whammied by a vampiress."
Yuko, attentive up till that point, went nearly deathly still, and I had a feeling that if she were any less refined her jaw would have dropped slightly with the way her eyebrows shot up and eyes widened. Then a bit of sorrow, subdued and small, crossed her face, before finally something thoughtful entered her eyes. "That would certainly explain why you didn't react well on seeing me again."
"You totally look the part," I admitted freely with a shrug, "You don't have the right predatory aura though thankfully, that's never pleasant to experience."
Her red eyes stayed locked on mine, searching, and probably seeing more than I'd be comfortable with if I knew. But eh. Not a big deal- "I'm sorry."
I blinked.
Okay, now that brought me up short. I hadn't gotten used to sorries, not like that. Not that it was bad or that I didn't believe she wasn't, just that I hadn't expected it. "For what? I knew what I was getting into when I made the deal."
Yuko, the beautiful dimensional witch, gave me a sad smile, "But it wasn't truly a choice, not for you."
"No, not really." I agreed easily, "But you offered, and I accepted knowingly."
I'd walked into Yuko's store without realizing it, I hadn't even meant to… but when I had, the beautiful witch had asked me a question, 'What do you wish?'
It'd caught me off guard, and I wasn't really sure. What did I wish for that I could pay the price to get? I'd jokingly asked… and she had supplied a possible wish.
Unfathomable cosmic power… itty bitty responsibility.
But really… I guess it was the other way around for me. It was a duty in return for the ability to fulfill it.
Yuko quietly packed something into the end of her long and ornate pipe, looking up at me, "I'm guessing you escaped, otherwise we wouldn't be talking."
Shifting my cup of tea to my left hand, I pulled Prometheus from my pocket and flipped the fancy lighter open, "More like I was broken free than anything else." The image formed in my mind, the desire, the working, the Imago–
Transmutation = 1 7 (9 1) (9 8 7) 6 5 (8 4) 1 2 = 4 Successes
–and a flick of my thumb lit Prometheus, an arc of orange connecting the lighter with Yuko's pipe for a brief instant before it faded into wisps of nothing, leaving a lit pipe in its wake.
Red eyes looked up at me even as she raised the pipe, "I was passed around in the vampire community for a while, got real good at giving them the illusion of life."
I actually hadn't minded that too much, sometimes it was horrible. I was giving monsters in the shape of men a glimpse of humanity as they reveled in their horrifying nature. But other times, I felt… happy. Past the whammies on my mind, past the blood addiction, past the servile nature they'd forced onto me… most were afraid, desperate, just wanting to feel alive again, to not feel like they were a monster. And the hope I could inspire in the eyes of something that had moments before been just… inhuman… to see that… it'd been more than worth it sometimes.
Still focusing on the end of her pipe, I waited until I was sure that the filling had caught before I snapped Prometheus closed and slipped the overly ornate lighter-multitool cross back into my pocket, "Eventually some other mages cottoned on to my predicament and that I wasn't exactly a willing subject and busted me out."
"That must have been quite exciting." The tone of her voice might have been teasing, as was the upturn of her lips, but it didn't reach her eyes. Those spoke of an understanding.
Given that I'd been rather thoroughly mentally fubar at the time, I had been rather unhappy at my 'rescue'. Thankfully, the vampires had gone out of their way to not let me learn how to fight.
"Indubitably. Going cold turkey off of vampire blood after that sucked though." I smiled a bit, though it was honestly somewhat strained. I was understating things, "And the mages that swept me up weren't exactly nice either. At very least they weren't really my style."
My eyes fell to the floor as I remembered the Seers of the Throne, Susan, Asmodeus, Set, Imotep, names of people I called friends for a time… but… just because they were friendly didn't make them good people, or people that I could work with.
I hissed in pain at a sudden flare of heat on my fingers, looking down to find that a splash of the hot tea had hit my hand due to the shaking of my hands. Lips pressing into a thin line, I tightened my grip until the shaking stopped.
The warm golden bit of Yuko's smoking pipe bumped into the back of one of my hands. I glanced up with a pout before pushing it away, "Hey, get your drugs away from my drug."
Her concerned look melted into an amused smile at my tone, and I grinned back at her in return. "I'm alright," I assured my boss quietly, "It sucked at the time, but I've gotten over it."
Leaning back against the wall, Yuko watched me carefully, "How did you find it?"
Over it or not, I definitely appreciated that she didn't linger on the mess. "Luck at first. I literally stumbled across the Infrastructure in searching for Mysteries to improve my magic." I gave her a sly look, "Considering you didn't really describe anything about my magic, I had to figure it out on my own."
Yuko waved it off dismissively, "I had faith that you'd figure it out."
I rolled my eyes, "I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that I'm not getting Kimihiro's sort of magical education." With exaggerated drama, I pressed the back of my hand to my forehead and looked to the ceiling, "What a horrible master I have, throwing her apprentice out into the wilds to learn magic without any education."
A small sniffle brought my gaze back down to find my boss even more dramatically fallen over, "How horrible… to be cursed with an ungrateful apprentice that doesn't appreciate the secrets of the universe being bestowed upon him." Another exaggerated sniffle before she drank deep of the jug of sake she had beside her, "Oh woe is me!"
Snorting, I couldn't help but grin, "No fair, you have boobs so you're automatically better at this than me. And you were doing so great until the 'oh woe is me' bit, come on, it's too cliché."
Another sniffle was my only response.
Rolling my eyes, I instead sipped my still quite hot tea.
Having had her fun, Yuko harrumphed and settled down into a reclined position, bringing her long pipe to her mouth to puff on it quietly as she swirled her drink about slowly. "Jacob…" her eyes met mine and I had to resist the urge to shiver at the weight of years hidden in her pattern, "You succeeded."
I looked away from her gaze, staring down at my cup as I sat there all crisscross applesauce, "… I got lucky. I barely was able to get into the final event, where it'd left itself vulnerable in an all or nothing gambit… and that's only because of the connections I'd made with other factions like the vampires."
Prince Fredrick had pulled my poor little ass out of the fire multiple times there towards the end…
"How did it happen?" the taller woman prompted quietly as she reclined, smoking her pipe.
"I kept thwartin' its plans. It was bad. So bad it tried to kill me." I glanced away in mock thought, "Repeatedly." The exaggerated 'ahhhh' look Yuko gave me made me smile, but I continued, "It was little stuff at first, but as I gathered allies and power I was able to be a monkey wrench in even its bigger plans… so the thing went all or nothing, a final gambit, it either win, or it lost. And it needed a human to give it access…"
The dimensional witch considered that for a moment before her eyes widened marginally in realization, "It needed Free Will to give itself up… they had to choose to give up choice."
I wasn't surprised that she'd picked up on it that quickly, she was the single most powerful spellcaster I've met so far. And considering that some of the mages I'd dealt with in the last world were able to Unmake entire cities, retroactively alter the course of time, and predict things literal centuries in the future to a measure of accuracy that they could have a phonograph replying to me in real time… let's just go with 'My boss is terrifyingly powerful' and leave it at that.
"Yeah, that was my best guess as well. It used a key. A literal key by the way, if one made of horrifying Supernal Truths…" my hand came up to touch the lock around my neck… a literal if very ornate padlock of interlocking gears and mechanisms… it'd been dangling from my neck for the entirety of my stay. It and the mythril chain it'd dangled from being the closest thing to indestructible I'd ever encountered, and refusing to be removed…
While the silver chain still looped through the lock's hoop, the padlock was opened.
"I'm gathering that it didn't succeed."
"I got lucky." I reminded her softly, toying with the lock that had almost been a part of me without looking at it… "The person who actually got the key very nearly unlocked the doors, and there wasn't anything I could do at the time. But they decided not to in the end… and gave the key to me to be destroyed."
Yuko straightened, halfway sitting up, "The lock worked?"
"Yeah." I paused before giving her a decidedly unhappy look at that, "You seriously didn't know if it'd work?" Master or not, that was harsh.
She didn't even have the dignity to look sheepish about that, "No. I knew it'd bind you to the reality and lead you to the true lynchpin of its plans, but I wasn't sure if it'd be able to destroy it on its own or if you would have to get… creative."
"Creative she says," I muttered, deliberately looking away and talking like she wasn't there, "Like that's gonna help when destroying the central lynchpin of the workings of a god that bind it and its plans to a reality…"
"For you, it would."
The surety in her tone was outright unsettling. I shivered and looked away.
"Jacob."
"If you're going to give me a speech about how I'm the one who can do it the easiest, please don't." I shifted into a somewhat more comfortable position on the cushion I was sitting on, "I already know."
A small smile graced her lips, she'd sat up fully when I wasn't paying attention, "No, you were just convenient." I rolled my eyes at that, smiling in spite of myself. I knew better, and I was a lot harder to rile up than Kimihiro. But then a delicate and inordinately pale hand extended towards me, palm upwards, "Regardless, the lock?"
I blinked, looking at her in confusion; and it took an inordinately long time for it to click, "Oh, right."
Sheepishly, I took the opened padlock off of the silver loop dangling from my neck and leaned forward to place it into Yuko's hand. She smiled just a bit at that as she brought the padlock over, setting her jug of sake on the floor and leaving her long pipe to dangle from her mouth as she turned the padlock over in examination.
While she did that, I took the opportunity to sip my tea and softly scratch pipe-fox's head behind the little nubs of her ears. I rather enjoyed the happy little trill she let out as she snuggled into place, tightening around my neck, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth against my back as she rested her little head atop my ear. It was honestly weird to be missing my… the padlock. I'd literally worn the thing constantly for years in the World of Darkness. It was a 'Key Item' (Hah!) and was as close to indestructible as mattered, at absolute minimum anything capable of damaging it would have vaporized me just by sheer proximity. It'd been as constant as my hand or leg, so I felt… not naked, but very exposed without it. Heh.
It'd actually taken me a while to get used to it and to figure out how to comfortably wear a tie while keeping the necklace tucked away, but I'd managed. Didn't care for ties, but you had to make a good impression on the big wigs and a suit was the bare minimum required in most cases.
"Jacob."
My name broke me out of my pleased reverie, "Boss?" I looked back at her, finding a neutral expression on her face and the lock long gone.
"You need to go," her voice was soft, but insistent.
"… to the bathroom?" I snarked in spite of myself. But I knew what she meant. Respite wasn't part of the deal.
There was a flash of amusement across her face before it faded, "You can't stay here long."
I took a deep breath, ready to argue, to ask to stay and relax and so many more things but… I let it out with a sight, looking down at the cup in my hands, "Rules?"
She nodded, "Rules."
A small groan escaped me, "How long do I have?"
"A day," Yuko said simply, taking a puff of her pipe.
"Which kind?" I asked, "Sunrise to sunset? Or sunrise to sunrise?" Either one was mystically meaningful, but it wasn't always clear which from saying 'a day'.
"Sunset to sunset," she supplied before blowing out a smoke ring.
"At least I get to get to try Kimihiro's cooking this time." I twisted my teacup around in my hands a few times before glancing up at my boss, an amused smile dancing across my face, "Are we even in my home reality right now?"
"No."
"Tch, figures." I rolled my eyes before shaking my head, "No real point staying then…" My eyes flicked up to her face, "Unless you're able to spend time teaching me…?"
Technically she was my master and I was the apprentice, even if the extent of her teaching had basically been "SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, BE HERE!" in a sort of weird reverse of the classic 'demons begone' sort of thing. But Yuko shook her head, "I'm sorry. I can't."
"Eh, no point in dawdling then if you're not gonna teach me anything." I smiled warmly at her. There honestly wasn't, this wasn't home any more than the alley I'd first appeared in before was, any more than Her haven had been. The closest thing I'd had to a home was destroyed so… here's to hoping to find a new home wherever I end up?
My lips twitched into a shit-eating grin before I dramatically leaned back, "What a terrible master, not even willing to teach her apprentice anything before sending him out again! Oh woe is me!"
"Hypocrite." She countered easily, a demure smile on her lips.
"Eh," I shrugged freely, "Only sometimes."
Another little smile from her as she took a puff from her pipe. A comfortable silence settled over the two of us as I straightened back out on the cushion. I took the opportunity to finish downing my tea with a little sigh. It was… actually really comforting to be here. More so than I expected. Maybe that was because I didn't have to worry about any backstabbing here, maybe because Yuko, for all her deviousness, was a good person… or maybe because she'd been the one to Awaken me… I didn't know why, but I was comfortable here.
Something niggled though, "So where am I going this time?"
Downing a swig of her sake, Yuko just smiled, "No clue~"
"… you are way too cheerful about that." I muttered, setting my cup down beside me, "No idea at all?"
"No idea at all!" a cheerful girls voice cried from behind me.
"None at all!"
I did not jump.
I did whip out Prometheus and scream a bit.
"You two are way too quiet!" I half shrieked at Maru and Moro, having nearly rose to a crouch with Prometheus open and in hand. After a second, I got my voice back under control, "Also, hi Mokona."
"Wa'sup?" the little black… thing… raised a limb in greeting with a smile.
"Awww…" The two gray skinned girls that had basically appeared right behind me, looked at me sadly, "Are you–"
"–mad at us?"
I rolled my eyes, forcing myself to settle back down and close Prometheus, "No, I'm not mad. But please don't scare me like that?" My heart was thudding in my chest at that, almost did something stupid there. Got way used to paranoia honestly. "I don't want to hurt you two."
"Oh."
"Okay!"
Still disconcerting how easily they finished each other's sentences.
"Girls," Yuko interrupted with a small smile, "Did you bring it?"
"We brought it! We brought it!" they chorused cheerfully before bounding around on either side of me towards Yuko.
It was only now that I realized they'd each been carrying a jewelry box, both of which were held out towards the Dimensional Witch.
Stuffing Prometheus back into my pocket, I watched as Yuko placed the padlock into one of the boxes, "I don't know where you're going any more than you do. I merely pull on the threads, the trinkets I give you are your anchors to that reality, anchored into the lynchpin of its design."
From the other, she pulled out a disk on a long chain and continued to explain, "It's like pouring wax into the keyhole of a locked door to mimic the key. It allows you to enter the locked reality and gives you an impression of the lock it was used on, but the only way out is to find its key, for the wax key breaks upon use."
I scowled slightly as she passed the disk over to me, a silver chain dangling from it as well. It had four engraved runes on one side, arranged around a central divot that seemed to be made for a gemstone… the runes looked familiar but without actively engaging my Mage Sight I wasn't sure… "But if you're putting it to the door, how do you not know where it goes?"
Yuko smiled just a bit at that, "The metaphor isn't perfect. I'm searching for the doors that the Occult Mechanism has locked, but that doesn't mean that I know where those doors are relative to everything else."
"And people wondered why I wasn't a huge fan of sympathetic magic," I muttered, running my fingers over the disk, earning a small giggle from Yuko.
The disk was made of… something? Bleh. My talents were extremely ill suited for this. I focused on Mind and Matter and had a measure of power in the likes of Life and Death, but this item was a thing of Fate and Space, two of my weaker Arcanum. And if Yuko couldn't divine this thing, then I sure as hell I couldn't.
Didn't mean I wasn't going to try at some point and time, but fuck, I didn't expect a miracle.
"Same rules as before?" I asked, examining the disk. One of the runes seemed like a stylized sun, another like a stylized moon, another was just some strange runic combination that I didn't recognize, and something that looked like… a planet? Not sure.
"You put that on and you will appear in another universe," she confirmed, "If you die there, you die in truth. You will be stuck there until you find the key."
"And in order to get the key," I finished, staring at the disk, trying to figure out why the runes seemed familiar, "I need to destroy the God-Machine."
"Yes."
I sighed, letting my hands fall back to my lap, a small smile on my face, "Well… at least I get to try Kimihiro's cooking this time?"
I gave the chain around my neck a few tugs, The familiar thin silver chain didn't budge, stubbornly refusing being removed as it always had since I'd put it on…
"It won't come off."
Glancing up at my boss I raised an eyebrow at her as I grinned, "I kinda gathered that. But I thought it was just the link?"
We were standing in the nice little Japanese style garden that was a part of the shop, waiting for Kimihiro and the others to return with my washed overcoat Yuko was watching me in amusement as I let the fine silver chain drop back atop my button up shirt, "It is. But it's the manifestation of the link between your existence and that world now, rather than your soul and the lock."
I glanced down reflexively, even if I couldn't really see the chain from this angle, "That's… surprising. I thought the connection would unravel when I opened the lock…"
She beamed at me, "Nope~ You're stuck with it."
"Glorious," I drawled, putting every bit of sarcasm I could into the word. Not that it kept me from smiling at her.
The taller witch reached over and ruffled my short hair, "You'll be fine."
I playfully batted her hand away, "With any luck."
"Here we go! Here we go!"
"Hey! Stop! You'll trip me!"
Kimihiro walked out, dodging the two artificial beings who were dancing around him as he brought my overcoat, Mokona resting atop his head.
"Be careful."
The words, softly spoken as they were, had be glancing over at my boss, finding the taller woman watching Kimihiro dodge the girls. Warmth bled into my bones as I turned to watch the comedy routine of the four, "You expect otherwise?" Without either of us looking at each other, Yuko's hand brushed against my shoulder briefly and meaningfully. The action made me cringe as I picked up on the insinuation. "Well, outside of extenuating circumstances."
She just smiled, "I do expect to see you again, Jacob."
"I plan to be seen again." I countered with a grin as Kimihiro came to a stop. He held the overcoat out and I accepted it with a smile, "Thanks."
With a practiced motion, I threw my overcoat on. I'd deliberately taken a page from Dresden's book and gone with what amounts to a duster, the long coattails protected my legs, and it was roomy enough to shield someone else in an emergency. And then I'd enchanted the ever loving fuck out of the damn thing. I'd added a hood to the thing to provide some additional head protection and because c'mon, hoods were cool. The overcoat was so dark of a green to nearly be black, matching the vest part of my three-piece suit, but the rest of my suit was jet black. All of the buttons and cuff links were a glorious golden color with a different rune engraved on each.
I had my tie tucked into one of the pockets of my vest, hanging out partially at the moment, and my rich purple button up shirt opened up slightly so I could slip the chain within after I'd traveled.
The only thing I'd deviated from my fancy, business-style clothing was a pair of heavy, if very nice, black boots. Because running was a very good skill to have and dress shoes were shitty for that.
And here I was teleporting off to a wholey new world and reality… to face off against an eldritch and cosmic machine.
At least I'd look good while doing it?
I pulled the pendant from my pocket–
Kimihiro scurried back several feet, hiding behind one of the pillars holding up the awning of the shop facing the garden.
I rolled my eyes at the extreme reaction, "Big baby."
"I am not a baby! Last time you did this you disappeared in a flash and a bang and it was really loud!"
Blinking, I glanced over at Yuko for confirmation, and found that she'd eased back a good distance as well when I wasn't looking, the two girls flanking her on either side as the Dimensional Witch held Mokona.
"… oh…" my face flushed slightly in honestly misplaced embarrassment, "Sorry then. I retract my previous statement."
"Thank you for visiting, we hope you have a safe journey." My master said formally, bowing slightly, the girls doing so in synch with her.
"Ah!" Kimihiro halfway jumped out from behind the support beam and bowed quickly, "Yes! Thank you!"
With an affectionate smile, I shook my head at them, "Thank you for having me."
Taking the pendant in both hands, I looked down at the thing, hesitating. I was… afraid. I was worried and concerned and nearly trembling.
Last time I'd put one of these on, I'd spent years in a fugue state, manipulated by a Vampire into doing horrible things, dominated and controlled… even if, intellectually, I knew I had to put this on and that it was unlikely for that to happen again… it was hard.
Resolve + Conviction = 2, 7, 1, 6, 8, 9, 9, 5, 1 = 3 Successes
But I had to do it.
With a sigh, I smiled at my boss, "Alright then! Adios! I'll see y'all later~!"
The cold metal settled against my neck, the disk hitting just beneath my collarbones with a soft thump, and this time I felt it… it was like an anchor around my neck, a spiritual weight dragging me in a specific direction, the world disappearing around me in a flash of colors and butterflies–
I was falling– falling through [████████] and there were things of a thousand, thousand colors. Sensations without words surged around me in striking colors and searing nonlight in an eternity that lasted but an instant before coalescing around me in a flash, taking on solidity and form and distinction once more–
And everything resolved into two hemispheres of blue, one with some streaks of white as I continued to fall–
Random Arrival Roll: 1d6 (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, Wyld) = 4
*SPLASH*
–straight into water–?!
Burbling in a moment of panic, I thrashed around before forcing myself to a stop.
My lungs burned, I'd swallowed some water in my panic, but panic was the mind killer. Where the fuck was I? In a pool? A lake? … the ocean? Ugh. That was terrifying. But first, I fell into water, where's the surface?
Turning about, I found the light coming from the surface and, with some effort, swam upwards despite the stinging in my eyes from… salt water? Or chlorine? I couldn't tell for sure right now, but it didn't look like there was a bottom…
That… that was very, very scary.
I broke the surface of the water gasping for air, very, very thankful that it was breathable. My head darted around as I treaded water, looking for land or any landmarks.
A cold pit of dread began to settle in my stomach despite the warmth of the waters around me.
Nothing.
No matter how many times I turned around, I saw nothing… no land on the horizon, no discolorations in the water due to reefs or sand banks… just pure, unadulterated ocean… beautiful ocean… but just ocean…
Everywhere. And nothing below me either…
"Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink…" I murmured, tasting the salt on my lips. A small quiver went through my chest cavity despite the lukewarm ocean water, it felt like someone was taking an ice cream scoop to gut me, leaving me feeling small and weak… was… was there anything at all…?
Resolve + Composure = 4, 1, 8, 8, (10, 6), 5, 4 = 3 Successes
Panic threatened to rise in my chest again, but I forced it down. No. Panicking would just mean I'd drown. Stop and think.
Okay… okay. So… what's my first course of action? Something to keep me from having to tread water. What can I do for that?
First thought is to freeze a platform for myself… far from a long term solution but it'd get me out of the water long enough to think about things further.
Legs still kicking in rhythmic motions, I focused, imagining what would need to happen and constructing the magic in my head, the imago starting to take form. Change state of a good bit of water, a platform… make it last for an hour or so… fumbling slightly, I pulled Prometheus out of my pocket and held it tight as I treaded water. It wasn't magic I'd woven into Prometheus because who the fuck expects to be dropped into the middle of the ocean without any equipment?!
… I should apparently.
Right, anyways. Focus.
Taking a deep breath, I let the world fall away, describing the imago in the High Speech under my breath as it started to take form. I'd have to strain myself a bit to make it last long enough to be useful… My will and my power were focused through Prometheus, the lighter might not have been the best tool for this, but its links to the Divine Fire that represented man's will being used through a tool to shape the world around them.
With words and tools I made it happen.
"Runtime Start:: #Arcanum <Matter> ; Practice(Weaving) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: State Change."
10 Dice = 2 6 7 3 8 4 2 (10 10 6) 7 6 = 3 Successes ; Wisdom (6 Successes) vs Paradox (1 Success)
It happened all at once, or close enough to it that it didn't matter. A mass of water about fifty feet across suddenly turned into ice and I quite suddenly found myself thrown several feet into the air as it popped up like a cork.
"Wagh?!"
I'd love to say that I landed with grace and beauty, but that'd be a bold faced lie. I fucking belly flopped right back onto the disk of ice I'd created.
"Uggghhhh…" I spent just a few moments laying there, lamenting my decision as I did, sprawled out on the ice, aching slightly from the landing and the paradox backlash of the rushed spell, "This day is starting off greeeaaaaat…"
With a grunt, I pushed myself up and was immediately grateful that I didn't really get seasick because despite having made the disk a pretty solid size, it was still barely stable, bobbing around and shifting on the still ocean.
Shifting about, I flopped into a seated position, giving myself a good little shake as I tried to get into a stable spot on the ice.
Grimacing, I tugged at my suit, thoroughly soaked. With a sigh, I focused slightly, opening a channel to my Path.
Shaping (7 Dice) = 8 2 2 (10 1) 5 3 2 = 2 Successes
The water weighing me down left my clothes with a little snap, a quick rush of liquid raining down onto the ice beneath me.
Grumbling under my breath, I threw my hood up to shield my face from the sunlight. It was… harsher than I remembered, but paler...?
"Okay, what's the plan…"
Nothing but ocean anywhere I looked… no fish I'd seen yet. And the… the mana was heavy around me. And not in a pleasant way either, it was like… like the den of a vampire… or a graveyard… where the Twilight was I? Ugh, question for later.
So, what did I need? I needed water, food… shelter? Not really. My suit and coat were enchanted as all fuck, I'd be comfortable even in a hurricane so long as my 'boat' held out. But food and water were a problem.
I could do some magic for the water bit, food could be harder but still doable… but both of those could be solved if I knew where the fuck I was.
In the immediate, in relation to land sense, not 'place in the universe' sense.
Mentally, I set out the tools I had available even as I set Prometheus in my lap. None of my actual physical equipment was helpful here. Smart phone, smart watch, pocket watch, pocket square / handkerchief, bandages, some basic medicines, my wrench multitool, and Prometheus itself. My dedicated Magus tool was a terrifyingly complicated lighter-multitool, having a good LED light, combination electric / fuel based lighter, tape measure, level, fold-out soldering iron, and a little fold-out screwdriver, with a couple different bit heads slotted into her... all of my equipment enchanted to the limits of my skill with the Matter Arcanum... and not a one of them was useful here.
No paddles, and I didn't have a map so my compass was worth fuck all. I wasn't a master of any of the ten Arcanum. I was a Fourth Degree Adept, but three of those four were the Arcana of Life, Death, and the Mind. Which was about as useful as… well… nothing here. Matter was already proving useful. I was a Disciple of Forces, and an Apprentice of Fate, Prime, and Time. But when it came to Space and Spirit I didn't have a damn inkling, wasn't even an initiate.
"Ugh…" I flopped back onto the ice, scowling up at the blue sky, "The power to rewrite local reality and I still don't have a simple solution…"
"Don't have the raw power to brute force things…" I grumbled to myself. So things were SNAFU, Situation Normal, All Fucked Up. A small smirk danced across my lips, "So that means I'm gonna have to magic the shit out of this."
So, finding stuff was normally the job of Fate or Space… neither of which I was could do worth a damn… depending on how far out I was, I might need to seriously stretch my power… so I'd want to use my better Arcana to search for civilization? Or is civilization as important as just finding a place where I could survive long enough to do more impressive workings?
Pressing my hand to my chest, I'd gauge that I had about 10 units of mana right now... between my spells working properly and Ruling Arcanum spells not drawing on my reserves... I could do my propulsion with Matter rather than Forces to conserve mana... try to do a finding spell with Mind rather than Fate or Life... Mind for translation... but I'd need to use Life to prevent myself from starving or getting too thirsty if things took too long... hrm...
With a little sound, I pushed myself up to my feet. First, reinforce this disk… and reshape it… into a proper, long lasting boat for me to use. Then searching spell, and… I'll figure it out from there.
-oOo-
"Runtime Start:: #Arcanum <Matter>, #Practice(Ruling), #Practice(Weaving) ; Yantra(Mantra, Mandola, Prometheus) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: Alchemical Shaping."
Alchemical Shaping = 6 Dice = 7 1 3 1 (10 10 3) 4 = 2 Successes. Wits + Craft = 2 8 8 9 7 9 3 = 4 Successes.
The boat I'd made from ice was crude as all fuck, good size at about forty feet long, but my knowledge of boat building was marginal at best. It was basically just a sailboat without the sails, having a deck and a 'below deck' and a set of stairs between them… and that was about it. But it'd do for my purposes, function over form and all that. It sat high in the water and wouldn't' be fun if a storm hit, but it'd survive and the ice would last for a month or so. I'd focused too much on the volume of stuff I could control and shape rather than the finesse which I could do so, it'd been like trying to mold playdoh with oven mitts on. Doable, but hard.
I'd fix it later with spot-checks of higher power but smaller spells if I needed to, but it was functional for now.
Scowling slightly, I double checked my runes I'd painted onto the outside of my watch. The digital thing had a stylized compass on its face at the moment, which would act as the focus for the spell. Tiny little funny scribbles all around the thing should channel the power I'd be pouring through it to focus it on the nearest minds, anything else the spell could pick up would be displayed in the margins as numbers, like number of minds and their distance from me.
My stomach growled at me unhappily, but I ignored it. Fucking fast metabolism. If this spell didn't find anyone I'd do something about that, but for now I just ignored it.
Placing a hand over the face of the watch, I closed my eyes and formed the imago in my mind. The mental circuitry my brain interpreted the Mind Arcanum as took shape as I began to speak, using the High Speech to help form the imago and magic, "Runtime Start:: #Arcanum <Mind>, #Practice<Knowing>; Yantra(Mantra, Mandola, Tool) ; Variables(Set) ;" It took some time to build the variables of the spell, probably hours honestly, though I didn't really notice the passage of time outside of the increased gnawing at my stomach, but this was worth the ache to get it exactly right. "Enact:: Find Thoughts."
Find Thoughts 14 Dice (10 8) 1 4 1 1 1 3 3 2 4 8 8 3 (10 4) = 5 Successes
I felt the magic settle into place within the watch… about what I expected, not great but at least I didn't flub the casting.
Opening my eyes I lifted my hand from the watch to look at the face of the watch… wait, what? One mind?
I know the spell probably had a radius of only a dozen miles or so, but I'd expected to find either a cluster of people to represent a boat, a big cluster to represent land, or nothing, not… one. The fuck?
My stomach growled at me unhappily even as I scowled at the face of my watch.
"Oooookayyyyy…"
I ran through the possibilities.
It wasn't a human mind I was looking at, just a sapient and sentient one, so it could be a monster. Bad. Probably at least. It could be someone away from the coast far enough that the spell didn't focus on another group, like clam diving or fishing or such, unusual but far from impossible. Good, and hopefully more likely. A lone survivor on the ocean… bad, but I'd feel like ass if I didn't help them.
Ugh, odds were it wasn't going to be good no matter what, but I had to check it out. I didn't have much of a choice.
"Right, here's hoping for sexy nature spirit or something…" I muttered to myself as I pulled my multitool from my pocket, gripping the wrench and starting to form an imago I'd prepared when I'd shaped the boat.
"Runtime Start:: #Arcanum<Matter>, #Practice(Ruling) ; Yantra(Mantra, Mandola, Tool) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: Bending."
11 Dice = 3 4 7 1 (9 5) 5 5 4 7 2 7= 1 Success
The spell very nearly didn't work, and my breathing hitched as the gears my mind visualized the Matter Arcanum as skipped and tried to slip. They caught, but just barely.
I cringed slightly at that even as I lifted my arms, my right hand with the watch held out before me palm downwards, and my left held out behind me palm up.
The water behind the ship rose up even as the water in front lowered and I created a gloriously watery version of an Alcubierre drive, pushing the ship forward.
Keeping an eye on the compass and adjusting my manipulation of the water accordingly, I sailed my ship of ice that I'd formed from the ocean by willing a wave into existence behind it towards the unknown mind I'd found by saying funny words over a watch.
Fuck I loved magic.
…
"… wish I knew some sea shanties…" I muttered as my ship moved forward at an easy pace, "It'd make this go faster…"
The other ship was a little sailboat, like, teensy, with only a single occupant. One that even from here felt like a powerful Cainite…
That was… worrisome. At least it was a person?
"Ahoy!" I shouted as I eased my ship up nearby… no motor… simple construction… I eased open my Mage Sig█████–HOLY FUCKING FUCKER FUCK–?!
Willpower = 8 8 9 (10 7) 7 6 1 6 2 = 4 Successes
I actually flinched away from the █████ that just rolled off of the person in the boat. Holy- just… damn. That was like opening your eyes and finding a spotlight turned on your face. Guh, she was like a damn star within the Death Arcanum. Just… fuck.
"A-Ahoy!" Yeah, that flash of █████ definitely gave a feminine impression. She sounded young and kind of scared honestly. Hopefully I could put her at ease and find out what was– "Aharr yarr ho ho yahar?!"
… well there goes any hopes I had of easy communication. Grumbling to myself, I eased up on my propulsion as my ship came to a stop beside hers. Spell time then. A quick, quiet little chant of High Speech and a familiar imago formed as I moved to the railing, "Runtime Start:: #Arcanum<Mind>, #Practice<Weaving>; Yantra(Mantra) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: Universal Language."
9 Dice = 4 1 9 2 6 4 7 4 4 = 1 Success
I blinked as I felt the spell settle into place. God damn, what was it with me and fumbling with my magic recently? Ugh, anyways, let's try this again, "Sorry! I didn't catch that! Could you repeat it?!"
Shouting over the rudimentary rail, I watched her carefully, holding Prometheus in my hand just in case.
"Sheesh, really?" She muttered, probably thinking I couldn't hear her over the splashing of the water against the hulls of our ships, "Greetings! What brings you to these waters?!" Definitely nervous. Not that I could blame her given that I'd sailed up to her in a ship made of ice in particularly warm waters, obviously propelled by a persistent wave.
The ship eased to a halt alongside hers and I finally got a good look at her.
Pale, vampire pale at that. That inhuman albino pale, black hair, headband, red eyes… she had a little tattoo at the corner of her left eye, a little downward swirl, a black tube top, black skirt, sandals, and a necklace that was a small silver circle at the end of a chain. She was petite, probably just a bit over five feet tall, but looked to be a young adult more than a teen. Honestly, if it weren't for the sun shining overhead I'd have assumed she was a vampire given the nature of █████ that hung around her like a shroud. But even with as much power as she had, she did not have enough to just no-sell the sun like that. No vampire outside of maybe Caine could have done that, and even then… there were some practices that could've made it plausible... but something was off. She didn't seem like a vampire to me.
Revelation = Chance Die (6) = Failure
But a cursory examination revealed jack diddly. I'd worry about it later, just be wary for now.
"I'm lost!" Wary didn't preclude being cheerful at least. I admitted the fact freely, I'd been considering how to go about this on the way here and a measure of honesty was the best response. Try and figure stuff out without giving things away and all that rot. "Got literally plunked down in the middle of the ocean and had to make do. Yourself?"
She shifted in place as she stood in her small, single person wooden boat with a sail, her arms wrapped loosely around her waist, "I'm… headed towards the North."
… descriptive. Still… "Care for a tag along? I'm not joking about the whole lost bit, and if you have an idea where to sail I'd be more than happy to share the boat with you." This could be a horrible decision, but I didn't have much in the way of options right now… that and she seriously seemed familiar for some reason.
"On that thing…?" her eyes glanced over my ship, which I had mentally dubbed the Ice Ice Baby.
"It's sturdier than it looks," let's ignore the part where it doesn't look sturdy in the first place please, "And I can always just magic up better if it's a problem."
She seemed to think about it for a few moments before glancing up at me, "It… might be dangerous… I'm on the run from the Silver Prince."
Okay, this whole familiarity thing is gonna bug me. I scowled, "Who? The name's familiar but I'm having a brain fart."
Her eyes darted to the side and I very nearly didn't hear her, "The Deathlord."
I blinked.
"Ohhhhh…" That… that explained a lot of things, "You're an Abyssal aren't you?"
"I–!" She stiffened before wrapping her arms around herself, lightly touching the necklace with a hand as she looked away, "… yes…"
Exalted.
I think I had an inkling about who I was talking to now… and even if I was wrong, "How'd you like to come aboard? I might be able to do something about the whole 'being found' bit, not so sure about the 'being a Deathknight' part, but I might surprise us both there."
Her red eyes met my gray-green ones and there was burgeoning hope there, but also an intelligent wariness, "Really…?"
"With any luck. Come on up, just be sure to bring a rope tied to your boat, I should be able to turn that thing into something useful to make sailing easier."
It took her but moments to tie off a rope to the boat and leap up the half dozen feet onto the Ice Ice Baby, still holding the other end as well as the anchor. The motion was so casual as to be somewhat disconcerting.
Landing beside me nervously, she set the anchor down and I turned to face her, smiling as warmly as I could manage. I extended a hand towards her, "It's a pleasure to meet you, please, call me Kenobi. How about you?"
"I- um…" she cringed slightly as she straightened out, "You want my name?"
"It's usually helpful to know what people are called when conversing with them, yes." I snarked with a grin.
"Um, right… well… I'm…" she shuffled in place for a moment before visibly gathering her courage and taking a deep breath, "The Most Secret And Sorrowful Of All The Bearers Of The Endless Destiny Of All Creation Which Wander Admist Forgotten Sights And Fallen Tears Along The Tread Of Ancient Ashen Footsteps Through The Shadow Of That Which Comes And Into That Riotous Cacophony Which Births All Fools And Steals All Beauty," the words were becoming more strained… was she really…? "Who Heralds Through Her Silence The Stillness And Chill Of Those Who Were Not Born And Who… Will Not Fade 'Till All Things Fall And… In That Most Grim Harvest Form The… Final Restful Tomb Of… All Awakened Life And… All The… Sleep… Less… De–"
*whump*
And she hit the deck.
Yes she really.
I snorted, facepalming as I snickered, "Can't believe she didn't think to just pause and take a breath."
Shaking my head, I knelt beside her fainted form, brushing a lock of black hair out of her face, "You're adorable, but very silly… doing something like that and passing out around someone you don't know…"
Tenderly, I eased her into a hopefully more comfortable position laying on the deck. I doubted she'd be out for very long… but…
A small smile worked its way onto my face, "Don't worry, Secret. You're safe with me."
Ball 2
Who wants to be a wizard?
If you're not jumping up and waving your hand going 'I do! I do!' at least a little on the inside then you have no sense of fun. And or are probably lying through your teeth.
I picked up the cup of tea from the tray with a little smile, blowing on it softly as I cradled it in my hands, "Thanks."
"You're welcome." The young man bowed slightly and moved to offer our shared boss the jug of sake, which she took daintily.
Everyone, at some point in their lives, wants that bit of wonder, that hint of amazement and beauty, that impossible thing called magic in their lives. We want it. We crave it. We almost breathe it. Maybe not for our entire lives, maybe not forever, hell, maybe even not for long. But everyone, at some point or another, wants to speak those silly faux latin words and wiggle their fingers and tell the universe to sit down and shut up, and for the universe to go 'Yes mass'ah'.
I took a careful sip of the scalding hot tea-!
"Gack-!"
My boss tittered at that, the damn witch, "The hell'd you do? Enchant the cup so that it didn't transfer the heat? Guh…"
Vainly, I blew out through my mouth to try and cool my scalded tongue as the woman proceeded to guffaw quite inelegantly for someone as beautiful as her. But then again, that was her prerogative.
If you put your mind to it, you could probably put any number of logical reasons behind people wanting to have magic, or be wizards, or however you wanna say it. There were probably plenty. But generally, we grow up to accept that no, we can't be true wizards. Myself included.
And, no, this is not the point where I say something like 'But now I'm an exception' or such as that. I still accept that I'm not going to be a true wizard, because there's a difference between doing magic and being a wizard. That and I accepted this under duress and I don't think that counted.
"So how'd things go?" she drawled, idly swirling the blatant jug of sake about, still giggling slightly as she reclined on the cushion across from me.
But I was a magic user. Which was nearly as cool.
"Oh come on boss, you know exactly how well." I rolled my eyes at that before muttering, scowling down at my too hot tea, "Not at all. I'm lucky to still have all my limbs and most of my brain cells."
A soft clunk drew my attention back up to my boss, she'd set the jug of sake down a bit harder on the matts of the floor. But what made me pause was that instead of a teasing or mocking smile on her pale face, there was a serious and concerned look, "Boss?"
So my master decided that was a great time to throw me for a loop, "I can't see you in the realms I send you."
I very nearly fumbled my tea straight into my lap, but Kimihiro beat me to the question I'd wanted to ask, "What?!" The serving tray he'd been using was pointed angrily at our boss as he shouted, "You're sending him into dangerous places without even a way to check up on him?! What kind of crazy boss are you?!"
She beamed serenely at the tall young man, waving off his concerns, "Oh Watanuki, don't be silly, of course I have a way to check up on him." The dark haired Asian teen started to relax before Yuko tilted her head to the side and continued blithely, "We're doing it right now~"
"That's not any better!" Kimihiro shrieked, making Yuko giggle and myself chuckle in spite of myself. He was way too easy to rile up.
"Don't worry Watanuki, Jacob was perfectly safe," I snorted even as the younger man started to relax, "He's so much more reliable than you that there's nothing to worry about."
"Grk," the words hit Kimihiro like an arrow to the heart, making him flinch, "I'm not-!"
"He immediately got along with Mokona. Handles the spiritual realm just fine. And even handled pipe fox quite handidly."
Further metaphorical arrows struck Kimihiro even as I rolled my eyes. Our boss was exaggerating by a mile to mess with Kimihiro, but the kid made it way too easy. A happy little trill came from the fuzzy length of spirit wrapped around my neck was mentioned. Obligingly, I reached up to scratch the top of pipe-fox's head, getting a little kiss on my cheek in return.
Yuko's shop was a nice place honestly. It seemed like a classic Japanese mansion of sorts, somewhere between mansion and shop. The girls were out and about in the shop for some reason or another, as was Mokona. I didn't want to think too hard about what the Black Mokona was getting up to.
The story of how I got roped into this is actually surprisingly boring.
I walked into a shop for some strange reason, and was made an offer I couldn't refuse.
Yuko and Kimihiro bickered back and forth some… better described as Yuko trolling the ever loving fuck out of the teen as he sputtered and ranted and raved. And these were my boss and co-worker respectively.
… eh, I've had worse.
And weren't we a hoity toity trio? I was in a full, black three-piece business suit, infuriatingly pale with my brown hair cut short. Kimihiro Watanuki was in his usual japanese school clothes, he was distinctly Asian, and a surprisingly experienced eye told me he was somewhere between Chinese and Japanese, which was unusual. It was also a bit unusual that he was taller than me. I mean, I'm far from tall at five and a half feet, but it was still rare to see an Asian definitively taller than me. Yuko on the other hand didn't count, pale as the grave and yet still beautiful, with black hair long enough to touch the floor when she stood and with more layers to it than an ogre, she had on an expensive as hell Chinese dress that was more expensive than even my own suit.
Yuko and I were sitting on a pair of cushions on the mats, my shoes were off in the corner somewhere, as was my overcoat, and Kimihiro was up and about, doing his 'job' of serving Yuko as an assistant and getting us drinks. Tea in my case, and alcohol for our boss.
"I am too reliable!"
Speaking of which, "If I may, Kimihiro-kun?" I interjected before Yuko could continue messing with him.
Immediately, the Japanese polite upbringing kicked in and he straightened out, bowing just a bit, "Ah, yes?"
"The tea is wonderful, though I'm still pretty hungry after getting back." I bowed slightly, "I'd really appreciate it if you could make a little something."
"Oh sure, what would you like?"
I smiled a bit, "Whatever you're comfortable making really. I'm not a huge fan of sushi though."
"Sure. I'm happy to make something for someone that asks nicely!"
The last bit was shouted at Yuko, but rolled off of her like water off a duck's back as she beamed at him, "It'd be great if you got some treats for me too Watanuki~"
"Get some yourself you old hag!"
Despite the interplay, the teen still turned around and half stomped half walked towards the shop's kitchen, muttering under his breath like good ole' Yosemite Sam.
Moments after Kimihiro had left the room, Yuko turned back to me with a contemplative look in her eyes. She knew I'd gotten Kimihiro out of here for a reason, but I didn't do her the satisfaction of jumping straight into it. Instead, I sipped my tea with a smile, I might suck at the whole 'subtle' thing that wizards are supposed to do, but I could at least try for mysterious.
"What happened there, Jacob?"
"Well, first day went pretty well. Arrived in a totally new world with minimal fuss and terror, only panicked for a little while. Went out to get some stuff going, try out that little bit of magic you bestowed on me…" I trailed off for a moment before waggled my fingers at my temple, "And got discovered and mind whammied by a vampiress."
Yuko, attentive up till that point, went nearly deathly still, and I had a feeling that if she were any less refined her jaw would have dropped slightly with the way her eyebrows shot up and eyes widened. Then a bit of sorrow, subdued and small, crossed her face, before finally something thoughtful entered her eyes. "That would certainly explain why you didn't react well on seeing me again."
"You totally look the part," I admitted freely with a shrug, "You don't have the right predatory aura though thankfully, that's never pleasant to experience."
Her red eyes stayed locked on mine, searching, and probably seeing more than I'd be comfortable with if I knew. But eh. Not a big deal- "I'm sorry."
I blinked.
Okay, now that brought me up short. I hadn't gotten used to sorries, not like that. Not that it was bad or that I didn't believe she wasn't, just that I hadn't expected it. "For what? I knew what I was getting into when I made the deal."
Yuko, the beautiful dimensional witch, gave me a sad smile, "But it wasn't truly a choice, not for you."
"No, not really." I agreed easily, "But you offered, and I accepted knowingly."
I'd walked into Yuko's store without realizing it, I hadn't even meant to… but when I had, the beautiful witch had asked me a question, 'What do you wish?'
It'd caught me off guard, and I wasn't really sure. What did I wish for that I could pay the price to get? I'd jokingly asked… and she had supplied a possible wish.
Unfathomable cosmic power… itty bitty responsibility.
But really… I guess it was the other way around for me. It was a duty in return for the ability to fulfill it.
Yuko quietly packed something into the end of her long and ornate pipe, looking up at me, "I'm guessing you escaped, otherwise we wouldn't be talking."
Shifting my cup of tea to my left hand, I pulled Prometheus from my pocket and flipped the fancy lighter open, "More like I was broken free than anything else." The image formed in my mind, the desire, the working, the Imago–
Transmutation = 1 7 (9 1) (9 8 7) 6 5 (8 4) 1 2 = 4 Successes
–and a flick of my thumb lit Prometheus, an arc of orange connecting the lighter with Yuko's pipe for a brief instant before it faded into wisps of nothing, leaving a lit pipe in its wake.
Red eyes looked up at me even as she raised the pipe, "I was passed around in the vampire community for a while, got real good at giving them the illusion of life."
I actually hadn't minded that too much, sometimes it was horrible. I was giving monsters in the shape of men a glimpse of humanity as they reveled in their horrifying nature. But other times, I felt… happy. Past the whammies on my mind, past the blood addiction, past the servile nature they'd forced onto me… most were afraid, desperate, just wanting to feel alive again, to not feel like they were a monster. And the hope I could inspire in the eyes of something that had moments before been just… inhuman… to see that… it'd been more than worth it sometimes.
Still focusing on the end of her pipe, I waited until I was sure that the filling had caught before I snapped Prometheus closed and slipped the overly ornate lighter-multitool cross back into my pocket, "Eventually some other mages cottoned on to my predicament and that I wasn't exactly a willing subject and busted me out."
"That must have been quite exciting." The tone of her voice might have been teasing, as was the upturn of her lips, but it didn't reach her eyes. Those spoke of an understanding.
Given that I'd been rather thoroughly mentally fubar at the time, I had been rather unhappy at my 'rescue'. Thankfully, the vampires had gone out of their way to not let me learn how to fight.
"Indubitably. Going cold turkey off of vampire blood after that sucked though." I smiled a bit, though it was honestly somewhat strained. I was understating things, "And the mages that swept me up weren't exactly nice either. At very least they weren't really my style."
My eyes fell to the floor as I remembered the Seers of the Throne, Susan, Asmodeus, Set, Imotep, names of people I called friends for a time… but… just because they were friendly didn't make them good people, or people that I could work with.
I hissed in pain at a sudden flare of heat on my fingers, looking down to find that a splash of the hot tea had hit my hand due to the shaking of my hands. Lips pressing into a thin line, I tightened my grip until the shaking stopped.
The warm golden bit of Yuko's smoking pipe bumped into the back of one of my hands. I glanced up with a pout before pushing it away, "Hey, get your drugs away from my drug."
Her concerned look melted into an amused smile at my tone, and I grinned back at her in return. "I'm alright," I assured my boss quietly, "It sucked at the time, but I've gotten over it."
Leaning back against the wall, Yuko watched me carefully, "How did you find it?"
Over it or not, I definitely appreciated that she didn't linger on the mess. "Luck at first. I literally stumbled across the Infrastructure in searching for Mysteries to improve my magic." I gave her a sly look, "Considering you didn't really describe anything about my magic, I had to figure it out on my own."
Yuko waved it off dismissively, "I had faith that you'd figure it out."
I rolled my eyes, "I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that I'm not getting Kimihiro's sort of magical education." With exaggerated drama, I pressed the back of my hand to my forehead and looked to the ceiling, "What a horrible master I have, throwing her apprentice out into the wilds to learn magic without any education."
A small sniffle brought my gaze back down to find my boss even more dramatically fallen over, "How horrible… to be cursed with an ungrateful apprentice that doesn't appreciate the secrets of the universe being bestowed upon him." Another exaggerated sniffle before she drank deep of the jug of sake she had beside her, "Oh woe is me!"
Snorting, I couldn't help but grin, "No fair, you have boobs so you're automatically better at this than me. And you were doing so great until the 'oh woe is me' bit, come on, it's too cliché."
Another sniffle was my only response.
Rolling my eyes, I instead sipped my still quite hot tea.
Having had her fun, Yuko harrumphed and settled down into a reclined position, bringing her long pipe to her mouth to puff on it quietly as she swirled her drink about slowly. "Jacob…" her eyes met mine and I had to resist the urge to shiver at the weight of years hidden in her pattern, "You succeeded."
I looked away from her gaze, staring down at my cup as I sat there all crisscross applesauce, "… I got lucky. I barely was able to get into the final event, where it'd left itself vulnerable in an all or nothing gambit… and that's only because of the connections I'd made with other factions like the vampires."
Prince Fredrick had pulled my poor little ass out of the fire multiple times there towards the end…
"How did it happen?" the taller woman prompted quietly as she reclined, smoking her pipe.
"I kept thwartin' its plans. It was bad. So bad it tried to kill me." I glanced away in mock thought, "Repeatedly." The exaggerated 'ahhhh' look Yuko gave me made me smile, but I continued, "It was little stuff at first, but as I gathered allies and power I was able to be a monkey wrench in even its bigger plans… so the thing went all or nothing, a final gambit, it either win, or it lost. And it needed a human to give it access…"
The dimensional witch considered that for a moment before her eyes widened marginally in realization, "It needed Free Will to give itself up… they had to choose to give up choice."
I wasn't surprised that she'd picked up on it that quickly, she was the single most powerful spellcaster I've met so far. And considering that some of the mages I'd dealt with in the last world were able to Unmake entire cities, retroactively alter the course of time, and predict things literal centuries in the future to a measure of accuracy that they could have a phonograph replying to me in real time… let's just go with 'My boss is terrifyingly powerful' and leave it at that.
"Yeah, that was my best guess as well. It used a key. A literal key by the way, if one made of horrifying Supernal Truths…" my hand came up to touch the lock around my neck… a literal if very ornate padlock of interlocking gears and mechanisms… it'd been dangling from my neck for the entirety of my stay. It and the mythril chain it'd dangled from being the closest thing to indestructible I'd ever encountered, and refusing to be removed…
While the silver chain still looped through the lock's hoop, the padlock was opened.
"I'm gathering that it didn't succeed."
"I got lucky." I reminded her softly, toying with the lock that had almost been a part of me without looking at it… "The person who actually got the key very nearly unlocked the doors, and there wasn't anything I could do at the time. But they decided not to in the end… and gave the key to me to be destroyed."
Yuko straightened, halfway sitting up, "The lock worked?"
"Yeah." I paused before giving her a decidedly unhappy look at that, "You seriously didn't know if it'd work?" Master or not, that was harsh.
She didn't even have the dignity to look sheepish about that, "No. I knew it'd bind you to the reality and lead you to the true lynchpin of its plans, but I wasn't sure if it'd be able to destroy it on its own or if you would have to get… creative."
"Creative she says," I muttered, deliberately looking away and talking like she wasn't there, "Like that's gonna help when destroying the central lynchpin of the workings of a god that bind it and its plans to a reality…"
"For you, it would."
The surety in her tone was outright unsettling. I shivered and looked away.
"Jacob."
"If you're going to give me a speech about how I'm the one who can do it the easiest, please don't." I shifted into a somewhat more comfortable position on the cushion I was sitting on, "I already know."
A small smile graced her lips, she'd sat up fully when I wasn't paying attention, "No, you were just convenient." I rolled my eyes at that, smiling in spite of myself. I knew better, and I was a lot harder to rile up than Kimihiro. But then a delicate and inordinately pale hand extended towards me, palm upwards, "Regardless, the lock?"
I blinked, looking at her in confusion; and it took an inordinately long time for it to click, "Oh, right."
Sheepishly, I took the opened padlock off of the silver loop dangling from my neck and leaned forward to place it into Yuko's hand. She smiled just a bit at that as she brought the padlock over, setting her jug of sake on the floor and leaving her long pipe to dangle from her mouth as she turned the padlock over in examination.
While she did that, I took the opportunity to sip my tea and softly scratch pipe-fox's head behind the little nubs of her ears. I rather enjoyed the happy little trill she let out as she snuggled into place, tightening around my neck, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth against my back as she rested her little head atop my ear. It was honestly weird to be missing my… the padlock. I'd literally worn the thing constantly for years in the World of Darkness. It was a 'Key Item' (Hah!) and was as close to indestructible as mattered, at absolute minimum anything capable of damaging it would have vaporized me just by sheer proximity. It'd been as constant as my hand or leg, so I felt… not naked, but very exposed without it. Heh.
It'd actually taken me a while to get used to it and to figure out how to comfortably wear a tie while keeping the necklace tucked away, but I'd managed. Didn't care for ties, but you had to make a good impression on the big wigs and a suit was the bare minimum required in most cases.
"Jacob."
My name broke me out of my pleased reverie, "Boss?" I looked back at her, finding a neutral expression on her face and the lock long gone.
"You need to go," her voice was soft, but insistent.
"… to the bathroom?" I snarked in spite of myself. But I knew what she meant. Respite wasn't part of the deal.
There was a flash of amusement across her face before it faded, "You can't stay here long."
I took a deep breath, ready to argue, to ask to stay and relax and so many more things but… I let it out with a sight, looking down at the cup in my hands, "Rules?"
She nodded, "Rules."
A small groan escaped me, "How long do I have?"
"A day," Yuko said simply, taking a puff of her pipe.
"Which kind?" I asked, "Sunrise to sunset? Or sunrise to sunrise?" Either one was mystically meaningful, but it wasn't always clear which from saying 'a day'.
"Sunset to sunset," she supplied before blowing out a smoke ring.
"At least I get to get to try Kimihiro's cooking this time." I twisted my teacup around in my hands a few times before glancing up at my boss, an amused smile dancing across my face, "Are we even in my home reality right now?"
"No."
"Tch, figures." I rolled my eyes before shaking my head, "No real point staying then…" My eyes flicked up to her face, "Unless you're able to spend time teaching me…?"
Technically she was my master and I was the apprentice, even if the extent of her teaching had basically been "SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, BE HERE!" in a sort of weird reverse of the classic 'demons begone' sort of thing. But Yuko shook her head, "I'm sorry. I can't."
"Eh, no point in dawdling then if you're not gonna teach me anything." I smiled warmly at her. There honestly wasn't, this wasn't home any more than the alley I'd first appeared in before was, any more than Her haven had been. The closest thing I'd had to a home was destroyed so… here's to hoping to find a new home wherever I end up?
My lips twitched into a shit-eating grin before I dramatically leaned back, "What a terrible master, not even willing to teach her apprentice anything before sending him out again! Oh woe is me!"
"Hypocrite." She countered easily, a demure smile on her lips.
"Eh," I shrugged freely, "Only sometimes."
Another little smile from her as she took a puff from her pipe. A comfortable silence settled over the two of us as I straightened back out on the cushion. I took the opportunity to finish downing my tea with a little sigh. It was… actually really comforting to be here. More so than I expected. Maybe that was because I didn't have to worry about any backstabbing here, maybe because Yuko, for all her deviousness, was a good person… or maybe because she'd been the one to Awaken me… I didn't know why, but I was comfortable here.
Something niggled though, "So where am I going this time?"
Downing a swig of her sake, Yuko just smiled, "No clue~"
"… you are way too cheerful about that." I muttered, setting my cup down beside me, "No idea at all?"
"No idea at all!" a cheerful girls voice cried from behind me.
"None at all!"
I did not jump.
I did whip out Prometheus and scream a bit.
"You two are way too quiet!" I half shrieked at Maru and Moro, having nearly rose to a crouch with Prometheus open and in hand. After a second, I got my voice back under control, "Also, hi Mokona."
"Wa'sup?" the little black… thing… raised a limb in greeting with a smile.
"Awww…" The two gray skinned girls that had basically appeared right behind me, looked at me sadly, "Are you–"
"–mad at us?"
I rolled my eyes, forcing myself to settle back down and close Prometheus, "No, I'm not mad. But please don't scare me like that?" My heart was thudding in my chest at that, almost did something stupid there. Got way used to paranoia honestly. "I don't want to hurt you two."
"Oh."
"Okay!"
Still disconcerting how easily they finished each other's sentences.
"Girls," Yuko interrupted with a small smile, "Did you bring it?"
"We brought it! We brought it!" they chorused cheerfully before bounding around on either side of me towards Yuko.
It was only now that I realized they'd each been carrying a jewelry box, both of which were held out towards the Dimensional Witch.
Stuffing Prometheus back into my pocket, I watched as Yuko placed the padlock into one of the boxes, "I don't know where you're going any more than you do. I merely pull on the threads, the trinkets I give you are your anchors to that reality, anchored into the lynchpin of its design."
From the other, she pulled out a disk on a long chain and continued to explain, "It's like pouring wax into the keyhole of a locked door to mimic the key. It allows you to enter the locked reality and gives you an impression of the lock it was used on, but the only way out is to find its key, for the wax key breaks upon use."
I scowled slightly as she passed the disk over to me, a silver chain dangling from it as well. It had four engraved runes on one side, arranged around a central divot that seemed to be made for a gemstone… the runes looked familiar but without actively engaging my Mage Sight I wasn't sure… "But if you're putting it to the door, how do you not know where it goes?"
Yuko smiled just a bit at that, "The metaphor isn't perfect. I'm searching for the doors that the Occult Mechanism has locked, but that doesn't mean that I know where those doors are relative to everything else."
"And people wondered why I wasn't a huge fan of sympathetic magic," I muttered, running my fingers over the disk, earning a small giggle from Yuko.
The disk was made of… something? Bleh. My talents were extremely ill suited for this. I focused on Mind and Matter and had a measure of power in the likes of Life and Death, but this item was a thing of Fate and Space, two of my weaker Arcanum. And if Yuko couldn't divine this thing, then I sure as hell I couldn't.
Didn't mean I wasn't going to try at some point and time, but fuck, I didn't expect a miracle.
"Same rules as before?" I asked, examining the disk. One of the runes seemed like a stylized sun, another like a stylized moon, another was just some strange runic combination that I didn't recognize, and something that looked like… a planet? Not sure.
"You put that on and you will appear in another universe," she confirmed, "If you die there, you die in truth. You will be stuck there until you find the key."
"And in order to get the key," I finished, staring at the disk, trying to figure out why the runes seemed familiar, "I need to destroy the God-Machine."
"Yes."
I sighed, letting my hands fall back to my lap, a small smile on my face, "Well… at least I get to try Kimihiro's cooking this time?"
-oOo-
I gave the chain around my neck a few tugs, The familiar thin silver chain didn't budge, stubbornly refusing being removed as it always had since I'd put it on…
"It won't come off."
Glancing up at my boss I raised an eyebrow at her as I grinned, "I kinda gathered that. But I thought it was just the link?"
We were standing in the nice little Japanese style garden that was a part of the shop, waiting for Kimihiro and the others to return with my washed overcoat Yuko was watching me in amusement as I let the fine silver chain drop back atop my button up shirt, "It is. But it's the manifestation of the link between your existence and that world now, rather than your soul and the lock."
I glanced down reflexively, even if I couldn't really see the chain from this angle, "That's… surprising. I thought the connection would unravel when I opened the lock…"
She beamed at me, "Nope~ You're stuck with it."
"Glorious," I drawled, putting every bit of sarcasm I could into the word. Not that it kept me from smiling at her.
The taller witch reached over and ruffled my short hair, "You'll be fine."
I playfully batted her hand away, "With any luck."
"Here we go! Here we go!"
"Hey! Stop! You'll trip me!"
Kimihiro walked out, dodging the two artificial beings who were dancing around him as he brought my overcoat, Mokona resting atop his head.
"Be careful."
The words, softly spoken as they were, had be glancing over at my boss, finding the taller woman watching Kimihiro dodge the girls. Warmth bled into my bones as I turned to watch the comedy routine of the four, "You expect otherwise?" Without either of us looking at each other, Yuko's hand brushed against my shoulder briefly and meaningfully. The action made me cringe as I picked up on the insinuation. "Well, outside of extenuating circumstances."
She just smiled, "I do expect to see you again, Jacob."
"I plan to be seen again." I countered with a grin as Kimihiro came to a stop. He held the overcoat out and I accepted it with a smile, "Thanks."
With a practiced motion, I threw my overcoat on. I'd deliberately taken a page from Dresden's book and gone with what amounts to a duster, the long coattails protected my legs, and it was roomy enough to shield someone else in an emergency. And then I'd enchanted the ever loving fuck out of the damn thing. I'd added a hood to the thing to provide some additional head protection and because c'mon, hoods were cool. The overcoat was so dark of a green to nearly be black, matching the vest part of my three-piece suit, but the rest of my suit was jet black. All of the buttons and cuff links were a glorious golden color with a different rune engraved on each.
I had my tie tucked into one of the pockets of my vest, hanging out partially at the moment, and my rich purple button up shirt opened up slightly so I could slip the chain within after I'd traveled.
The only thing I'd deviated from my fancy, business-style clothing was a pair of heavy, if very nice, black boots. Because running was a very good skill to have and dress shoes were shitty for that.
And here I was teleporting off to a wholey new world and reality… to face off against an eldritch and cosmic machine.
At least I'd look good while doing it?
I pulled the pendant from my pocket–
Kimihiro scurried back several feet, hiding behind one of the pillars holding up the awning of the shop facing the garden.
I rolled my eyes at the extreme reaction, "Big baby."
"I am not a baby! Last time you did this you disappeared in a flash and a bang and it was really loud!"
Blinking, I glanced over at Yuko for confirmation, and found that she'd eased back a good distance as well when I wasn't looking, the two girls flanking her on either side as the Dimensional Witch held Mokona.
"… oh…" my face flushed slightly in honestly misplaced embarrassment, "Sorry then. I retract my previous statement."
"Thank you for visiting, we hope you have a safe journey." My master said formally, bowing slightly, the girls doing so in synch with her.
"Ah!" Kimihiro halfway jumped out from behind the support beam and bowed quickly, "Yes! Thank you!"
With an affectionate smile, I shook my head at them, "Thank you for having me."
Taking the pendant in both hands, I looked down at the thing, hesitating. I was… afraid. I was worried and concerned and nearly trembling.
Last time I'd put one of these on, I'd spent years in a fugue state, manipulated by a Vampire into doing horrible things, dominated and controlled… even if, intellectually, I knew I had to put this on and that it was unlikely for that to happen again… it was hard.
Resolve + Conviction = 2, 7, 1, 6, 8, 9, 9, 5, 1 = 3 Successes
But I had to do it.
With a sigh, I smiled at my boss, "Alright then! Adios! I'll see y'all later~!"
The cold metal settled against my neck, the disk hitting just beneath my collarbones with a soft thump, and this time I felt it… it was like an anchor around my neck, a spiritual weight dragging me in a specific direction, the world disappearing around me in a flash of colors and butterflies–
I was falling– falling through [████████] and there were things of a thousand, thousand colors. Sensations without words surged around me in striking colors and searing nonlight in an eternity that lasted but an instant before coalescing around me in a flash, taking on solidity and form and distinction once more–
And everything resolved into two hemispheres of blue, one with some streaks of white as I continued to fall–
Random Arrival Roll: 1d6 (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, Wyld) = 4
*SPLASH*
–straight into water–?!
Burbling in a moment of panic, I thrashed around before forcing myself to a stop.
My lungs burned, I'd swallowed some water in my panic, but panic was the mind killer. Where the fuck was I? In a pool? A lake? … the ocean? Ugh. That was terrifying. But first, I fell into water, where's the surface?
Turning about, I found the light coming from the surface and, with some effort, swam upwards despite the stinging in my eyes from… salt water? Or chlorine? I couldn't tell for sure right now, but it didn't look like there was a bottom…
That… that was very, very scary.
I broke the surface of the water gasping for air, very, very thankful that it was breathable. My head darted around as I treaded water, looking for land or any landmarks.
A cold pit of dread began to settle in my stomach despite the warmth of the waters around me.
Nothing.
No matter how many times I turned around, I saw nothing… no land on the horizon, no discolorations in the water due to reefs or sand banks… just pure, unadulterated ocean… beautiful ocean… but just ocean…
Everywhere. And nothing below me either…
"Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink…" I murmured, tasting the salt on my lips. A small quiver went through my chest cavity despite the lukewarm ocean water, it felt like someone was taking an ice cream scoop to gut me, leaving me feeling small and weak… was… was there anything at all…?
Resolve + Composure = 4, 1, 8, 8, (10, 6), 5, 4 = 3 Successes
Panic threatened to rise in my chest again, but I forced it down. No. Panicking would just mean I'd drown. Stop and think.
Okay… okay. So… what's my first course of action? Something to keep me from having to tread water. What can I do for that?
First thought is to freeze a platform for myself… far from a long term solution but it'd get me out of the water long enough to think about things further.
Legs still kicking in rhythmic motions, I focused, imagining what would need to happen and constructing the magic in my head, the imago starting to take form. Change state of a good bit of water, a platform… make it last for an hour or so… fumbling slightly, I pulled Prometheus out of my pocket and held it tight as I treaded water. It wasn't magic I'd woven into Prometheus because who the fuck expects to be dropped into the middle of the ocean without any equipment?!
… I should apparently.
Right, anyways. Focus.
Taking a deep breath, I let the world fall away, describing the imago in the High Speech under my breath as it started to take form. I'd have to strain myself a bit to make it last long enough to be useful… My will and my power were focused through Prometheus, the lighter might not have been the best tool for this, but its links to the Divine Fire that represented man's will being used through a tool to shape the world around them.
With words and tools I made it happen.
"Runtime Start:: #Arcanum <Matter> ; Practice(Weaving) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: State Change."
10 Dice = 2 6 7 3 8 4 2 (10 10 6) 7 6 = 3 Successes ; Wisdom (6 Successes) vs Paradox (1 Success)
It happened all at once, or close enough to it that it didn't matter. A mass of water about fifty feet across suddenly turned into ice and I quite suddenly found myself thrown several feet into the air as it popped up like a cork.
"Wagh?!"
I'd love to say that I landed with grace and beauty, but that'd be a bold faced lie. I fucking belly flopped right back onto the disk of ice I'd created.
"Uggghhhh…" I spent just a few moments laying there, lamenting my decision as I did, sprawled out on the ice, aching slightly from the landing and the paradox backlash of the rushed spell, "This day is starting off greeeaaaaat…"
With a grunt, I pushed myself up and was immediately grateful that I didn't really get seasick because despite having made the disk a pretty solid size, it was still barely stable, bobbing around and shifting on the still ocean.
Shifting about, I flopped into a seated position, giving myself a good little shake as I tried to get into a stable spot on the ice.
Grimacing, I tugged at my suit, thoroughly soaked. With a sigh, I focused slightly, opening a channel to my Path.
Shaping (7 Dice) = 8 2 2 (10 1) 5 3 2 = 2 Successes
The water weighing me down left my clothes with a little snap, a quick rush of liquid raining down onto the ice beneath me.
Grumbling under my breath, I threw my hood up to shield my face from the sunlight. It was… harsher than I remembered, but paler...?
"Okay, what's the plan…"
Nothing but ocean anywhere I looked… no fish I'd seen yet. And the… the mana was heavy around me. And not in a pleasant way either, it was like… like the den of a vampire… or a graveyard… where the Twilight was I? Ugh, question for later.
So, what did I need? I needed water, food… shelter? Not really. My suit and coat were enchanted as all fuck, I'd be comfortable even in a hurricane so long as my 'boat' held out. But food and water were a problem.
I could do some magic for the water bit, food could be harder but still doable… but both of those could be solved if I knew where the fuck I was.
In the immediate, in relation to land sense, not 'place in the universe' sense.
Mentally, I set out the tools I had available even as I set Prometheus in my lap. None of my actual physical equipment was helpful here. Smart phone, smart watch, pocket watch, pocket square / handkerchief, bandages, some basic medicines, my wrench multitool, and Prometheus itself. My dedicated Magus tool was a terrifyingly complicated lighter-multitool, having a good LED light, combination electric / fuel based lighter, tape measure, level, fold-out soldering iron, and a little fold-out screwdriver, with a couple different bit heads slotted into her... all of my equipment enchanted to the limits of my skill with the Matter Arcanum... and not a one of them was useful here.
No paddles, and I didn't have a map so my compass was worth fuck all. I wasn't a master of any of the ten Arcanum. I was a Fourth Degree Adept, but three of those four were the Arcana of Life, Death, and the Mind. Which was about as useful as… well… nothing here. Matter was already proving useful. I was a Disciple of Forces, and an Apprentice of Fate, Prime, and Time. But when it came to Space and Spirit I didn't have a damn inkling, wasn't even an initiate.
"Ugh…" I flopped back onto the ice, scowling up at the blue sky, "The power to rewrite local reality and I still don't have a simple solution…"
"Don't have the raw power to brute force things…" I grumbled to myself. So things were SNAFU, Situation Normal, All Fucked Up. A small smirk danced across my lips, "So that means I'm gonna have to magic the shit out of this."
So, finding stuff was normally the job of Fate or Space… neither of which I was could do worth a damn… depending on how far out I was, I might need to seriously stretch my power… so I'd want to use my better Arcana to search for civilization? Or is civilization as important as just finding a place where I could survive long enough to do more impressive workings?
Pressing my hand to my chest, I'd gauge that I had about 10 units of mana right now... between my spells working properly and Ruling Arcanum spells not drawing on my reserves... I could do my propulsion with Matter rather than Forces to conserve mana... try to do a finding spell with Mind rather than Fate or Life... Mind for translation... but I'd need to use Life to prevent myself from starving or getting too thirsty if things took too long... hrm...
With a little sound, I pushed myself up to my feet. First, reinforce this disk… and reshape it… into a proper, long lasting boat for me to use. Then searching spell, and… I'll figure it out from there.
-oOo-
"Runtime Start:: #Arcanum <Matter>, #Practice(Ruling), #Practice(Weaving) ; Yantra(Mantra, Mandola, Prometheus) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: Alchemical Shaping."
Alchemical Shaping = 6 Dice = 7 1 3 1 (10 10 3) 4 = 2 Successes. Wits + Craft = 2 8 8 9 7 9 3 = 4 Successes.
The boat I'd made from ice was crude as all fuck, good size at about forty feet long, but my knowledge of boat building was marginal at best. It was basically just a sailboat without the sails, having a deck and a 'below deck' and a set of stairs between them… and that was about it. But it'd do for my purposes, function over form and all that. It sat high in the water and wouldn't' be fun if a storm hit, but it'd survive and the ice would last for a month or so. I'd focused too much on the volume of stuff I could control and shape rather than the finesse which I could do so, it'd been like trying to mold playdoh with oven mitts on. Doable, but hard.
I'd fix it later with spot-checks of higher power but smaller spells if I needed to, but it was functional for now.
Scowling slightly, I double checked my runes I'd painted onto the outside of my watch. The digital thing had a stylized compass on its face at the moment, which would act as the focus for the spell. Tiny little funny scribbles all around the thing should channel the power I'd be pouring through it to focus it on the nearest minds, anything else the spell could pick up would be displayed in the margins as numbers, like number of minds and their distance from me.
My stomach growled at me unhappily, but I ignored it. Fucking fast metabolism. If this spell didn't find anyone I'd do something about that, but for now I just ignored it.
Placing a hand over the face of the watch, I closed my eyes and formed the imago in my mind. The mental circuitry my brain interpreted the Mind Arcanum as took shape as I began to speak, using the High Speech to help form the imago and magic, "Runtime Start:: #Arcanum <Mind>, #Practice<Knowing>; Yantra(Mantra, Mandola, Tool) ; Variables(Set) ;" It took some time to build the variables of the spell, probably hours honestly, though I didn't really notice the passage of time outside of the increased gnawing at my stomach, but this was worth the ache to get it exactly right. "Enact:: Find Thoughts."
Find Thoughts 14 Dice (10 8) 1 4 1 1 1 3 3 2 4 8 8 3 (10 4) = 5 Successes
I felt the magic settle into place within the watch… about what I expected, not great but at least I didn't flub the casting.
Opening my eyes I lifted my hand from the watch to look at the face of the watch… wait, what? One mind?
I know the spell probably had a radius of only a dozen miles or so, but I'd expected to find either a cluster of people to represent a boat, a big cluster to represent land, or nothing, not… one. The fuck?
My stomach growled at me unhappily even as I scowled at the face of my watch.
"Oooookayyyyy…"
I ran through the possibilities.
It wasn't a human mind I was looking at, just a sapient and sentient one, so it could be a monster. Bad. Probably at least. It could be someone away from the coast far enough that the spell didn't focus on another group, like clam diving or fishing or such, unusual but far from impossible. Good, and hopefully more likely. A lone survivor on the ocean… bad, but I'd feel like ass if I didn't help them.
Ugh, odds were it wasn't going to be good no matter what, but I had to check it out. I didn't have much of a choice.
"Right, here's hoping for sexy nature spirit or something…" I muttered to myself as I pulled my multitool from my pocket, gripping the wrench and starting to form an imago I'd prepared when I'd shaped the boat.
"Runtime Start:: #Arcanum<Matter>, #Practice(Ruling) ; Yantra(Mantra, Mandola, Tool) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: Bending."
11 Dice = 3 4 7 1 (9 5) 5 5 4 7 2 7= 1 Success
The spell very nearly didn't work, and my breathing hitched as the gears my mind visualized the Matter Arcanum as skipped and tried to slip. They caught, but just barely.
I cringed slightly at that even as I lifted my arms, my right hand with the watch held out before me palm downwards, and my left held out behind me palm up.
The water behind the ship rose up even as the water in front lowered and I created a gloriously watery version of an Alcubierre drive, pushing the ship forward.
Keeping an eye on the compass and adjusting my manipulation of the water accordingly, I sailed my ship of ice that I'd formed from the ocean by willing a wave into existence behind it towards the unknown mind I'd found by saying funny words over a watch.
Fuck I loved magic.
…
"… wish I knew some sea shanties…" I muttered as my ship moved forward at an easy pace, "It'd make this go faster…"
-oOo-
The other ship was a little sailboat, like, teensy, with only a single occupant. One that even from here felt like a powerful Cainite…
That was… worrisome. At least it was a person?
"Ahoy!" I shouted as I eased my ship up nearby… no motor… simple construction… I eased open my Mage Sig█████–HOLY FUCKING FUCKER FUCK–?!
Willpower = 8 8 9 (10 7) 7 6 1 6 2 = 4 Successes
I actually flinched away from the █████ that just rolled off of the person in the boat. Holy- just… damn. That was like opening your eyes and finding a spotlight turned on your face. Guh, she was like a damn star within the Death Arcanum. Just… fuck.
"A-Ahoy!" Yeah, that flash of █████ definitely gave a feminine impression. She sounded young and kind of scared honestly. Hopefully I could put her at ease and find out what was– "Aharr yarr ho ho yahar?!"
… well there goes any hopes I had of easy communication. Grumbling to myself, I eased up on my propulsion as my ship came to a stop beside hers. Spell time then. A quick, quiet little chant of High Speech and a familiar imago formed as I moved to the railing, "Runtime Start:: #Arcanum<Mind>, #Practice<Weaving>; Yantra(Mantra) ; Variables(Set) ; Enact:: Universal Language."
9 Dice = 4 1 9 2 6 4 7 4 4 = 1 Success
I blinked as I felt the spell settle into place. God damn, what was it with me and fumbling with my magic recently? Ugh, anyways, let's try this again, "Sorry! I didn't catch that! Could you repeat it?!"
Shouting over the rudimentary rail, I watched her carefully, holding Prometheus in my hand just in case.
"Sheesh, really?" She muttered, probably thinking I couldn't hear her over the splashing of the water against the hulls of our ships, "Greetings! What brings you to these waters?!" Definitely nervous. Not that I could blame her given that I'd sailed up to her in a ship made of ice in particularly warm waters, obviously propelled by a persistent wave.
The ship eased to a halt alongside hers and I finally got a good look at her.
Pale, vampire pale at that. That inhuman albino pale, black hair, headband, red eyes… she had a little tattoo at the corner of her left eye, a little downward swirl, a black tube top, black skirt, sandals, and a necklace that was a small silver circle at the end of a chain. She was petite, probably just a bit over five feet tall, but looked to be a young adult more than a teen. Honestly, if it weren't for the sun shining overhead I'd have assumed she was a vampire given the nature of █████ that hung around her like a shroud. But even with as much power as she had, she did not have enough to just no-sell the sun like that. No vampire outside of maybe Caine could have done that, and even then… there were some practices that could've made it plausible... but something was off. She didn't seem like a vampire to me.
Revelation = Chance Die (6) = Failure
But a cursory examination revealed jack diddly. I'd worry about it later, just be wary for now.
"I'm lost!" Wary didn't preclude being cheerful at least. I admitted the fact freely, I'd been considering how to go about this on the way here and a measure of honesty was the best response. Try and figure stuff out without giving things away and all that rot. "Got literally plunked down in the middle of the ocean and had to make do. Yourself?"
She shifted in place as she stood in her small, single person wooden boat with a sail, her arms wrapped loosely around her waist, "I'm… headed towards the North."
… descriptive. Still… "Care for a tag along? I'm not joking about the whole lost bit, and if you have an idea where to sail I'd be more than happy to share the boat with you." This could be a horrible decision, but I didn't have much in the way of options right now… that and she seriously seemed familiar for some reason.
"On that thing…?" her eyes glanced over my ship, which I had mentally dubbed the Ice Ice Baby.
"It's sturdier than it looks," let's ignore the part where it doesn't look sturdy in the first place please, "And I can always just magic up better if it's a problem."
She seemed to think about it for a few moments before glancing up at me, "It… might be dangerous… I'm on the run from the Silver Prince."
Okay, this whole familiarity thing is gonna bug me. I scowled, "Who? The name's familiar but I'm having a brain fart."
Her eyes darted to the side and I very nearly didn't hear her, "The Deathlord."
I blinked.
"Ohhhhh…" That… that explained a lot of things, "You're an Abyssal aren't you?"
"I–!" She stiffened before wrapping her arms around herself, lightly touching the necklace with a hand as she looked away, "… yes…"
Exalted.
I think I had an inkling about who I was talking to now… and even if I was wrong, "How'd you like to come aboard? I might be able to do something about the whole 'being found' bit, not so sure about the 'being a Deathknight' part, but I might surprise us both there."
Her red eyes met my gray-green ones and there was burgeoning hope there, but also an intelligent wariness, "Really…?"
"With any luck. Come on up, just be sure to bring a rope tied to your boat, I should be able to turn that thing into something useful to make sailing easier."
It took her but moments to tie off a rope to the boat and leap up the half dozen feet onto the Ice Ice Baby, still holding the other end as well as the anchor. The motion was so casual as to be somewhat disconcerting.
Landing beside me nervously, she set the anchor down and I turned to face her, smiling as warmly as I could manage. I extended a hand towards her, "It's a pleasure to meet you, please, call me Kenobi. How about you?"
"I- um…" she cringed slightly as she straightened out, "You want my name?"
"It's usually helpful to know what people are called when conversing with them, yes." I snarked with a grin.
"Um, right… well… I'm…" she shuffled in place for a moment before visibly gathering her courage and taking a deep breath, "The Most Secret And Sorrowful Of All The Bearers Of The Endless Destiny Of All Creation Which Wander Admist Forgotten Sights And Fallen Tears Along The Tread Of Ancient Ashen Footsteps Through The Shadow Of That Which Comes And Into That Riotous Cacophony Which Births All Fools And Steals All Beauty," the words were becoming more strained… was she really…? "Who Heralds Through Her Silence The Stillness And Chill Of Those Who Were Not Born And Who… Will Not Fade 'Till All Things Fall And… In That Most Grim Harvest Form The… Final Restful Tomb Of… All Awakened Life And… All The… Sleep… Less… De–"
*whump*
And she hit the deck.
Yes she really.
I snorted, facepalming as I snickered, "Can't believe she didn't think to just pause and take a breath."
Shaking my head, I knelt beside her fainted form, brushing a lock of black hair out of her face, "You're adorable, but very silly… doing something like that and passing out around someone you don't know…"
Tenderly, I eased her into a hopefully more comfortable position laying on the deck. I doubted she'd be out for very long… but…
A small smile worked its way onto my face, "Don't worry, Secret. You're safe with me."
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Dakkan Sall
Random Encounter
- Location
- On the world map
HA!
Keychain? Really?
Heh... I loved that when Jukashi was still working on it. Shame it's been on hiatus/dead.
Will be keeping an eye on this.
Keychain? Really?
Heh... I loved that when Jukashi was still working on it. Shame it's been on hiatus/dead.
Will be keeping an eye on this.
- Location
- france
I KNOW THIS!!!!!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Hum...
Well, yes, i know Keychain of Creation.
I see your SI is probably about to replace the King of Uncloaked Steel, although that would mean that Secret won't receive Cluivnarihe...
And... now, i think he's going to be a great mentor-type character for Secret...
I wonder what you're going to do next.
MOAR PLEASE!:lol
PS: for those who want to know more, go there:Keychain of Creation - Updates Monday and Friday
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Hum...
Well, yes, i know Keychain of Creation.
I see your SI is probably about to replace the King of Uncloaked Steel, although that would mean that Secret won't receive Cluivnarihe...
And... now, i think he's going to be a great mentor-type character for Secret...
I wonder what you're going to do next.
MOAR PLEASE!:lol
PS: for those who want to know more, go there:Keychain of Creation - Updates Monday and Friday
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SalsaDeGranada
Thankful for our Cradle's Graces
- Location
- Philippines
Saw the thread. Keychain? Andoriol?
Couldn't click it fast enough.
Couldn't click it fast enough.
SkySkimmer
I use hugs for evil.
PSA: you see how the link says it updates Monday/Friday? That's a lie. It's dead Jim.
- Location
- Florida, United States
I'm keeping the rolls hidden mostly to keep them out of the way. They're not relevant to the story directly so much as a hard rule on what the character can accomplish and if he fails, he fails. No getting out of it for me.
EYUP.
SI got offered a job kicking an eldritch god machine entities Cthuloid gear based ass across the multiverse using magic. He accepted. Just got done with his first reality through luck and effort, and is now getting sent to the tnext one.
KoC will always have what I consider the best Abyssal Exaltation story ever. Jukashi fuckin nailed it.
The Protagonist is an SI with magic (and has had said magic for a while now).
But yes, Secret is pure adorable, I'm glad to have captured a bit of that.
And now I'm flattered ^^;
Dakkan Sall
Random Encounter
- Location
- On the world map
He's very good at that kind of thing. I used to be in one or two Exalted pbp games with him years back, and he was great at it.
- Location
- france
The system of magic used by the SI comes from "The World of Darkness" setting, more precisly "Mage the Ascension".
Basicly, humans are enlightened enough to use the very basic of the universe called "essence" or "quintessence" and manipulate it, performing magic.
The World of Darkness setting is also (perhaps) one of the possible futures from the "Exalted" setting, thus many rules about Sorcery are the same. At least they both use the same energy.
The author is using the term "units of mana" to probably simplify it. In each setting, magic cost essence(or quintessence, mana, prana, od...) Also, yes they do recharge, but it takes time and depends on the character (anywhere from a few hours to a full day generally and i am not going into various meditations methods, rituals, substances and artefacts).
Shapeshifting spells are very doable by using the sphere (domains of influence of the mage) of Life.
Gills? very simple, but only if required, a flotation effect is more useful and less energy-costing.:lol
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Generally incorrect. He's using a modified Mage the Awakening second edition.The system of magic used by the SI comes from "The World of Darkness" setting, more precisly "Mage the Ascension".
Basicly, humans are enlightened enough to use the very basic of the universe called "essence" or "quintessence" and manipulate it, performing magic.
The World of Darkness setting is also (perhaps) one of the possible futures from the "Exalted" setting, thus many rules about Sorcery are the same. At least they both use the same energy.
The author is using the term "units of mana" to probably simplify it. In each setting, magic cost essence(or quintessence, mana, prana, od...) Also, yes they do recharge, but it takes time and depends on the character (anywhere from a few hours to a full day generally and i am not going into various meditations methods, rituals, substances and artefacts).
Shapeshifting spells are very doable by using the sphere (domains of influence of the mage) of Life.
Gills? very simple, but only if required, a flotation effect is more useful and less energy-costing.:lol
No consensus reality, no quintessence, no recharging mana without a source (primarily places of power, sacrificing living beings, and destructively scouring it from your own body). And ten Arcana instead of 9 Spheres.
I suppose that's accurate. I was confused on when that happened, I thought it was halfway through, not 80%. Good thing I checked first.
- Location
- france
Oops...
Searching... Reading...
Hu..? Well, you're right...
I supposed i wrote those incorrect things because i "sensed" that the author would perhaps fused somewhat those two systems. There is plenty of magical energy in the Exalted setting.
Kerrus
Fractal Insanity
The system of magic used by the SI comes from "The World of Darkness" setting, more precisly "Mage the Ascension".
Basicly, humans are enlightened enough to use the very basic of the universe called "essence" or "quintessence" and manipulate it, performing magic.
The World of Darkness setting is also (perhaps) one of the possible futures from the "Exalted" setting, thus many rules about Sorcery are the same. At least they both use the same energy.
The author is using the term "units of mana" to probably simplify it. In each setting, magic cost essence(or quintessence, mana, prana, od...) Also, yes they do recharge, but it takes time and depends on the character (anywhere from a few hours to a full day generally and i am not going into various meditations methods, rituals, substances and artefacts).
Actually no, you're wrong on most of this.
The system of magic used by the SI comes from the NEW world of darkness setting, specifically, Mage: the Awakening, which is not one of the possible futures of the Exalted setting (OWoD is). Mana is one of the myriad additions and changes to the magic system used in the MtAw rules so that mages can't just cast all day. The setting elements described thus far, including place names, sphere names, and the like are all those of MtAw, rather than MtA, and you should try to avoid confusing the two, becaue in MtAw the cosmology is wildly divergent from the MtA cosmology.
I prefer the old world games myself, but nWoD has made a lot of very nice games and settings, and a lot of great concepts- the god machine being one of the best (the nWoD demon book is fantastic, btw).
Anyways I almost dismissed this fic at first because I misread 'Keychain' as 'jumpchain' and god I hate that goddamn 'setting'. When I saw the thread again, I realized what it actually said and thought 'nah, there's no way' but decided to give it a read. Glad that I did, this is pretty good.
Mortanius
Aspiring Raksha - seeking stories
Precisely. It is the golden standard to which I compare all other backstories in and out of the setting. And remember, technically speaking it's Misho who is the main character, yet his backstory is much less interesting (at least the parts that were revealed until now).
Secret is just a supporting protagonist at best, and WAFF generator at worst. It's amazing that so much effort was put into her.
Eh, white wolf original characters were always 'beautifully boring' to me. Things like the cainite mythos, the Solaroid uprising are always better to read about on the wide lens than when a character is drilled down on a game or book scenario. Stuff like Lasombra being a loser that just sold his soul for a shadow umbrella, or the principle of entropy being thwarted by a bunch of furries on the moon. Let's not mention Cain being a old man puttering around NY with a atheistic historian vampire during the end times instead of having anything better to do. Translating the lore to effective storytelling is not something they ever did well.
Obviously, though Secret is a crack comics character. I mean really, a woobie Abyssal... i guess the Shoat of the Mire kinda counts though...
Obviously, though Secret is a crack comics character. I mean really, a woobie Abyssal... i guess the Shoat of the Mire kinda counts though...
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Frakir's brother
Goodbye.
- Location
- The Sea of Trees
While Secret has a great backstory, I have to say that I perfer Keris Dulmeart.
- Location
- Nowhere
TWT is a solar charm, so...nope.
But he's an Adept of Life! If he isn't held back by arbitrarily balanced game mechanics, there's nothing preventing him from casting a Life spell tricking his body into thinking he's doing Olympic-training levels of exercise and vastly accelerating how quickly he gains muscle, flexibility and stamina.
But he's an Adept of Life! If he isn't held back by arbitrarily balanced game mechanics, there's nothing preventing him from casting a Life spell tricking his body into thinking he's doing Olympic-training levels of exercise and vastly accelerating how quickly he gains muscle, flexibility and stamina.