Defying the Future: Side Scenes

[Zelphas]

OOC Thread Link (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642664-M-amp-M-3e-Defying-the-Future-OOC)

Current Scenes in Progress:

Chance or Fate? Sarah Garett needs to tell Flint some more information about her abilities.

Museum Black Box Remy goes to find out where his sister went missing.

For ease of parsing, if you're willing, posting the "Title" of the current Side Scene you're responding to at the beginning of your post will make it easier to read in the future.

Also, if you don't like my titles, change them as you like; they're what I came up with at the moment.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Root of the Problem

Once the unconscious Raphael had been delivered to Watcher's designated location, before they all went their separate ways, Lily said, "Um. So, there are...some things I think you guys are going to need to know, if we're going to be working together. About some of the stuff Ms. Peters said." While Lily didn't doubt that they could have at least made some broad guesses - based on just how her powers worked and having seen her apparent ability to communicate with Raphael on at least some level - that wasn't enough. Ntombi Peters had revealed a potentially powerful asset - and a potentially crippling liability. They needed to be on the same page.

And more than that...there were certain contingencies that Lily now understood she needed to prepare for.

"Can we talk? Somewhere private?"

[Abracadangit]

The Root of the Problem

"Of course," Kal replies. "Did you have somewhere in mind?"

[Dorni]

The Root of the Problem

Helios nodded in affirmation. "If it helps, I can ward the conversation against eavesdroppers."

[Abracadangit]

A Spell By Any Other Name


"This? There is air all around us. Its simply a matter of willing it where to go and how to go about it." It was an accurate answer, but how could he succinctly describe the process of reaching out to the traces of aether in the air, collecting it together to form a mass of air, drawing out the traces of water in the air and then remixing them back into the aether to give the mass of air the property of surface tension making it hard to the touch yet retaining flexibility, then forming a wind on the other side to push the hardened air to give it force, all while keeping the structure of the spell balanced? He bore the girl no ill will, but to fully explain his magic would require starting at the fundamentals. Besides, he was supposed to be empowered by Helios and channeling the power of that god, not a wizard. He had to be careful how much he revealed around that spirit that was bound to her. He wasn't sure if he believed its story that it was the real Ariadne, but it was undeniable it was much stronger than many of the spirits the cult contacted.

"If you would entertain a question of mine, how did you meet the spirit that possesses you?"

"I would not say that we 'met,' so much as she was always there, and I just recently learned to see her." For all of Kal's hangups about Ariadne, hearing her referred to as a "spirit" that was "possessing" her caused an unpleasant twinge. "But if you wish to learn more about her, I'll thank you to not call her disrespectful names. Just as you would treat my grandmother if she were here, so too shall you treat my companion."

"Tell me -- what is it about her that interests you so?"

[Ridai]

The Root of the Problem

"Uh, sure," Nope answers, with a series of mini-nods. Whatever it is, it seems important to Floral, so it is not exactly a hard decision, though he doesn't really know how to react beyond that.

"Should I bring us somewhere?" To be honest, it feels a little wrong to suggest that when this is, uh, the closest thing to "casual" activity with the other heroes. And it might give the wrong impression that doing that is easy. But if anyone is watching them right now (well, outside of Watcher, that is), it is probably worth it?

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Root of the Problem

"Yeah, that'd be good," Lily replied to Helios. "Um...maybe the abandoned Food Fast place we met Watcher at?" Lily wasn't sure if it was saying something that the closest thing they had to a base was an abandoned fast food restaurant, but in their defense it was a location that they had already established was sufficiently private.

[Ridai]

The Root of the Problem

"Okay." And from one moment to the next, they are inside the Food Fast, like part of a video was just cut out. In the part between seconds, it was the usual pushing people to their destination while maintaining zero time. Preferably without getting stuck. Honestly, he always feels weird doing this, like this is kind of creepy and/or demeaning. And part of him kind of hopes the others don't find out how the "teleports" actually work.

...
.......
Maybe he should also bring up how this works if Floral is telling them something important.

But there is a nice side to it, getting to do this sort of thing with no real pressure for once. Which is not to say this is relaxing, but he can practice and- oh you know what I mean. I hope.

[Dorni]

The Root of the Problem

Helios blinked at the abrupt shift in location. It always unnerved him a tiny bit, even when he was fully expecting it which this time he had not been. It also made him want to study Nope's powers so he could figure out exactly how his teleport power worked. It wasn't like he hadn't imagined various ways to craft a teleport spell, but most of them ran aground on the shores of keeping the spell stable and needing to get the details exactly right, and the consequences for failure made trial-and-error an obviously bad idea. Still, that was a conversation for another time. Helios glanced around the Food Fast and, satisfied they were indeed alone, started working. He started with his familiar spell for concealing himself from prying eyes but altered the runic structure to scale it up and encompass each member of their group. The others would feel a light pressure on their ears as the air pressure temporarily changed, but it would quickly fade.

"There. We should be safe from anyone trying to watch or listen-in."

Configuring Cantrips to Concealment 3 [Auditory] (Area [Burst], Selective, Precise). Casting it to grant everyone concealment from auditory and visual senses, but using Precise to still allow each of us to perceive each other.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Normally, Lily smelled faintly but noticeably like flowers. It could easily be mistaken for a perfume. In the time they'd been working together, the others had probably noticed her scent change a few times. She had smelled of fresh-baked bread when Watcher had first introduced himself, and of mint when they had first spoken to Ntombi Peters.

As they appeared in the Food Fast restaurant, Lily's scent resembled nothing so much as honey.

"Thanks," she said, after Nope had teleported them and Helios had warded them against observation. She opened her mouth to speak, and kinda hesitated, seeming to have trouble finding words. It took a couple aborted tries (and a brief whiff of maple syrup, apparently) before she said, "So...we didn't ever really do the thing where we all kinda explain our powers to each other," she said with a little, awkward laugh. It was something that happened pretty much every time the party first assembled in one of the campaigns Bruno ran. Difference between characters in an RPG and people in real life, she supposed.

"I mean, that isn't...why I wanted to talk. It's just...um, okay, so, Ntombi told us about how Manchineel controls her minions, right? She has a particular scent, and while they can smell it, she can control them. And...you probably noticed, when we were trying to calm Raphael down, I kinda smelled like her?"

"One of the things I can do is alter and intensify my scent. It can be pretty overwhelming when I turn it all the way up. But there's more to it than that. I can...influence people. Control them, even, using pheromones, or other chemical agents that can be dispersed through the air and influence brain chemistry."

"And my sense of smell is also enhanced. That's how I was able to estimate when Raphael would reach us, or pick out Watcher's pigeonbots. I can smell things further and more precisely, but also in...a lot more detail. I think...I think if I could get a sample of Manchineel's scent, and practice with it, I might be able to emulate it. Use it to take control of her minions, at least if she isn't around. Probably even confuse them pretty bad if she is. I'm sure it would be an extremely specific scent marker though...like the olfactory equivalent of a fingerprint. I don't think just smelling it once would be enough, I'd probably need a physical sample I could analyze. Still, if we could get something like that, it could give us a big edge. Against Manchineel's forces anyway."

The smell of honey was getting stronger. "So...that's the good news. But here's the problem. Most of what I can actually do comes down to one power: I can transmute vegetable matter into different vegetable matter. About two pounds of it a second, on my own power. And the reason that turns into like...shooting vines and producing intense smells and creating nectar is because my body is vegetable matter."

"I'm not...human, anymore. Biologically speaking." The smell of honey mingled with the distinct scent of fresh-baked bread. "I don't know if you saw in the news...a couple weeks ago, Manchineel attacked a biochem lab. She turned the scientists and assistants there into...plant monsters. I was one of them. She transformed me into an anthropomorphic flower. I guess some of her transformative power rubbed off, or something, and that's why I can transform plants now. I only look like this because I used that power to transform myself back to more-or-less my normal appearance." Two pounds at a time was left unsaid, but the smell of cinnamon had started to mingle with the scents of bread and honey, and if one looked closely, past the veil of flowers dangling from her hat, they might notice her eyes had been touched by a faintly golden sheen.

"That was the first and only time I've been near Manchineel. To the best of my knowledge, she wasn't trying to turn us into part of her Menagerie. She was...raving, when she attacked us. About how we would like having our DNA spliced with that of random plants. I think it was intended as a...punishment, or something. So for all I know it's a completely different process from the one she uses to create her Menagerie."

"Or for all I know it could be the exact same. Like I said, my sense of smell is enhanced. And I have personal experience with the possibilities of using particular scents to influence the minds of others. I can't rule out the possibility that if I come within range of Manchineel's scent, I'll become as much a puppet as the rest of her...creations." She spat the word like a curse.

"That's why I thought you all needed to know about this. We need to prepare contingencies. Like I said, my powers can potentially offer us a tremendous advantage against Manchineel's forces if I can learn how to emulate her scent. But there's also a big risk that she could usurp control of me. I wouldn't want to take any of you on in a fair fight, but me going from ally to enemy in a battle already involving Manchineel would be anything but fair. We need to establish some contingency plans so you can quickly neutralize me in the event I'm compromised." She said it as dispassionately as if she was reading from a biology textbook, but the smell of honey mixed with cinnamon practically filled the room.

[Ridai]

The Root of the Problem

Nope sits on one of the empty bottle crates. The intense scents keep trying to distract him with the thought that they probably reflect emotions and that he should figure out which one maps to which, but he really needs to pay attention now and chances are he will lose track of the growing mapping table.

Even he can eventually tell where this is going, making him increasingly uncomfortable, having no idea how to handle the whole situation. When Floral finishes, Nope has his elbows on his knees and his hands folded, which still manage to fidget. Breathe out, puffing cheeks, look to the side at nothing in particular for a moment, feet kind of tapping on the floor without rhythm.

"...Sorry to hear that?" Nope ventures. Like, he has sympathy for Floral and her situation, but he isn't sure if this comes off as some sort of insult, but when in doubt apologize?

"Well, uh, if the, uh, pheromones get me, it's probably too late, but if I can still do things, I could try removing all scents from the air or removing your or our sense of smell?" he says, with a lesser shrug of guesstimation. "Would be all scents, though, since, uh, I don't have your nose, and I'm not confident in trying to conceptualize Manchineel's pheromones. Would prefer that over removing sense of smell. Seems like an important thing to you, and, uhm, if I mess up, your sense of smell might not... come back, or, uhhh" This is getting really uncomfortable, Nope rubbing his neck before gesturing towards the lower part of his face. "all this might be gone." Clearing his throat. "So, uh, yeah, would prefer scents. Yeah. I'd probably not be doing much else in that situation, though."

[Abracadangit]

The Root of the Problem

"Your abilities are very impressive," Kal says, having waited for a lull in the conversation. "I'll confess, I don't know that much about pheromones. Are they transmitted through the air?"

"One use for my thread I've discovered is to cover my nose and mouth, like a gas mask. I've never used it on someone other than myself, so I'm not sure that I can. Food for thought, anyway," Kal says, feeling very much out of her element.

[Dorni]

The Root of the Problem

Helios listened quietly while Floral talked. He'd suspected that Floral might have a connection to Manchineel on the basis of, well, her being a plant person. Still, he imagined it had to be nerve wracking to share her secrets with them. He also imagined there weren't many bio-labs in a resort town like this, so she had to realize she was also giving out a clue that would make it much easier to identify her. If any of them cared to go looking, that is.

That secret paled before the reveal that she herself might be susceptible to Manchineel's control and the twin worries of what that vulnerability meant for her and how her tentative allies might react to that knowledge. Helios couldn't imagine anything they could do to her that would be worse than what it must have been like to have had to rebuild her entire body 2lbs at a time. He had his own worries about Dante and the cult, but none of what he'd been through compared to that horror. So he just listened, quiet and accepting, until she finished.

"Thank you for sharing. That must have been terrifying," he responded quietly when she'd finished. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that."

He didn't want to linger on that topic too long. Not out of lack of empathy, but he didn't want to force her to remain on a traumatic subject. "As to the... pheromone issue, I will of course lend you my aid. What would an ideal solution look like for you? As you can see I can veil you from sight and sound. I could likely weave a similar mask against scents, if you so wish. If you would permit the working I can establish a means for you to trigger it wherever you are, even if I'm not around."

[Dorni]

A Spell By Any Other Name

Helios studied both Ariadnes, slightly taken back by the response, but only slightly.

"You misunderstand me. I mean no disrespect to your religion but 'Spirit' is not a disparagement. Spiritual beings are beings that posses a Mind and are infused with life force. While they lack a corporeal body they're still beings to treat with respect, and not only because they can be quite powerful." Indeed, though he hadn't personally witnessed any of the cultists summon a spirit as powerful as the one that lingered around Ariadne, he'd witnessed them attempt to summon the alleged spirits of the dead. Even so he was aware that even the cult had only really scratched the surface over this past month. There were too many legends, myths, and belief systems incorporating powerful spirits for him to discount the possibility that there were far, far bigger spiritual beings out there.

"But no power is without limit - energy comes from somewhere. Has 'Aradne' ever explained to you that to sustain herself she is siphoning off some of your own life energy?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Root of the Problem

Lily gave the three of them a wan smile. Sympathy wasn't really what she had called this meeting for, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate it. "Thank you. It is what it is."

"Generally, yes," she answered Ariadne's question. "I mean, they don't really have to, necessarily. And really I'm simplifying it a fair bit. Strictly speaking making the air in my vicinity 150 proof and lacing it with hallucinogenic mushroom spores or something like that isn't a 'pheromone'. But it gets the point across well enough."

Her lips twitched slightly at the offers. "I'm less concerned about prevention. I mean, come down to it, I can start with a noseplug and scale up from there. There are some practical difficulties; like I said, my sense of smell is very precise. I use it for feedback when I'm using my powers. If I can't smell anything...I mean, I don't know if any of you guys have any sort of, like, sensory feedback when you use your powers, but if you do, imagine trying to use them without that. It'd probably be pretty analogous. Still, better option than being turned into a puppet, so it's not like I'm ruling it out, come down to it."

"But regardless of method, prevention efforts can fail. They're still something I want to explore, but my main concern right now is having plans in place for if I do get compromised. Prepare for the worst, you know? I think it would be wise to have some method for incapacitating me quickly and reliably in case it happens during a dangerous situation. I plan to come up with some, but it might be better that I remain unaware of any you all might devise, so if you need to use it I won't be expecting it."

"But there's one particular contingency I need to put into place now." The smell of honey was getting stronger again. "It's not impossible that if Manchineel gets her hooks in me once, I won't be able to get them out again. If I...if I become a member of the Menagerie, I'm counting on you three to keep me from hurting people, okay?"

Helios was not wrong. Revealing where she had worked had been a huge risk to her identity. It was not a fact she was unaware of. Neither was it relevant. She couldn't assume that if Manchineel took control of her it would be in their presence. If Floral became a member of the Menagerie, it might be that they would need to be able to find her to stop her.

Lily took a breath, and swept her hat and its dangling veil of flowers off of her head.

"My name is Lily Woods. I live at 96 North Taylor Road, apartment 103. It's in the northern part of the Residential District. My parents, Ralph and Sarah Woods, live at 226 Arcadia Court, in Lakeside. My sister Hannah works for the police; my brother Andrew's been helping them too ever since the League arrived. Their addresses are 748 Santa Clara Lane and 953 Hillcrest Drive, apartment D, both in the Residential District. If I'm not at my place, odds are I might be at one of theirs, or at least that one of them might know where I am."

"And if- I mean...I'm sorry, I know I'm asking a lot, but if you guys could...keep an eye on them, if I become unable to...I'd-I'd really appreciate it."

[Ridai]

I wish I had feedback. :(

Nope just grows increasingly uncomfortable. "W-Well, I can try knocking you out, but it's not guaranteed. Kind of nothing I do is. Can also try, emphasis on try, to kind of remove Manchineel's control over you if, if that happens." And he can only nod kind of awkwardly about preventing Floral from hurting people.

Then Floral goes and reveals herself as Lily Woods. Nope almost falls off his crate. First because he didn't expect Floral just revealing her identity, and then it's someone he knows. It takes a while to snap out of it, and by the time most of the adresses already passed him by and he tries to remember the rest, but with nothing to write them down (wait, is writing them down bad in this case?), his chances are slim with everything else that is happening.

"...Yeah, uh, yeah sure. Shouldn't let it come to that, though."

Nope fidgets nervously, wringing his hands, clutching his knees. Then eventually a defeated groan. "I'd just blab something that'd make you figure out who I am now or at least who I'm related to, so might as well get it over with now, I guess. Fair's fair and all that..."

The indistinct figure that is Nope suddenly becomes something the eyes don't just kind of glide off of and slips from the mind beyond vast generalities, though what is now there is hardly impressive. Someone who looks like he might barely be 20 years old (maybe), grey hoodie, black pants, gym shoes (all of them not looking exactly new), and a profoundly average face with brown hair and grey eyes, looking like there has been a lot of stress and little sleep. Feels weird to just be Remy in this company, even though honestly to himself, removing his identity never felt all that different.

"Hi, I'm Remy Rames. You know my uncle Bruno, he runs D&D. I live with him now. Used to live with my mom Donna and sister Nora, but mom's an MC of the cult now, Nora's missing, dad's a Silver Link called Greed now." Ouch, Remy made himself sad again, and he looks like it. "Got put in a Proxysuit when I was looking for Nora at the Museum of Natural History where she and mom worked. Something went wrong. Next thing I knew, I could remove things. Anything. No safety measures, feedback, or guidance. Limits not known, and I'm too scared to look where they are, since I can remove personal time and once accidentally removed some of my fingers because of a stray mental image, so, uh yeah..." He kind of feels bad now, wondering if he hijacked this when this is really about Lily/Floral (damn which one to refer to her now). He just becomes smaller on his bottle crate. Chances are they are going to forget his real name and face soon anyway, like most people.

[Abracadangit]

The Root of the Problem

Kal nods along with Floral's more detailed explanation of the pheromones, and is just about to volunteer to ensnare her in about fifteen layers of thread should she lose control, when suddenly Floral becomes the first among them to reveal her identity. And not just reveal it, but also give up a sizable amount of extra information, as well. Kal understands the intent -- these fights with Manchineel might prove fatal -- but still, that's a lot to hand over to people she barely knows. Then, mere moments later, Nope tells everyone all of his information, as well. So trusting! Kal thinks to herself. To be fair, there's really no reason she shouldn't trust them, as well. So what's holding her back, she wonders. Why can't she just take off the mask, lower her hood, and do the same thing.

"Wise choice," Ariadne echoes, internally. "Before you tell me how terrible I am, take a moment to consider: what if your tree demon DOES take hold of your flowery friend, hm. Perhaps controlling her motions is not the limit of what she can do. Perhaps she can make her tell things that she knows, reveal things that she remembers. You think you can stop her, before she says where you live? Where Dimetria lives?"

"No way to know that for sure," Kal thinks back.

"Mmm, very good. But you didn't need me to tell you that -- you already knew, which is why you waited. Caution does not make you weak. That's the lesson for today, hnn, hnn."

"I... am not quite ready to remove my mask," Kal confesses. "But what I will say is that all of you are very brave, both in your deeds and in your honesty. Remy, your experiences sound horrifying, I am impressed that you stand with us." Kal then turns to Floral. "And Lily... if such a thing shall come to pass, I will do whatever must be done, and see that your family is safe. On this, I swear."

[Ridai]

Ariadne not wanting to unmask is simply met with "That's alright. Lily's a genius, I'm an idiot, thought I'd do this myself instead of waiting for her to figure it out by next week, let's be real here." There is something that was probably supposed to be in the vicinity of a smile, but came out more as pressing his lips in a thin line.

[Dorni]

The Root of the Problem

Helios' eyes widened in surprise when Lily revealed her entire family. He recovered quickly, chiding himself that he probably shouldn't have been given the build-up. That Floral, no, Lily would be willing to share spoke to a great level of trust. Or much more likely, a great deal of fear and desperation. He found himself respecting her more for it. He didn't work the hospital floor, but he still knew what went on there. Doctors and nurses shared the stories of those moments when a patient accepted that the end was approaching. Some fixated on themselves or the afterlife, but many just wanted to make sure their loved ones would be taken care of. It spoke to who that person really was.

And Lily's concern for her family was genuine. "I'll see to it that your family is protected." How could he not? "But it won't come to that. We defeated one of Manchineel's inner circle today. We'll defeat her too."

Helios listened quietly while Nope outlined his identity and when it came to his turn... "I think it would be safer for us all I don't answer while Manchineel is still at large." Which was true - if Lily was genuinely concerned that Manchineel could turn her into a thrall, then the best way to be sure Lily couldn't be forced to share their identities to the League was if she didn't know them. While that was true, that wasn't really the whole of it. If they knew his identity and came looking for him, the chance was too high that they'd meet Dante. He wasn't prepared to risk that they'd reveal Flint's secret to him. That, and Dante was no magical lightweight either. Remy might not draw his eye immediately, but Ariadne and Lily would almost certainly be in immediate danger.

[Abracadangit]

A Spell By Any Other Name

"Yes, she has," Kal replies, knowing full well that Ariadne won't appreciate Helios' not-so-veiled implication that she was hiding secrets. "I accepted her presence, fully aware of both the benefits and the cost."

"He takes me for a vdélla," Ariadne voices, in Kal's mind.

"I don't know what that is," Kal admits.

"I know not the name for them, in this age. Little wormlike things -- in my time, they put them on you to get out the bad blood."

"They're called... leeches," Kal thinks back, uncomfortably. "I don't think he means it that way -- I think he's concerned about me," she thinks, trying to put a positive spin on it. "You should like that, right? He's looking out for my safety, and making sure you're not some -- I don't know -- demon possessing me, or something."

"I have lived a very long time and seen a great many things to be called a vdélla," Ariadne responds, coolly. "But I will not wring my hands and stomp my feet. I worry for him."

"That's... uncharacteristically kind of you. What are you worried about?"

"He is a book wizard. I have met many like him before, and I will meet many more like him before I pay the ferryman. You see, it was book wizards who told me that I could not practice their craft because I was a girl. This is what their books told them. Very 'learned,' these book wizards. All of them have the same problem -- they see the world the same way they see their books, laid out in the order of the alphabet. But life does not happen in the order of the alphabet, hm? Youth goes before Old, Pain goes before Experience, Unfairness before Justice, and a million others. And there are magics, hiding in the dark, strange, forgotten places of the world that also do not follow the order of the alphabet. Book wizards do not fare well against threats that are not in the proper order upon their shelves -- as they shift and shuffle the books around, the enemy moves quickly, until it is too late. So I worry for your book wizard friend, and hope, for his sake, that he only ever encounters threats in the right order on the shelf."

"Maybe he could teach us something," Kal counters. "Maybe our thread could use some perspective from an outside source."

"Hnn, hnn, hnn. The book wizards from my time told me the same thing, until I defeated them. Then my magic was vile witchcraft. Beware the book wizards, engoní. We do not fit on their shelves."

Kal looks up at Helios, and nervously clears her throat. Can't really repeat any of that, can I, she muses.

"She is... impressed by your skill. We may learn a great deal from each other, in the days to come."

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Root of the Problem

Remy revealed his own identity, and oh wow had Lily not expected that. If she were honest, she wished he hadn't, for exactly the reason that Helios (and Ariadne, though Lily had not been privy to it) had said - while she had no evidence of how susceptible she might be to Manchineel's commands or what she could be forced to do, it was only sensible to assume that if Manchineel took control of her, she could claim her knowledge for herself. Remy was taking a huge risk, revealing who he was, to her of all people.

...It was pretty touching, honestly. And weirdly, it actually made her feel a bit better. For all that he brushed it off as something she could have figured out easily, it was obviously not the case. While Lily had known his uncle for years, being a regular at his gaming table, she'd had no idea Bruno even had a nephew! (Ba-dum-tish.) There was no way she could have possibly connected him to Nope; no amount of intelligence would ever change that. Revealing who he was was a huge risk, which made it a costly statement of confidence. It said more strongly than any words could that he thought they'd be able to keep her out of Manchineel's clutches.

She...kinda boggled when he told them about his family. She didn't know which was worse, his parents being in league with the, uh, League, or his sister being missing. She visibly shivered at his explanation of how he had acquired his powers. What Doctor Proxy had done to him was every bit as bad as what Manchineel had done to her.

And this was the one Watcher said he trusted implicitly. Lily was kinda surprised Remy hadn't told him to take a hike. If it were Manchineel instead, Lily wasn't sure that she'd be able to muster the wherewithal to work with Watcher, regardless of the pragmatic reasons for doing so.

She should say something, should try to offer some consolation, some expression of confidence that they would figure out what happened to his sister, would find a way to free his parents from the League.

Instead what came out of her mouth was, "Wait...but you repaired the building, that day we met Watcher...how did you...did you remove the damage to its structure? And then...you teleport by, what, removing the space between your position and the destination? Or do you just remove the impossibility of the act of physical teleportation? Or I guess you could remove your...pos...ition? But then how would you choose where to end- oh unless you removed all other positions from the possibility space..."

Look, for good or ill, Lily Woods was the type of person who could weaponize such mighty and dreaded superpowers as "super-photosynthesis", "being a flower", and "two-pound-per-second transmutation of plant matter". Tell her you have the power to remove things and that it apparently works on a memetic level and her brain is just going to go places with that.

[Ridai]

The Root of the Problem

Well... well... this is probably... an okay outcome, compared to somehow... insulting Lily or making things more difficult? Part of Remy expected immediately being humbled by Lily's superior intellect when it comes to the possible applications of an open-ended thing like removing anything, and it is looking like she is winding up to exactly that, but the ideas mentioned, moreso than any sort of feeling of inferiority, make his skin crawl instinctively. Remy's hands instinctively try to close, which leads to grasping his knees instead, trying to not just stammer something incoherent in response.

"I, uh... I try not to remove... universal or world things. I don't think that goes well. I don't know... what comes back or not. My, uh, 'presence' comes back, I think because I'm still here. I think." Remy becomes Nope becomes Remy is suddenly gone is there again. Quick on himself, then looking to the others to see if they look like they can see him again, and as Remy. "I, uhm, 'teleport' by removing the... the personal relative distance between me and where I go. At least that's how I think about it. Need to check if a place is occupied so I don't... don't land in something or someone. Make sure all of me goes there. It's scary. That's, uh, that's not what I do when I... 'teleport' others. Would be way too difficult. Way too dangerous. Harrowing. Wouldn't... wouldn't want to do that to anyone." He is getting hung up on things again.

"I can, uhm, I can heal or restore, kind of. Think of someone or something unharmed as base state. Conceptualize" Remy winces a bit. He uses the word because he thinks it kind of gets the point across, but in the presence of an actual brilliant scientist, he has no idea if he is horribly mangling its meaning. "any damage as something added to someone. Remove the damage. Really need to make sure I don't remove anything else. Or only parts of it. Can't really... check if I really did it unless it's obvious. Not any better at knowing if something's wrong with someone. It really hurts my brain, but I need to be really careful, have really clear thoughts. No stray or garbled mental images. No distractions turning into something else getting removed. No doing things hasty. If someone gets shot and I do it right, there's no bullet or wound anymore. If I do it wrong, there could be a tunnel of nothing but air in someone the next moment. Or worse. Or I accidentally tried to remove something from someone else, something that isn't there." Remy just shakes his head, a little at first, then pressing his lips into a line, shaking his head more vigorious, along with a shudder going through him.

...maybe, in a way, it is good this power was inflicted on someone who doesn't have nearly as much going on in his head as Lily. He already has trouble dealing with stray thoughts. It would be hell to work against a constant tidal wave of ideas going a mile a minute.

Really though, the more he talks about his powers, the more nervous Remy gets.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Blood Magic

For the first few moments after either Nope and Ariadne had headed out or they had gone somewhere private to talk (which, granted, with Helios's magic could be, like, twenty feet away) Lily was quiet. The limp vine dangling from he right shoulder slowly began to "reel in" in contract back down into the shape of a human arm. The tangle of roots growing out of her ankles gradually began to weave together and reshape into human feet. New hair began to grow like grass from the side of her head that had lost it, slowly peeking out from under her hat. The change back happened much more slowly than the original transformations had. In combat, Lily used stored solar energy to fuel her tactical transmutations, allowing them to occur far faster and on a much larger scale than she could accomplish normally. But so soon after the grueling battle with Apophis's zombies, Lily had little enough energy available for that. For this she made do with her baseline power and its two-pounds-a-second limitations.

She was stalling and she knew it. She didn't really want to have this conversation. She was tired. And hungry, a sensation that had grown unfamiliar in the time she had her powers. And so, so thirsty. She wanted to go home, drink like two gallons of water, and collapse into bed. She didn't want to tell Helios about his having family in the cult, didn't want to have to smell his feelings when he heard the news.

Most of all, she didn't want to have to admit she had failed to save them.

But Helios both deserved and needed to know, and Lily hadn't gotten where she was by cowering before the potential of social awkwardness.

"Before you arrived, we hadn't been fighting Apophis's zombies," she said. "We had a tip that there was a Suneater cult gathering that was going to happen at the building. That's why we were there in the first place. There were four groups of cultists there. Three of them gathered on those altar thingies, and one group clustered off away from them. I think it was an initiation of some kind. We tried to take them down, but Apophis intervened, whisked the leaders out and left the zombies to fight us."

"When we arrived, Nope did a...thing that let me smell what was going on inside from outside. Three of the cultists, they, um, shared DNA with you. I mean, not all of it, but...more than chance. They would have to be pretty close relatives. I don't think they were that much older than you, so...siblings maybe, or cousins...definitely no more distant than cousins." her voice had a tone that was as much apologetic as sympathetic.

"Um. One of them was in the group that I believe was being initiated or whatever. And one of them - a woman, the other two were guys - was kinda separate from everyone else, near the stairs. I guess she was assigned to guard duty or something? The third one, though, he was up on the black altar, like second step down. He wasn't as powerful as the leaders I don't think, but he was more powerful than any of the rank and file, best I can figure. Might have even been up there with one of us, maybe."

"I was hoping that after we incapacitated everyone we could...I don't know, separate them, get them out or...something. I hadn't really thought it all the way through. Wasn't enough time. But Apophis stepped in and... I'm sorry, Helios. I'm sorry I couldn't save them," she said, looking down at the floor.

After a moment or two, she looked back up at him. "Um. I hadn't had the time to explain it to Nope or Ariadne. I think it's probably worth telling them, but that's your decision to make, not mine. I don't need to know who they actually are to you, if you want to keep that to yourself. Or if you do want to talk about it...I'm here. If there's anything I can do to help get them out, please don't hesitate to tell me."

[Dorni]

Helios listened in stoic silence, all the while feeling more and more like he was sinking.

"Its... not that easy," he answered at last. Part of him wanted to leave it at that, say something mysterious and back out of the conversation. This was his family. His problem to solve and his brother to convince. But this was also Lily Woods - if anyone understood family it was her. She'd already put her family in his hands. And god forbid, if Dante insisted on supporting the cult he might not leave the other heros any choice.

"Or rather, the situation isn't so straightforward. Let me start by saying this: your nose wasn't wrong. The people you smelled were my cousin, my brother, and me."

"As you might have surmised, I'm not from Forester's Bay. I was here for a long weekend. My brother was going through a rough patch so I wanted to treat him. So I came up with the idea to take him on a vacation. Sarah loved the idea too. Something to cheer him up and for him to look forward to. Then the dome went up" Helios grim smile acknowledged the monkey's-paw irony at play.

"Wasn't so bad at first. First few days we bunkered down, but nothing really happened. Villains hadn't really made themselves known either, so it kinda turned into an extended stay. Then while we were out we got caught up in a Suneater attack. I'll spare you the details and just say it turned into the classic 'join or die'. So we joined, they opened our mystic senses, and here we are."

"Sarah and I have been phoning it in as members. Or rather we were. I started getting just enough involved to know when the cult is on the move so I can show up as Helios and stop them. It isn't hard. Among their normal members information security is kinda lacking. Sarah doesn't know about me being Helios, but her magic isn't very strong so I didn't want to endanger her. My brother is a different story."

"You've gotta remember, I said he was going through a rough patch before we came here. He's normally not like this. He's great. But ever since the cult... well, they gave him magic. Its sucked him in. If it were up to Sarah and I we'd be done with the cult yesterday, but not him. I just need to get through to him."

[Zelphas]

Chance or Fate?

The League of the Future has loosely respected each others' "territory", more or less. Ever since the first of August, when Manchineel responded to Lockdown's Bronze Link entering into her lands under the banner of truce by turning the man into a giant boar-person, this "respect" has grown more rigid. Non-Punishments or Menagerie members simply avoid the forest; it's too much of a risk, at this time.

That's probably the reason why Sarah has asked you to meet with her a few hundred feet into the forest to the northwest of the city, despite the rather obvious risk. She also asked for you to meet with her just at nightfall, saying that would make things "easier"... whatever that means.

"We haven't been completely honest with one another." Sarah is facing you as you arrive, her precognitive abilities apparently having told her where you would be appearing. She looks... strained, worried, like she's about to do something unpleasant, but necessary. "It's not like we really had much choice, but... I think you need to know this, because if I'm right about what you're hiding, then... don't tell me," she puts up on hand, drawing in a breath to center herself. "I think we need to figure out if... I'm starting at the wrong time. I need to show you... what I can do. But I need you to be ready, in case something goes wrong. Okay?"

[Dorni]

Chance or Fate

"Whoa, Sarah, slow down," Flint raised his hands in a mollifying gesture. He'd been worried ever since he'd gotten her note asking him to meet her out here. He'd had some ideas what this was about, all of which made him nervous. There were only so many things he could think of that merited meeting in secrecy like this when their hotel rooms were only a few doors away, after all. Most of them revolved around his own secrets, or his brother. A demonstration from her wasn't on his list.

"Just tell me what you need and I'll help. What do you want me to do?"

[Zelphas]

Sarah takes in a deep breath, visibly calming herself. Her eyes still dart around, as though she's waiting for something to appear, but her voice is much calmer when she speaks next. "Okay. Okay. It all should be fine, just... just be ready, in case it... doesn't like you. I should just--I'm starting now." Taking in another deep breath, Sarah closes her eyes, her forehead creasing with concentration.

The power that arcs out of Sarah looks like a summoning spell, though it is both too simple and too complex for the spells you've seen others use. You catch hints of Life magic, Earth magic, and Water magic, all blended and formed into a very specific call, but the way that Sarah used it looked more instinctual than learned.

At the same time, a webwork of different magics springs up around Sarah. This power is minor, but incredibly complicated, and it almost seems like a simple amplification of her own innate magical "signature"--a beacon, maybe, or a way of identifying herself.

"I don't know how long this takes; usually less than a minute, so--oh. There it is. Um..." Sarah goes silent as you begin to hear something moving through the trees with a steady, heavy gait. Looking around, all that you see near you are tall, twisted trees losing their leaves as summer becomes fall, even as the heavy steps get closer and closer. It is only when you notice that one of the trees is not where it was a few seconds ago that you are able to face the thing that has arrived in the small clearing.

Thick, gnarled roots reveal themselves to be cloven hooves in the darkness as you squint your eyes, attached to a thick, muscled, warped body that, at night, looks like a malformed tree trunk. An eye opens and closes in an irregular knot in the trunk; a moment later, a maw appears in the same place--no, it must be slightly above or below where the eye was, surely. Twisted "branches" become waving tentacles, held high in the air and twitching as though in the breeze. The thing takes another step forward, the entire edifice of twisted flesh flexing and shuddering with the movement.

"So... that's, um, that's a new one. I haven't tried in the forest yet--um. It should be harmless, I think. I mean, before, they've been--" Srah is staring at the creature with wide eyes as well, looking terrified.

[Dorni]

Flint raises a hand in momentary alarm that a Punishment has found them before registering the aura radiating from the creature and its tether to Sarah. He dispersed the aether he'd been forming before the spell could start taking shape.

With a second glance at Sarah he wondered if he shouldn't have - despite Calling this creature here she seemed terrified of it. Which maybe was warranted. It looked like a malformed mix of a storybook satyr and a treant, but that could be deceptive. His mystic sense told him that this wasn't the being's true body. It was a magical construct, a vessel for the will of the entity that inhabited it. He had no idea what that entity could be - reliable sources on supernatural entities were not easy to come by trapped in a vacation town.

But Sarah was afraid of it.

He took a step to place himself at her side in silent support and turned to face the creature directly. He inclined his head in respectful greeting - while not taking his eyes off the creature. "Hello. I bid thee welcome. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

Iala Sith bonus set to Persuasion.
Persuasion [roll0]

[Zelphas]

The huge, lumbering... thing comes to a rolling stop, exhaling fetid breath from its many, many mouths. The stench rolls over you, and you hear Sarah give out a gagging cough; it smells like an open grave, visceral and pungent. For a long moment, the thing simply stands, tentacle-branches waving softly in an unfelt breeze, eyes and mouths silently opening and closing. You're about ready to give up on this thing's sentience when a sucking sound suddenly bursts from the thing; you feel the wind snatch at your hair and clothes, blowing towards the creature.

Next comes a rumble, a low, deep growl, like the lowest notes of an ancient tree creaking and shaking in the wind. The sound is animal, with an edge of hunger; yet, it seems... dismissive. There is a definite turn to the creature, as it shifts focus away from you and towards Sarah.

"SISTER." The voice comes from no visible mouth. It is low, deep, and barely comprehensible, as though the thing behind the word only barely understands the concept of speech, let alone the meaning of the word it has just spoken. The tentacle-branches wave, descending slightly and weaving towards the two of you. "OFFERING?"

"...What? No! No, this is my brother. Bro-ther! He's not--no!" Sarah waves her arms wildly in negation, shaking her head. The creature rumbles once more, an element of dissatisfaction in its guttural growls. Its tentacles continue to wave slightly in your direction, though they are not reaching towards you yet. Sarah glances at you, panic and confusion evident in her gaze. "None of them have spoken before. I mean, I didn't--none of them looked like they could speak before, but this one doesn't either! I understand even less than I did before all this," she half-whispers to you, her mouth barely moving as she looks at the thing before you.

[Dorni]

Flint covered his nose at the stench. It didn't help at all and a moment later he let it drop.

"I am no offering." His reply wasn't hostile - not yet - but it was firm. This entity could still be a danger. Both the magic connecting it to Sarah and her own reaction said that she couldn't compel this creature in the same way that cultists could command their summoned undead. It was more like a Calling, or a Familiar. If a particularly huge one.

He risked a glance back to Sarah. "Others? How many have you summoned?"

He bit his lip. He needed a better way to communicate with the thing. He'd wanted to keep his familiar secret as long as he could, but the fae might be the perfect help here. But Sarah had trusted him with her secret and she was good people. He could trust her with one of his. "Iala Sith," he whispered, imbuing the word with power. "Iala Sith, I call to you."

Iala Sith's aspect [roll0] Death

[Zelphas]

"Well, a few, but only one type, a big weird bat thing that just seemed to be afraid of me and hate everything else around--no, well, two, maybe; the zombie creatures start gathering around me if their summoners don't pay enough attention, but I don't think they want to hurt me, and I've never really summoned them..." Sarah tries to take a deep breath, only to choke on the smell again. "The zombies talk... I think... but all of this," a waving hand indicates the whole of the massive, confusing creature, "is new. I--"

"NO OFFERING," the creature roars, seeming to ignore you altogether. "DANGER?" The tentacle vines snake forward with incredible swiftness, arcing around Sarah in a loose cage--not touching her, but cutting off any movement that she could make. The creature rumbles again, and you see several eyes open up and stare wildly around the forest.

The air grows chillier in the moments after your summons, and you feel a cold pressure around your shoulders and the back of your neck--not quite weight, not quite force, not quite anything you can compare it to exactly. the dry, frostbitten voice of Iala Sith in their Winter form sounds in your left ear. "You have all of your limbs, Master; I am momentarily impressed."

The tree-like creature roars, a mouth opening directly in front of you and spraying vile spittle in your direction. In your right ear, Iala Sith sighs. "Untethering it from this plane would be the simplest solution, but that child smells like kin of yours, and you are unfortunately possessed of a moral code at the moment. My current power would be most adept at destabilizing its corporeal form, properly handled--and perhaps I can have some acquaintances of mine hunt it down properly afterwards, if you would wish to make a deal." The last few words are said with a sort of anticipatory relish that you usually only hear in the villains of children's cartoons.

Iala Sith and this entity seem to be naturally at odds. It will most likely attack you in my next post, if things are not resolved beforehand.

[Dorni]

"No. I don't want it killed. I want to avoid a fight." Easier said than done right now though. Iala Sith hadn't manifested in his most sunny aspect. Kinda his worst, really. At least if it came to it his sway over Death seemed like it would be really effective against the summon. And the fey seemed neither surprised nor threatened. That was good. And finding the being behind the summon wasn't beyond Iala's ability if it came to it. That was also good to know.

Flint squared up with the summon. The being that was inhabiting the tree-monster seemed to struggle with language. Possibly it struggled with language, or perhaps it was a limitation of the vessel containing it. For the moment the answer didn't matter. He just had to keep it simple.

"No danger," he declared.

Persuasion [roll0] to try and talk it down.

[Zelphas]

You force the creature in front of you to pay attention to you; all of the eyes snap towards you, and the branch-like coils shiver in anticipation. Several of the eyes flick towards your shoulders, and Iala Sith gives out a soft hiss in response. "NO DANGER?" The creature repeats, the coils slackening slightly around Sarah. "NO OFFERING? ... WHY? WHY HERE?" While the creature does not move, Sarah focuses on something near the middle of its body; perhaps another eye, or one of its mouths.

"I-I'm sorry," Sarah says after a moment, pulling herself together. "I don't have anything for you to do. I just wanted to... say 'hi'? Um, you can go, if you want." The coils slump down, and several eyes slowly blink closed, vanishing into the trunk-like body of the thing one after another without even a seam to mark them. After a long moment, the creature raises up one singular tentacle, the digit reaching forward to touch Sarah, lightly, on the tip of her nose.

"HI." With that, the creature begins lumbering away, walking past you as though you aren't there. A few tentacles reach towards your shoulders, but Iala Sith bats them away with another hiss. Grumbling, the creature moves on; between one step and the next, it fades from reality, simply vanishing from this world as simply as it appeared. "Why did it touch my nose? Oh, I'm going to be smelling it for days now," Sarah groans softly, holding one hand to her mouth.

"Well, your morality wins the day, master; it survived whole, to make more of itself," Iala Sith mutters unhappily, the chill air growing colder from its displeasure. "Then again, something seemed to be wrong with that one's instincts, so it'll probably get eaten by another one before it can split. I can hardly contain my sympathy."

[Zelphas]

Museum Black Box

In the past two months and change, you've faced the horror of your own new powers, Doctor Proxy's machines, the Chain Gang, the Suneater Cultists and their mad leader, breakdancing zombies, mutated monsters with human hearts, at least two human people with monstrous souls, and your father's horrible fashion choices (among other problems). One door to what should be a mundane office in a perfectly normal museum should be child's play.

And yet it took you several weeks of intense concentration to remember that your sister even had an office door, let alone where it was. You didn't even remember which museum she worked at at first. And the thick carpet of dust extending from the office door out into the hallway for at least two feet suggests that you aren't the only one having trouble remembering.

But you're here. You've made it past the guards. You're on the edge of the dust. The door--just an ordinary, plain, impossible-to-describe-except-in-neutral-unexciting-terms door--stand closed in front of you. On the other side is the last place Nora was. Or at least, the last place she should have been. All that's left to do is to...

open the door.

[Ridai]

Museum Black Box

Nope is looking at the door. He has been in this hallway many times. He has been in that office. But now he sees it again. Always saw it, but didn't realize it, but does now. Outside perspective on how he is forgotten by other people. The door is in plain sight, yet Nope feels like he is backstage, but isn't.

Above all, Nope is nervous and tired. Months of searching, alongside fights to the death, trying to keep things together, and fighting his parents as well. He just wants to find something, anything at this point, but at the same time dreads what he might find.

He steps into the semi-circle and opens the door.

---------------------

[REDACTED]

What better place to discuss forbidden brain poison than Food Fast?

Meeting up with the others elsewhere, Nope gets everyone into the place in the blink of an eye to them. Some cleaning was done ahead of time. Some actual chairs have been put here, and Nope sits down on one of them. There is also a snack plate. Remy did some baking beforehand.

"Hey Watcher, if you are already listening, just have a bird fly in here. It's alright." Nope figures Watcher has some sort of surveillance in here, given this was picked as a meeting place once.

"So uh... yeah. Here we are. I tried to think about how to best approach this, but it will probably be messy in some shape or form. Figured I should probably start with how I got these powers, for... context or something like that. So..."

Nope turns back to Remy. Well, "turns". It's always just been Remy, but now recognizable. The transition just puts a point on how weird the masking effect of his identity Removal is.

"At the time the Dome went up, I was living with my mom Donna and my older sister Nora. Parents divorced, my dad Ty also living here. When the League came out of the woodwork with their minions, I got a message from my dad that he finally found something worthwhile to do, along with a selfie. You know him as Greed. Walked home that day, only to see cultists crowding at the apartment building, and my mom being one of them. You know her as Mouthpiece, of the yellow cult. Nora and I stayed at my uncle Bruno's place. Some days later, she didn't come home. Got a weird message from her. I started looking for her, letting myself into the museum she worked at, formerly under my mom as a researcher. Didn't find her... I think. Noticed a backroom door being somewhat open..."

Remy takes a shuddering breath. "Next thing I knew was being inside a Proxy Suit. Unblinking eyes staring at me, tried forcing me to submit with more and more force. I just tried to keep it together somehow, confused and scared out of my mind. Guess something went wrong in the whole process. The last push the suit gave me, it..." Remy's folded hands fidget, wring, one of them goes through his hair, just kind of scratches at his neck. "I don't think I can accurately describe what happened. It feels like it's at most my interpretation. Or my brain trying to make sense of it and failing, or... or something." A short pause. "I felt like I was pushed further and further 'down', until I cracked through some... boundary. There was nothing, but it was vast, things there I could not- cannot know, all connected, falling, falling, all directions, everywhere, the egg shell of the mind broke and the truth spilled into the ocean-" Remy stops his increasingly feverish, panicking, nonsensical yet true yet wrong words. Face buried in shaking hands attached to a trembling body, curving downward. Muffled, ragged breaths. It takes a whle until he can continue.

"Fell onto a truck, in this world, real world. Putting my mind back together, somehow. Felt like it was... is surrounded by nothingness, infinite. Weird things started happening. Skipped distance. Parts of fencing in my way just disappearing. Proxy drones dismantling. Holes in the floor. Since then, tried to keep my new powers in check, under control. My uncle knows about them, since I told him. I'm a terrible liar. People had trouble remembering me since then, unless I met them often enough. Nora still missing. Have been searching the city and the museums since then, but didn't even notice that I couldn't remember where she worked, or where her office was. Couldn't even Met a... a strange, extremely shy or nervous woman some weeks ago. She was... hard to notice, also just disappeared. Tipped me off that there might be more to Nora disappearing. Have been working through a... a mental block of some sort in the weeks since. I'm remembering the door to Nora's office. I think. It's been months since I last saw her and still haven't found her." Remy's voice cracks, eyes stinging. He shakes his head. "Sorry, getting off-topic. Sorry."

"My current guess is that I... was pushed into something like a collective unconscious. Something, some things are there, but it's all vague now. The nothingness around my mind is still there, like if being alone in the cosmos was a sensation, but you don't just conceptualize it, but are made to feel it. That's my Removal powers. I Remove things. Not destroyed or disintegrated or something. I know they are just gone. It feels like I was given a fundamental function of existence. A delete button. And it only ever deletes. Never anything else. And it is tied to my mind. Not necessarily my conscious will." He stops. The really scary and confusing parts are about to come up. He reaches down to a bag, retrieving a small juice bottle from it, also putting it next to the snack plate for everyone to access. Remy honestly is not sure in hindsight why he thought to bring cookies and drinks. Perhaps the absurdity given he is about to discuss fundamental horror powers might take the edge off. So he just... grabs a cookie and some juice, visibly more to calm himself down than anything else.

"A-any questions so far?" Remy is feeling profoundly silly asking this, for some reason.

[Abracadangit]

A convergence of thread plucks one of the cookies off the table, and neatly deposits it in Kal's hand.

The source of Nope's power had always intrigued Kal -- everyone except for Nope fell into relatively clean boxes, origin-wise. Floral was every inch a superscientist, Helios was a sort of classical "book wizard," as Ariadne was so fond of calling him, and while Ariadne's magic was certainly much more eclectic and mystical than Helios', it was still definitely magic, there was no disputing it. Nope's power seemed to stem from something altogether alien to the magic/science spectrum. From the way he was talking, sometimes it sounded psychic, sometimes it sounded vaguely cosmic, and sometimes it sounded like something completely extradimensional.

Kal pinged Ariadne for insight, and received the telepathic equivalent of a shrug. "There are many forces in the world outside mortal understanding. Be grateful this one is on your side, hnn, hnn, hnn."

"Have you yet found something that you cannot remove?" Kal asks, through nibbles of her cookie. "Enemies' stamina, physical distance, evidence of our injuries -- it seems as though there is no thing, idea, or leap of dream that your power cannot undo or unmake. Forgive me if this is something you would rather not discuss; as someone experimenting with their own newfound abilities, I find such matters interesting."

[Quellian-dyrae]

[REDACTED]

Lily took a cookie from the snack plate and sat down when they arrived, munching it while Remy explained the situation. He had mentioned what had happened with his family, although Lily hadn't known his mother had been Mouthpiece. Hearing it again she recalled that he had mentioned his father was Greed, but that had been fairly early in their adventures and Lily hadn't had as good an understanding of who the various bad guys were, so it had slipped her mind. That wouldn't happen again.

When Remy's explanation of what he had experienced cut off, and he buried his face in his hands, she moved over to sit beside him and, if he let her, slipped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a gentle squeeze. She didn't say anything, didn't tell him it was okay. Her experience with Manchineel had not been the same - but where it counted it had been close enough for her to strongly suspect that "it's okay" would not have been true. She just sat beside him, offering what support she could while he collected himself.

The mental block seemed strange. Whatever skills she may have possessed as a healer and scientist, though, she was neither a psychiatrist nor a neurologist. Dr. Proxy's powers were supposed to have some manner of mental component though, as she understood them. If Remy had been looking for Nora when Proxy had abducted him...it would make some measure of sense that Proxy might have done something to interfere with his memory of the time around the event, to maintain secrecy. Highly speculative, but plausible enough. She didn't mention it yet; better to let Remy finish before diving in on wild theorizing.

His own hypothesis that his mind had somehow been pushed into a sort of collective unconsciousness and that's where his powers came from was...honestly preferable to some of the alternatives she'd been considering, in the aftermath of their encounter with Pest. As per usual, most of Lily's priors on various superpowered weirdness came from various forms of fiction. Some of what Pest had been saying had sounded kinda Lovecraftian, which...probably would not have been good. Still, couldn't really rule anything out, yet.

Lily didn't ask any questions immediately; better to let Remy explain things in whatever order he felt best and then ask about anything that was still unclear. She did say, gently, "You're not alone, okay? We're here, no matter what your powers might feel like."

[Ridai]

[REDACTED]

It is a bit difficult to see, since Remy favors plain hoodies and pants, disguising much of his physique, but compared to when they first came to this place and Remy revealed himself to be Nope, he lost a lot of weight in the past months, trajectory pointing to the lower boundary of what could be considered ideal or okay.

He wordlessly nods to Floral's words. The juice bottle in his hands transitions from drink container to something to keep his hands occupied.

To Ariadne's question: "I'm not... I'm not sure. There is no concrete sense what I can or can't do, just past experience and hoping I can do something similar. Nothing like a 'muscle' or guesstimate. Point my mind at it and try. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes partially, sometimes something I didn't expect happens instead." Now that he has started the proper explanation, Remy is struggling with how to best convey something that refuses to work in neatly defined ways.

"Everything I do with my powers is put it in my mind, and Remove it. This might sound easy. It can be. But it's often not. Usually isn't. The Removal has no safeguards. It isn't aimed nicely like spells from games or guns or something. Best I can tell is that whatever I am picturing or conceptualizing or thinking about at the vague moment the Removal happens, that will get targeted. If you're calm, have lots of time, sure, chance of success is pretty high. If you're in the middle of a fight with things trying to kill you, friends and bystanders in mortal danger, and you're already in pain, this becomes way more difficult. Keeping usable intent or pictures or whatever so it actually works. I think things can also try to resist it, somehow, maybe? But if in the moment my focus shifts, some invasive thoughts get in there, or I don't focus in enough... I have Removed things I didn't intend to. Every time I use my power, something or someone else could get Removed. And I have not found a way to get anything Removed back. Ever. And I will not risk Removing anyone, even if it's the League. I don't want the memory of how it feels like to do that in my brain." Remy stops for a moment, and gets himself a second juice bottle.

"And... it can go off on accident. It's not something that can only ever happen by consciously pushing a button. Instinct reactions can make it happen. Frustration and fear and anger are really dangerous. When I have bad dreams again, I... quietly go see if my uncle Bruno is still around. Or anyone else who appeared in the nightmares, if I can remember. There... there haven't been cases of something like that happening, but... When the bee creatures attacked, I panicked. I think in the moment, I just wanted the insects gone. And I removed all insects from Forester's Bay. I didn't mean to do that. Or that I could do that. I don't think I can consciously do that. Or want to. But that happened. Because there was no restraint, and fear for your lives and my own. One slip up. Three days of the city going hungry, and Watcher needing to replace a part of an entire ecosystem. With what happened at FEN-W, and people I met, I don't think I'm the only one with those 'fundamental' powers. But when I Removed the insects, something noticed me. Something that exists in the shared unconscious, I think." Remy is shaking again, but he fights it down.

"S-so, um... I-I guess I'll try to go over what I often do as... examples. I learned I can Remove more conceptual things when I tried to find workarounds for Removing physical things. Some things stay gone, but some things are... perpetually generated by reality. They are just a product of something else. When I become Nope," Remy switches to Nope, instantly becoming hard to really grasp, and if the others didn't interact with him so often, he would already start to slip from their minds. "I Remove my identity. But I still exist. If I don't perpetually remove it, it instantly," Nope becomes Remy again. "reinstates itself. Through that, I learned I can become invisible to senses by Removing my presence. It, too, is perpetually generated. When I hover, I Remove the acceleration gravity applies to me, but it perpetually tries to pull me down. Some of this, I have practiced a lot. Like mental patterns. Rote Removals I can do do with pretty high chances of success while doing other things by now. But I can never just not care. Slippery slope. Don't know what could happen." Another drink.

"Attacking living beings is... hard. I... try to conceptualize their endurance, stamina and such as hit points, as dumb as that sounds. Something abstract, something where you can't just point at something in their bodies or minds that might get Removed instead. Where if it fails, it ideally just does nothing instead. Other than the... brief glitches of reality reasserting itself. I try to Remove aggression, momentary, not general, when trying to calm people down in crisis situations. Aainst machines, I try to Remove crucial parts of them, to keep things managable and not just... erase them. With healing wounds..." Remy shakes his head. "I tried conceptualizing wounds and such as things added to or changed from the base state. It works. I don't know what this says about reality, or if this is just some weird quirk of the Removal. Stuff like this is... very hard. I practiced these few things so I can use them, but it just never becomes easy or without worry. Theoretically I can attempt whatever, but without experience, time, practice, anything that might somehow help, risk of something going wrong just becomes so much higher. Like when I tried to make the windows at the cult meeting permeable to smell. And it also cracked because much of the window was Removed." More finger fidgeting.

"And, well... I learned about healing wounds because I once experienced a teleport going wrong. I Remove the relative distance between me and a point in space to do that. If something is in the way when I get moved there, matter is... rejected. Part of my hand and a few fingers were gone. I now only do that if I absolutely have to get through solid matter. I send a tiny part of myself ahead, like a hair, see if I can feel that being rejected, before I send all of myself. Getting the point and distance right, keeping them right..." He could once again say it is hard, but he figures they get the point. "Far too dangerous to do in a hurry. Doesn't get me all that far, either. That is also not how I teleport any of you. It's actually... it's actually not a teleport. Instead, do something I call Remove Travel Time. I can go a lot further with that, take people with me. If you know D&D, it's a bit like a Time Stop. Removing personal time. Going into zero time or something. Everything stands still. Can't do anything in there except move around, maybe attempt to move other things whose personal time I Remove around. Need too much focus to do anything else. I do something similar when I'm hurt. Removing recovery time, but time doesn't slow down for me with that. But, uh... yeah. Time has stopped, more or less, but I don't go any faster. There's just a certain amount of time I can manage staying in zero time. There is nothing hindering momentum in there, so I have to be careful how I move. So when I teleport you, I very carefully push you towards the destination. Make sure you do not bump into anything. Make sure you are standing firmly before I stop Removing travel time. Just... trying to treat all of you with as much respect and dignity as possible. Not taking any risks. I'm... I'm sorry if this... I'm sorry." Remy has had much time to think about this, never knowing how to go about this particular bit, or how people might react. "That's the things I have practiced with my powers. And why I don't experiment with them much."

[Zelphas]

[REDACTED]

Watcher's pigeon arrives in the middle of Nope's longer explanation, the bird flashing into the room with a flutter of feathers. "Sorry, meant to be quiet, but the Main Drag is... not good for birds. Please go on; I didn't mean to interrupt." The bird settles on one of the empty shelves in the room, its head bobbing lightly as it looks between each of you.

Museum Black Box

The door feels like... ordinary wood, the handle ordinary metal--perhaps a bit cold for the hallway, but nothing out of the ordinary. As you grab the handle and turn, you feel some resistance, as if the door was much heavier than it looks, and there is a subtle hiss and shifting in the air, like you had just opened an airlock in a sci-fi show. But it was still just a door, as it turned on its hinges and opened.

Oh, right, that is what Nora's office looked like.

You'd visited her here before; you know the absurdly large desk, a hand-me-down from a retiring curator, and how it takes up more than three-quarters of the tiny room. The comfortable chair behind it, and the other comfortable chair in front of it in case she had a visitor, both of them looking like they've been squeezed into their respective locations, possibly with the help of a crowbar. The corkboard on the walls--Nora's "filing cabinet", as she calls it--taking up all of the wall space it can manage. The laptop, ludicrously small on such a large desk, with a couple of stickers on it that you recognize as niche sci-fi properties, many of them having nothing to them beyond a short TV series or paperback book. Your sister, Nora, bending over the laptop, typing away furiously as if the idea in her head has to be forced out as quickly as possible. Yes, it all seems familiar.

You don't remember quite this much paper, though.

The corkboard is practically sagging with the amount of paper on it, with printed and written and scrawled words and diagrams all over them. The desk is a landscape of paper, mountains and valleys rising and falling across its surface, spilling over the edge in a cascade of white and black. Both of the chairs are mounded with papers, stapled and bound together and in looseleaf pages. Your entrance kicks up a wind, and paper floats into the air, simulating a snowstorm before your eyes--wait.

Your sister.

Nora looks up at you in the entrance, blinking for a moment, her brow furrowed still in thought. Then she smiles. "Oh, Remy! You got my message... I sent a message, right? Whatever. Come in, quick, and close the door; I'm starting to feel hungry." She gestures somewhat hopelessly at the second chair, blinking again in seeming surprise. "Take a... hm. Um... I didn't think I put anything there... Squeeze in anyway, if you can! We can move things, but there's an order--we'll figure it out!"

[Ridai]

Museum Black Box

Just the entire situation is catching Remy off-guard, and he already has a hard time keeping it together given he finally found Nora. It doesn't... seem like she is aware of how much time passed? But their surroundings, all those mental blocks, just-

"What... what is happening, Nora? I-is something holding you here?" He drops the Nope guise, since she can easily see through it, apparently? He has already closed the door. "You've been gone for over two months." Voice shaky, eyes stinging. He can barely think straight, wound up with worry and confusion and everything feeling off.

[Zelphas]

Museum Black Box

Closing the museum office door is almost as strange as opening it. All sound from outside of the room abruptly ceases, and the air becomes utterly still. You feel slightly more pressure against your body than normal from the air, like the molecules are trying to stay in place and need slightly more effort to push aside.

And on top of all of this, you can feel... it's difficult to explain. It's like the mental pressure that you felt that made it difficult to remember this door, this room, has suddenly inverted. You haven't forgot about the outside world, your friends and family, the urgent business you're working on; it's just become suddenly harder to bring to mind, harder to make important.

"Two..." Nora freezes, her mouth forming a small 'o' of surprise at your statement. "Well, that's one theory shot; I had been certain that the anomalous effects meant that time was both accelerated and stopped within this liminal space, but if time has been passing normally on both sides, then..." She dives into the papers and begins rifling through them, muttering to herself, but looks back up at you and smiles after a moment.

"Well, too late to change that, though I am sorry to disappear all of the sudden. The museum must be going crazy. And mom... well, she may not talk to me for weeks, but that's fairly normal, isn't it?" She shrugs, moving back to the chair and lifting all of the papers off of it. "Here, sit down, sit down. Two months! I've been busy, as you can see, but you're the guest! Is everything all right? How are things going with video editing?" Nora sets down the papers and makes an effort to focus on you, waiting expectantly.

[Ridai]

The moment Remy feels the effects of closing the door, he immediately opens it again. "Things are... things are not well. Okay, listen, we need to get out of here right now. This place, it... somehow made everyone forget it exists. I tried to go here to look for you, after you sent your message. I stepped in here, and the next thing I remember is that I was stuck in a Proxy Suit. Then it took me over two months to even remember where the door is, hell there is a ring of dust around it outside, so I don't think anyone else remembers either. The moment I closed to door, it instead tried to make me forget everything on the outside. I don't know why this is happening. But we need to go before it makes us forget again."

Remy walks around the desk, taking Nora's hand.

[Abracadangit]

[REDACTED]

"So it is possible to remove space, and even time," Kal says, after listening to Nope's explanation. "In a way, I envy that you have such power -- but in another way, I don't know if I could truly enjoy it. The thread has Ariadne's will, her ideas, her notions of the world, spun into every strand. It can accomplish much, but certainly not everything. Your gift..." She pauses. "You are something like a demigod, if there is no limit to what you can remove. I know that does not bring you any comfort, but you should take some measure of solace, in knowing that the world is a better place for this power living in your hands, then one of our many enemies."

Suddenly, a great quantity of red spins itself over Kal, effectively coating her in a second, shifting skin of crimson thread. Her eyes turn into dots of scarlet light, as she (though it appears to be Ariadne, now) looks Nope straight in the eye.

"Your problem is not one of control, nor is it of one of training," Ariadne says, her voice reverberating eerily through the thread, like the echo of a thousand violin strings in unison. "It is one of fear. You fear your power, so it will shrink from your hand, including when you need it most. You must learn to banish this fear. Perhaps you might try 'removing' it with your magic, hnn, hnn, hnn."

A moment later, the red thread dissipates, and Kal stands there once more, in her usual Ariadne garb.

"Ariadne has a flair for perceiving very difficult emotional matters as quite simple, you'll have to forgive her," Kal says, aplogetically. "If there's ever anything we can do to help, please let us know."

[Zelphas]

Museum Black Box

Nora blinks at you, seeming to be struck by something. Then, oddly she smiles. "Forgetfulness!" she says triumphantly. "That's what this is! I was trying to figure out how something of the size and dimensions of an entire room, no matter how small, could have been excised from reality while still maintaining a tangible link to the rest of the world via the doorway, but it wasn't excised! It was forgotten! Amazing! And horrifying," she says, sobering suddenly. "I mean, that seems to suggest that the metaphysical concepts of time and space have the ability to 'remember' and 'forget' things, which implies consciousness, and possibly will--but this is all theoretical--"

Nora shakes herself, glancing ruefully at the open door. "...Okay, I have been here too long. But!" She takes her hand from you, and looks you in the eye. "Remy, you say I've been gone for two months. I've been here the whole time. I haven't eaten anything. I haven't slept at all. I should get out--now that you've pointed out the forgetting, I think that the forgetfulness of this room may have an inverse effect when you're inside of it, making you mostly forget the outside world and, due to the enclosed space and obvious irregularity, hyperfocus on the inside of the room and unraveling its character, which is a fascinating wrinkle and sheds light on several--case in point." Nora breathes in and out carefully, looking again at the open door. "Remy, when I leave... how fast will reality 'remember' me? Will it 'remember' that I haven't had anything to eat or drink and haven't slept in far too long?"

[Ridai]

[REDACTED]

Being called a demigod really just further deflates Remy.

Remy gives Ariadne-Ariadne a long, tired look and and even longer sigh. "If you, being a thousands of years old goddess or something, actually know how my powers work, please tell me everything you know. Please don't just talk **** and tell me how I already know I feel. If there's other gods around you can ask, please do go and ask."

As for Kal-Ariadne, Remy just... just ignores commenting on Ariadne-Ariadne and says "Will do, but don't really know what to ask for. Part of me hopes to stumble on some magical safe space to actually work on stuff without deleting or lobotomizing myself or someone else. Or maybe stumble on some sort of made-up fantasy manual that just so happens to line up with how all this crap works because of collective unconsciousness, if that's actually what it is. Just anything, really. Short of getting put into a Proxy Suit again."

------------------------

Museum Black Box

Remy looks to the door as well, then just at the wall to look at neither the wall or Nora. "I don't know. I don't know how any of this **** works. Or what Proxy has to do with this or why I can delete things or what the Proxy Suit pushed me down into or what this room is or why you are being held here or anything." There is just so much frustration inside and pouring out. Universe just slapping whatever progress he hoped to make back out of his hands.

"I could try to remove your need to eat, drink, and sleep. But I don't know if it would work permanently or temporarily, or if it would remove your internal organs, or if the universe has failsafes or gotchas or something and I have no way to test all this ****." Just more black boxes within black boxes. Every test amounting to open heart surgery.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily listened quietly as Remy explained what he had figured out about his powers. Her lips twitched when he said he mainly attacked by removing his enemy's "hit points" directly, although she was too busy considering the ramifications of it to show much more amusement than that. In principle, that suggested he should be able to conceptualize other things in RPG terminology and remove them. Remove "levels" to generally weaken an enemy, or "ability scores" to diminish them in some particular physical or mental capacity. Maybe.

Before she could follow that train of thought too far, he dropped the bombshell about how he was teleporting them. She kinda blinked at him a couple times. She had been wondering what he had actually been "removing" to accomplish that; removing time and then physically dragging them wherever they were going hadn't made her list. Remy had used his teleportation often enough that she had just assumed it was more convenient than that, given the three of them all had access to pretty fast flight.

Ariadne got another blink when she spoke up. Lily was aware of the spiritual being's existence, but she hadn't realized she could just talk through Kal like that. Huh. As far as her theory, that it was just that Remy was afraid of using his powers...

"I'm speculating here, but going off his description, it doesn't sound like the difficulty is emotional. It sounds like it's more a matter of...interface, if that makes sense. Like..." she looked to Nope, addressing him more directly. "I'm guessing there's some concrete mechanical thing your powers are doing, on some base level of reality. But your only interface for directing them is conscious intention. If your intention is being kinda translated as best your powers - or maybe just your brain - can into whatever actual process your powers use, that might explain why their results are so...finnicky. And why it works better for things you've practiced, kinda like muscle memory. Sort of. Maybe."

[Zelphas]

Museum Black Box

Nora looked at you for a long moment, then her jaw firmed. You recognize this look; Nora has made a Decision, and you aren't going to talk her out of it.

"Let's hold off on... removing... my needs. I won't be able to taste my horrible tea. Speaking of," With a firm smile, Nora takes your arm and guides you over to the comfortable guest chair, grabbing the stack of papers on it and tossing them to the side with a complete disregard for their order or readability. "Sit down." This isn't a question.

Once you are seated, Nora goes over to the back of her desk again and pulls open the bottom drawer. She sticks her hand... then her arm... then her elbow... into the drawer, until she is bent over it with her arm up to the shoulder hidden inside. "I haven't tried this, but... perfect!" Straightening, Nora pulls out... a novelty electric kettle in the shape of an unfortunately weird looking fish, the contents sloshing about as she lifts it. "Discontinued three years ago, no buyers... and inside, water from a well in a sealed cave somewhere in the Alps. This makes so much more sense when in the context of forgetfulness." Opening the top of the fish's head, Nora sniffs experimentally, then nods. "Yup, smells like water. Okay." Turning away for a moment, Nora aggressively clears paper out of her way until she finds an outlet. She plugs in the electric kettle, and a little light turns on in front of the fish, followed soon after by bubbling water and the hiss of steam. Nora blinks. "From cold to boiling... maybe you forget the in-between most often? Not important. Good, no waiting!"

Humming tunelessly, Nora turns a deaf ear to any comments, pulling out two old mugs and a battered box containing three dreaded letters: TEA, printed in block format on a brown surface that always looked dusty. Underneath the TEA is an incongruously green, cartoon leaf with a smiley face. Nora found this tea in a tiny little market somewhere in Forester's Bay two years ago. She bought it, drank it, declared it the worst tea ever, and stocked up on it; it is exclusively what she offers to guests in her office.

Nora quickly makes two cups of TEA and hands one to you, taking the other one herself. Perching on the edge of her desk in front of you, Nora takes a sip, shuddering at the taste, and then fixes you with a level stare. "Now. The door is open, and even if I forget, it looks like you won't. You are going to drink my horrible tea, and you are going to tell me about what has been happening in the past two months. At some point, you are probably going to cry, which is good; you look like you need it. Only after all of that is done, and you have choked down every drop of tea in your mug, will we talk about what we are going to do next. Because, little brother, you look like you are trying to hold the world together with two pieces of string and your arm strength, and I'm not going to leave here until I can help you."

[Ridai]

Museum Black Box

When Remy started this whole vigilante thing a few months ago, he was constantly nervous, barely knew what he was doing, and frequently scared. Now, he has reached dangerous approximate knowledge of some parts of what he can do, still does not know much about what is going on, and the constant fear of death is partially buried under just how tired he feels. Nora sees he has lost a lot of weight and at this trajectory is approaching the unhealthy side of things, and he looks physically, mentally, and emotionally worn-out. He does his best to take solace in having that familiar cup of awful "TEA" and seeing his sister again, despite the frustrating, positively maddening circumstances of it all. It wasn't what he'd hoped for.

"Dome's still up. League's still ruling the city. Was put into a Proxy Suit. Didn't quite work like it was supposed to. Something happened to me. Can remove things now with my brain, but it's... hard to do, often dangerous... terrifying. Living with Uncle Bruno. He's doing well. Met other people with powers. Been trying to stop the League. Making some progress. Been in a lot of fights. League minions, ghosts and such trying to kill us. Came very close at times." he takes another sip. A surprisingly big one, despite how awful and sense-flaying the beverage is. Maybe because of that. Burn some sort of big sensory impression into the subconscious part of his brain, better at remembering smells and tastes than sights and sounds anyway. His brain remembers the paralyzing smell of the Wastes well. Undead flesh of zombies and rotting insects. Biological war crimes of Manchineel's lot.

"People are afraid of me by now. Removed the city's insect population on accident when a teammate was close to dying. Watcher had to replace it. No food for the people for three days. Ghosts are real around Babblebrook. Spent I think by now weeks in subjective time to travel and transport people. People-possessing parasite came out of the place the Proxy Suit pushed me into. Defeating Bronze Links tortures Silver Links. Nightmares every night. No stray thoughts when I attack or someone might not exist anymore. Having to keep from a little girl that her uncle tried to kill her dad, who's now one of Manchineel's menagerie." He knows he is rambling nigh incoherently. Eyes staring into his cup, thumbs going back and forth on the rim, ceaselessly.

"Dad's now a Silver Link. Greed. Had to fight him some weeks ago. Mom is leading one of Apophis' sub-cults. Yellow cult. Mouthpiece. Had to fight her too. Saw and heard her scream from acid and thorns." Remy would like to smash the mug against his own head. Decides against the intrusive thought, since it wouldn't accomplish anything. Hands tighten painfully around the cup. "Searched every room of every museum every week." Wouldn't accomplish anything. Remy's torso bending forward and over, tiredness mixing with angry energy going nowhere, clutching the cup. Intrusive thought to scream. Wouldn't accomplish anything. Drink. "More people like me. Weird SCP ****. No answers-" Words fail, replaced with restrained grunts pressing through clenched teeth, tears pressing out of the corners of the eyes. Anger and despair are the enemy, they are too ready to do something, no matter what, how, why, and for what. The big freeing outpour is the danger. The powers never sleep. Ready to wrench open the connection to the ocean of minds. The emotions are starting to physically hurt as Remy has to vent them agonizingly slowly, unsatisfyingly, and only partially.

It takes time for Remy to get through his recollection. He downs a second cup of TEA. He is feeling raw and hurting all over. But there were no words about stopping, running. That, too would not accomplish anything. Some part of Remy wonders how pathetic he might look right now. There is also the sense of just keeping on going forward. No thinking where it might lead in the end. That part will matter only if he reaches that point.

"What do we do now? Do you know anything about how you ended up in this place, about who did this?" Just keep going. Found Nora. Need to free Nora.

[Zelphas]

Museum Black Box

Nora listens to your entire rambling explanation, sipping her tea without a change in expression for the taste. After the first sip, she gets used to it, it seems. Once, she starts forward slightly, but you master the urge before she has to intervene, and she settles back. Once you ask your question, Nora sips her tea in silence, letting it stretch for a long moment. "First things first," she says finally, "let's get your priorities in order. I'm not what you need to focus on right now."

She looks at you, one side of her mouth quirked up in a grin. "Let's be clear, bro, I'm glad you found me. It's good that door's open right now. I'm going to need to leave from here. However! No matter how crazy your powers are, you've gone full-on superhero, and what happens to older sisters of superheroes who learn about their little brother's powers?" She shakes her head, taking another long sip. "I'm not interested in adding more to your plate, and two months is already long enough in here that more time isn't going to change much. Plus, there's more I can learn here--though if that was all that was keeping me here, I'd agree that you should get me out despite that. I'm not Mom." She shakes her head again. "Lord, Mom, what are you doing...

"Anyway." Nora gives you another Look over the rim of her mug. "To answer your second question first, I don't think anyone did this to me. Well, I don't think anyone did anything to me at all, but I don't think any of the League did anything to this room. There was an artifact, something that had been acting iffy since the Dome came up. I was the only one who noticed in the mess, so I brought it here to take a look... and I misplaced it." She looks away sheepishly. "I was trying to find it, annoyed that I had somehow forgotten where it was in this little room, when I opened up my bottom drawer and it had gone full Mary Poppins on me. Or Doctor Who? Not important. I sent you a message to take a look, then started noticing other weirdness, and documenting it, and..." She waves a hand at the mess of her office, the papers scattered everywhere. Outside the door, a museum curator walks down the hall, never even pausing to look through into the office.

"As for what we're going to do... first of all, you're going to find out if you can sleep in this room. Then, after about eight hours have passed--yes, with the nightmares, we'll work through it--you're going to go to the nearest food place and buy real food--you can still find real food, right? Then you're going to come back, and we're going to eat all of it. After that, we'll take our next steps." She smiles at you, the set of her jaw telling you that she's not interested in arguing (not that that's necessarily stopped you before). "Oh, don't forget to let Uncle Bruno know you're all right. I don't think your powers work well here--everything in this place is already removed from reality one way or another--and the League won't bother it."

[Ridai]

Remy is just entirely too tired to argue. To bring up if being the sister of a "superhero" is going to kill her, he will never be able to get her out of this room. That he does very much wants to focus on getting her out of this place. His life is tiny incremental little steps towards goals he can't even really see. So having found Nora will have to be enough.

He just wordlessly, slowly nods. Gets up. Walks around the table. Hugs Nora. Walks back around. Lies on the floor. Lets whatever time pass until he falls asleep or the eight hours pass. Could be minutes, could be hours. Same as outside the room, really.

[Zelphas]

Museum Black Box

Whether sleep in the strange timelessness inside Nora's office is restful or not, only Remy can say for sure. One thing is true, however: any dreams are forgotten upon awakening, with neither memory nor effect making their way into the waking world.

When you wake up and grab something appropriately unhealthy and filling from a nearby food place (the prices are higher than they should be, hooray for the Dome), Nora gives you another hug and moves back to her desk, which is remarkably more organized (though still piled with more paper than seems possible). "Again, not adding to your plate, but I have a theory based on the idea that this place is 'forgotten' rather than separated. It seems to be connected to other 'forgotten' things, which explains the drawer, and why all the food is bad when I try to get some. But, if it's connected... there might be more places like this. Either in the Dome... or beyond it." She holds up her hands. "Escaping the Dome's still a pipe dream at the moment--if two months out there with it haven't changed much, then there's not much I'll do in here--but finding other places like this one in the city or around it might let me move from place to place and get me on my way. There's an element of... I don't know what to call it. Thematic overlap? Something like that, in the connections here. It doesn't take much to go from a forgotten product to a forgotten idea for a product, and then to just an idea, for example."

Nora shuffles the paper on her desk, threatening a pressed-wood avalanche. "If I'm on the right track, I might be able to grab something from the drawer that can help locate places like this. The things I grab seem to be disconnected from regular time, which is why I was going down that route for... good grief, months, before you came by. What do you think? Should I give it a try?"

[Ridai]

"Might as well. Just... just look out for anything Proxy or... whatever else might be in these places. Proxy studies stuff, but I still have no idea to what end." Better than doing nothing at this point. "Maybe you can find some forgotten thing to defend yourself with." Spoken like the guy who has been living in mortal danger for months. He wants to say "please be careful", but that feels like insulting Nora's intelligence, and he would be repeating himself.

"Probably should get going. We might fight Manchineel soon. I'll come by as often as I can." Remy doesn't sound all that enthused, what with the danger of forgetting this place and Nora again, and throwing himself back into the maw of playing hero. And possibly facing off with Manchineel in a few weeks. Perhaps it's a personal failing that he doesn't seem to get used to all this. But someone's gotta do it. He gives Nora another hug. "Love you, sis."

[Dorni]

Chance or Fate

"I have faith you'll be able to contain it. But for now you can return as well. The danger is past, and I have things to discuss with the creature's summoner." Not his cousin. He trusted Iala Sithe. But in the short time he'd contracted the familiar, he'd learned the fey saw the world through a much different lens. For the moment it was safer for to err on the side of Iala being unable to misvalue information he didn't have. He hoped. He could have banished Iala, but instead he gave the sidhe a moment to return on his own.

Which left him facing Sara. "So..." He reached a hand off to one side towards the ground and made a slight lifting motion. He was self-aware enough about it to find it odd - manipulating aether was a mental exercise, not a physical one, so the gesture wasn't actually necessary. But something about it felt right, and that made it easier. And besides, what he was doing wasn't really a weaving a spell. He drew moisture up from the ground in an area around them, forming a floating ball of water.

Then he floated the ball to Sara in a quiet offer for her to try and wash the smell away. "I see you've made some interesting friends. Could you tell me more about them?"

Using Cantrips for the water ball here.

[Zelphas]

Museum Black Box

"Wait, Remy--I'm not going to be going out and looking! One second." Nora opens up the bottom drawer and reaches into it for quite some time, grasping and grabbing. She even sticks her head in a moment to "look", immediately pulling back her head. "Can't see a thing. Obviously." After several more seconds, Nora pulls back her hand, bringing out some sort of handheld device. It looks something like a game controller with a TV screen mounted on the front, though it lacks any buttons of any sort. The TV screen is currently lit up with a bright, cool blue gleam.

"A lost thing for finding lost things... was this just an idea? Fascinating! Okay." Nora jumps up from her seat, rushing over to you and slapping the device into your hands. "The range isn't huge, but it'll glow up with blue pinpricks when something lost is nearby. It's all blue right now because, well, everything here is 'lost', I guess? So if you look for big clumps of 'lost' things, then... you'll find another door! Probably! And..." her hands shake just a bit as she makes sure your grip is steady on the device. "...If you have any difficulty with remembering, you'll have this thing, you know? And you'll have to wonder what it is, and how you got at, and... that should help you remember. You know, if needed!"

The Downtime Nora, Where'd You Go? has expanded!

Chance or Fate?

"I think you may know as much as me," Sarah says thickly, accepting the water ball and trying to practically blow her nose in it. On your shoulder, Iala Sith disappears in a frosty gale, leaving your ear numb. "That--whatever--was new, I've never even seen it before. I've gotten the zombies once or twice, but they aren't very happy about being woken up; mostly, they just complain like old grandparents, and then turn to dust. I was mostly expecting to run into one of the bat-things." She sketches out a shape with her hands--taller than you, with big wings and some kind of long, rubbery neck. "They just sort of--fly around, trying to impress me, I think. I don't think they're much smarter than dogs; I was hoping to get one, have it do a trick or two, then send it away, just to show you, but I think the forest changed what came."

Sarah takes a deep breath and immediately grimaces; the smell seems to be lingering, even after washing her nose as much as she could. "A-Anyways, I can call these things to me. And they act like I'm... they seem to like me. But I don't know what to do with or about them. So... yeah."

The Downtime Relationship Building (Sarah Garrett) has expanded!

[Ridai]

Museum Black Box

Remy raises his eyebrows as he takes the device. His inner gamer is well-versed in this sort of thing. "Definitely gonna use this, thanks. Although," he raises a finger as an idea arrives. Might as well go about this in a more pragmatic way. He grabs a permanent marker from the table and on front surface he doesn't grip with his hands or where the screen is, he writes "Important!" then an arrow pointing to the backside, where he makes a small note: "Finds close Nora doors"

"If the note isn't forgotten, that should help too. If it is, well, more... indirect data?" Maybe it might provide some insights? Maybe? "I'll look wherever I can. Just might take a while to find more doors since, well, there's a lot of city. But I will be back soon." If... he survives the fights against the League. "Even when I could not remember this door, I never stopped looking for you. And I will not stop looking now."