Silly Plots 4: It's not particularly silly, is it?

[Recaiden]

"Nothin'. Guess that just means 'faster than I can notice', could be some hard-ta-detect energy."
Honeysuckle does finally put her down by the mirror, and then turn aside a bit.
"Maybe like, a pipe, no, a conveyor, right? Every moment drops a 'Jade' into the physical world, but the magic 'll signal to start sending fox-Jades down the line instead."
If it's really that simple, Honeysuckle should be able to do the same, right?

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

Jade shakes her head. That doesn't make any sense. Maybe she has a counter suggestion? "Or maybe it convinces reality that I was always a fox?" She remembers being a human, so that doesn't hold much water. But it's an idea. "Now you try. It's not that hard. I did it by accident." Well, not quite. She was thinking about the suggestion to try imagining herself as a fox when it happened.

[Rebonack]

[Enchanted Forest]

"I think so?" Melissa replies hesitantly. "I haven't been a cat very long and I haven't had to run yet."

Actually she has.

It's been several years since she got trapped in the forest but time is weird there sometimes.

Another piercing caw trickles through the glade like oil from a broken lamp. Brambles studded with rotting blackberries begin creeping across the ground, coiling over rocks and trees, choking the air with a sickly sweet scent.

This is definitely spooky.

Melissa is looking uneasy. She's trying to figure out what's going on here. She's got some idea, but this is mostly baked-in faerie knowledge and trying to sift through it is weird.

"Something else came in here with you, right?" Melissa asks again. "Do you know what it was?"

Did Adir know what he invited into his dream?

[5a Violista]

[Blind Date]

June is also a little disappointed when the baseball disappears. If you're going to make it disappear right after bringing it out, why even bring it in the first place? Unless it's really just a temporary thing, and 'temporary' is code for 'very temporary'.

"Well, what other kinds of stuff can you temporarily have?" June decides to ask. If they're not going to do anything with the ball, might as well just continue talking. "And how did you make it temporary, anyway?"

At least this is an interesting thing that June's curious to know about. June's still at the point where all magic is interesting, and this seems to be some kind of magic.

[Murkus]

[Enchanted Forest]

"I-- I don't really know. It looked like a big, ugly crow. That's all I could see," Adir says tersely, extracting a weapon from one of the sling-holsters on his back. He keeps the barrel low for now. Cassie's voice is piercing. He wants so badly to take her away from here. "I guess there's nowhere to go but... back the way I came," he decides, taking a few cautious steps forward, tensed into a partial crouch.

[Zefir]

[The Underground]

"The state of the ship is now known to us." Spike says, puzzled for a few moments.

"Ah. You are disturbed to see it so damaged?"
Mia's company will start to lead the way back out.
"Tell any of us, when it is convenient. They will be remembered."

[The Underground]

"It's best to get here as soon as possible. Just the engine is something that we should look after and with something roaming around it is dangerouse." Mia says as she follows them.

"Now that you saw it as well, do you know what you plan with it? Maybe use it as a home?"

[Recaiden]

[Temple of Inari]

"Nah, remember you being human, n'm'n reality, right?" Unless other foxes are exempt due to their similarity! How could they know, then?

"Okay, guess just-"
The foxgirl is gone, and instead a black-furred vixen stumbles forward and flops over, rattling the mirror and quite possibly running into Jade, three tails waving about wildly. Her eyes, of course, are closed.

"<rude words>, can't anything, what the- ow, ow!"
"Jade, your hearing right? Mine is all, um..."

To put it mildly, Honeysuckle is disoriented by managing the transformation.

[Blind Date]

Well, if the ball is just going to be rolled across the table, what point is there in it existing? Hardly any point at all.
"Oh, temporarily I can have just about anything." Mei says. "The way is, if you make a Shape with only a little bit of Substance, then you can spin the substance back out of it, or let it diffuse over time, with nearly no work at all."

"You don't do any conjuring then, June?"

[The Underground]

Well, if Mia says to hurry, they can hurry.
"I'll send for workers to clear a path immediately."

Spike shakes their head. "We wouldn't want to live in such a cramped space, surrounded by metal." They could if they had to, obviously, but it's not preferred.
"We still hope to get information from those electronic systems that can be restored. Perhaps the rest will be taken apart?"

[5a Violista]

[Blind Date]

You could alternate between rolling and tossing, of course. Just do whichever seems funner at the time.
...
It's probably a limitation of conjuring. Can only use the object conjured for its intended purpose, he supposes.

"Huh that's pretty neat," Seems like a logical way to do it.

June's head shakes. "Nope, never done any kind of conjuring, or even any other kind of magic," is what June claims.

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

Jade rushes next to Honeysuckle. "Are you okay? That looked like it hurt! No, I can hear fine." She notes the black fur (like Honeysuckle's hair) and three tails, but also that the eyes are closed.
Right! Honeysuckle has a thing with her eyes! Jade feels bad for accidentally making her take the blindfold off.

[Recaiden]

[Temple of Inari]

"Hurt, but, 'be fine. Can't...tell where anything is any more."
The fox hops to her feet and then sits down in a more normal and dignified posture.
"Dizzy. Uh. Where am? What's in front of me?"

[Blind Date]

Rolling more fun than tossing? On this perfectly ordinary table? Unthinkable.

"Oh, thanks." Mei manages.

"Ah, you probably wouldn't have had much time for magic, huh? Did you ever think of learning some, though, eventually?"

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

"You're still in the sanctuary. The mirror is right in front of you, and I'm to your right." Something about this is slightly confusing to Jade. Why would becoming a fox mess with Honeysuckle's perceptions of space? "We can figure this out. How did you tell where things were before?"

[Recaiden]

Honeysuckle turns unsteadily to the left, and carefully opens one eye.
And then quickly shuts it again. Although, nothing seemed to happen.
"Ow! Goddess, how does anyone look at things?" she cries, before catching her breath.
"Just knew. Couldn't see, but feel things at a distance, the weight of them. But not as fox?"

She finally thinks to do the obvious thing and is suddenly near-human again.
"Oh good, good." The foxgirl turns back to Jade.

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

One thought later, Jade is also back to standing on two legs, and shaking her head in disapproval and confusion. "Why did that come so easily, but fire... Not? How did I even do it?" Maybe the time machine will find them some answers, although Jade somewhat doubts it. Magic is weird.

[Recaiden]

"Maybe part of you remembers from before. Or maybe, deep down, you really a fox, so going back easy." Honeysuckle suggests.

As they head out, she muses. "So, my senses come from something in this human body, I guess? That's weird."
The time machine, of course, is kept in HALO.

[5a Violista]

[Blind Date]

Tossing is basic. The only thing you have to worry about, besides muscle activation, is air resistance. (Nevermind that June doesn't actually have any muscles.) But at these speeds, the air resistance is entirely negligible. Everything else is taken care of by gravity. Every variable worth worrying about is completely linear.

Meanwhile, with rolling, there's friction proportional to gravity, as well as the imperfections and angle of the table. Much more complex.

"Yeah, never had a chance to learn it, or anything," June says. "Sure, I'd love to learn but..." Shrug. "To someone who knows nothing, it's hard to tell which learning-sources are legit, and which are a scam."
There's loads of people who claim to teach magic but most of the time it's not worth it unless you already have an 'in'.

[Recaiden]

You can't just gloss over the muscle activation like that and still end up with a fair evaluation. The muscles are a huge part of it!
In any case, June isn't explaining any of this, so Mei will never know.

"Huh, yeah. I could recommend you a wizard, but then how do you know I'm legit?" It's hard enough to suddenly end up in the Nexus in a group; it must be much worse to appear here alone.

"Any other big plans you have?"

[Gullara]

[Enchanted Forest]

"I think so?" Melissa replies hesitantly. "I haven't been a cat very long and I haven't had to run yet."

Actually she has.

It's been several years since she got trapped in the forest but time is weird there sometimes.

Another piercing caw trickles through the glade like oil from a broken lamp. Brambles studded with rotting blackberries begin creeping across the ground, coiling over rocks and trees, choking the air with a sickly sweet scent.

This is definitely spooky.

Melissa is looking uneasy. She's trying to figure out what's going on here. She's got some idea, but this is mostly baked-in faerie knowledge and trying to sift through it is weird.

"Something else came in here with you, right?" Melissa asks again. "Do you know what it was?"

Did Adir know what he invited into his dream?

[Enchanted Forest]

"I-- I don't really know. It looked like a big, ugly crow. That's all I could see," Adir says tersely, extracting a weapon from one of the sling-holsters on his back. He keeps the barrel low for now. Cassie's voice is piercing. He wants so badly to take her away from here. "I guess there's nowhere to go but... back the way I came," he decides, taking a few cautious steps forward, tensed into a partial crouch.

[Enchanted Forest]

Cassie presses her face into her dad's shoulder. She squeezes her eyes closed and grips him tighter. "Daddy..." She whimpers. Only he can make the scariness stop.

[Rebonack]

[Enchanted Forest]

Oh geeze this doesn't look like Adir's dream anymore at all.

It looks like a swamp. A swamp full of those awful brambles everywhere.

With the dream no longer threatening her, Melissa fades into view in typical cheshire cat style. She's a huge black cat with a white patch on her chest, her tail forking about two thirds of the way down. The panther-sized feline looks pretty irritated about being up to her belly in water and mud.

The caw cuts through the air again, though this time there's another sound mixed in.

"Eeeeh heh heh heh... what a lovely, proud father. And finally found Cassie-Cute-As-Puppies. It warms this poor old woman's heart," comes a croaking, crow-like voice.

Melissa bristles even more.

"It's a hag," she hisses. It sounds like this is a bad thing.

Imagine every child-stealing witch, every wicked step mother, every nightmarish old crone from every story you've ever heard, Adir. Imagine them boiled down into their oily essence and then spiked with just a dash of pure terror.

This thing is old in exactly the worst kinds of ways.

The devouring oldness.

The heart-hardening oldness.

The bitter oldness.

The fear that, some day, you might be withered and filled with hate and spite, too.

Casting a quick glance around, Adir is met with several possible avenues of exit. To the left the brambles don't appear quite as thick, but their thorns are long and barbed. To the left the thorns are completely absent, but the bubbling bog grows deep and fetid. Behind stands a tangle of fallen, rotten trees, but the footing is precarious and the log-jam might shift at the slightest touch. And in front of him?

Adir will be able to make out, just scarcely through the brambles, what look like huge black tree trunks with odd bark.

...no

Not trees.

One of them just shifted.

Black crow's legs.

Impossibly large.

[Murkus]

[Enchanted Forest]

Adir doesn't move. Not yet. He takes careful stock of their surroundings, the new terrain, his means of escape. His enemy. He hears the hag and a chilly bolt of fear pierces him, but something fierce and patriarchal rips that feeling free almost instantly. No. He faced things of this sort when he was a boy, and even worse by the time he became a man. He's fought with things that could touch the clouds and rescued demi-gods from demons. With his knife. With his teeth, when need be.

And that was before winter filled him like a ravenous cannibal spirit, only sharpening predatory instincts garnered from his heritage. The father of all the Frescots, you see, is not really a deer. And the antlers are just for show. Now Adir is more like his father than he will ever know, or would even be comfortable admitting. The strength of his will is matched with the might of his body.

Behind his mask, the man, the father and the hunter bears his teeth. The woodsman is here, in the heart of a fairy-tale wood. Right where he belongs. Children need have no fear.

Wolves and monsters, though...

"Did we not have an accord?" He calls. Even with those huge legs showing, he keeps scanning everywhere. He doesn't trust that that's actually the speaker. "Or are you not that little thing I was speaking with?"

[Rebonack]

[Enchanted Forest]

There's a strange struggle in that sensation. Pressing down on Adir, it can not breach his heart.

So it seeks a heart with more fertile soil for the planting of terrors.

It bears down on Ca-

"Remember?" Melissa speaks up as she tries climbing up on top of a slimy, moss slicked stone. "We're playing pretend. You're a detective. What was your pretend name?"

What was her pretend name? Speak that one. Not your realm name. Let the terrors assault the brave persona you created, not your fragile heart.

A feeling of razor sharp spite cuts through the air and Melissa staggers. There's a gash across her flank bleeding moonlight. Seems the Hag doesn't like Melissa reminding Cassie how to protect herself.

"You shut your yap, cat. No one wants to hear a bird-eater like you. Eeeh heh... I have many pretty little birds to be my eyes and ears. But not my mouth," the hag cackles, her voice echoing impossibly among the rotten, soggy trees.

Then she was just using that creature to get to where she wanted to be.

And what does she want?

Nothing wholesome, no doubt.

The trees shift, the mud squelches, the wood splinters and breaks.

And... a nightmare strides into view.

Three huge crow legs, big as trees, suspend a massive black cauldron. And sitting in the cauldron? The most hideous crone Adir could imagine, draped in greasy black feathers. She's huge herself, the size of an ogre, easily.

"You won't run then, hmm? Eh heh... well. Less fun. But I get what I want all the same. Nana Roga always gets what she wants in the end. Eh heh heh heh!"

Then the hag reaches into the cauldron and pulls out...

A ladle?

Made of bone.

That is impossibly enormous.

She heaves the improvised weapon at Adir, the gigantic spoon screaming down toward him like a meteor.

[Gullara]

[Enchanted Forest]

Cassie cracks an eye to look at Melissa. The hags retaliation makes her squeal and close her eyes again. "I'm Blue! My name is Blue!" She insists. Will that help? She doesn't know, but she trusts Melissa.

One moment there's nothing but the bleak environment behind the hag, and then everything surges into motion. Water and mud surge and branches crack and snap as none other than Sarget lunges into the dream. The treant reaches out with his long arms and grips one of the crow legs, grabs hold, and yanks it up and back. "You won't hurt them!" He roars with a fury Adir has never seen before. His children's gentle, ponderous grandfather is transformed utterly. Suddenly all the weight and size is a dangerous weapon.

[Zefir]

[The Underground]

Well, if Mia says to hurry, they can hurry.
"I'll send for workers to clear a path immediately."

Spike shakes their head. "We wouldn't want to live in such a cramped space, surrounded by metal." They could if they had to, obviously, but it's not preferred.
"We still hope to get information from those electronic systems that can be restored. Perhaps the rest will be taken apart?"

[The Underground]

"I can't tell you how long it will be." Mia says. " usually going through datas can be days or months dependend on the amount. I would suggest to leave it here until all datas are cleared. Then we can extract it and rebuild them somewhere you controll. Such a process migth damage the data of course."

She might be able to do someething much faster, but unless needed she won't suggest it. There is a danger at hand, but she assumes it's unlikly to destroy everything.

[5a Violista]

June considers that question. How is 'someone I just met' quantitatively different from 'everyone else'?

"Someone I know a little is more legit than someone I don't," is the explanation. Simplistic explanation, yes, but it's the best explanation June can give for this.

"Big plans..." June laughs, thinking about it. "I've spent so much time just trying to get used to how the Nexus is that I haven't really given much time revisiting my big plans. . .I dunno. To be honest, coming here today was my big and exciting plan. Jeez, I need to fix that." A blind date is pretty exciting and big but definitely not big or exciting enough.

[Murkus]

[Enchanted Forest]

Adir is getting ready to heave himself backwards, out of the way of the ladle, praying he's fast enough to win the day here. A real fight is bad. He can't with Cassie on him. But maybe if he can hamstring the old bitch and get away...

The stag still performs a nimble backwards hop, but it likely proves unnecessary with Sarget crashing into the dream like a peal of righteous thunder. Adir pulls his mask up from his face and grins. "Sarget! Oh my god!" He reaches behind over his shoulder to touch the side of Cassie's head. "Grampa's here to help us too, baby, look!"

He doesn't want to give the hag a chance to recover from the shock of Sarget's attack, whatever the result may be. He waits until he has a clear shot and raises his weapon, a steel mingling of bow and rifle with a cross-shaped apparatus at the tip. When it fires, it looses several heated steel bolts at the target. He tries to turn the monster into a pincushion.

Thankfully for Cassie, this hissing, clicking weapon is not nearly as loud as a gun, but it might still be a little startling.

[Rebonack]

[Enchanted Forest]

First and most importantly?

Cassie will experience something strange. A feeling like long, spidery fingers trying to peel something away from her. Or at least trying.

But...

It can't get a grip.

Because she isn't Cassie.

She's Blue.

And those scary fingers can't get to her. Blue surrounds her like a blanket pulled over her head. The monster can't reach her through it.

Meanwhile!

The leg is grabbed and the massive trundling cauldron stumbles, causing the ladle slam to go wide. It crashes into the swamp, spraying water and mud in a blinding curtain. In spite of the obscuring sheet one of the bolts hits its mark, thudding into the hag and causing the awful creature to let out a bird-like shriek of pain and rage.

Melissa, though wounded, hisses and springs forward! She goes racing through the mire and-

Jumps up onto Sarget? Up his leg, up his back, across his shoulder, and then leaps at the hag! Claws like moonlight and smoke rake the crone across the arm, causing her to drop her ladle, letting it crash into the swamp like a felled tree.

The hag isn't taking all of this sitting down, though. In spite of the injuries she's still a threat. Brambles lash out, seeking to entangle our heroes and drag them down into the mud.

"Oh my pretties," the hag croons as she grabs the bolt, her withered skin sizzling, and pulls it out of her shoulder. "You can't rob Nana Roga of her due."

[Gullara]

[Enchanted Forest]

Cassie has a brief elated moment as she looks up to see her grandpa, but she's soon ducking her head down and screeching in her dad's ear.

The brambles can crawl onto Sarget's legs all they want, but his sturdy bark protects him. He lifts his legs and easily tears away. He secures his grip on the crow leg, grasping with both hands. He tries to drag the hag in closer, and away from his family. "You are due nothing. Leave them."

[Arkhosia]

[Mountain Trip]

"I see it." Calm Reed's stance subtly changes into readiness and alertness. "Let me take a look first." She steps forward with a flashlight and shines it on the object around the corner. "Come now, it appears safe. If odd."

If St. Laz and Fidelia follow Calm Reed around the corner, they will spot the rusty, decaying frame of a security mech. The cheap kind you see in Skyside. Smart enough to bark simple warnings to intruders and accurate enough to shoot straight, but not much beyond that. Whether it had a built-in gun or a hand-held one, it is gone now. There are several holes in it and its face-plate is cracked, but it's hard to tell whether it was destroyed or simply shut down.

"I did not expect to see that here. But perhaps I should have. Something so priceless, discarded. There must be a story here."

It seems the monk is overestimating the value of this mech somewhat. While likely more expensive than anything St. Laz or (especially) Fidelia have owned, it's hardly priceless.

Fidelia moves to rest her hand on St Laz's bicep, gently trying to ease her down as Calm Reed takes point and possibly exchanging a glance with her when the monk sounds the all clear. After the moment she elects to take a step forward and look at the metallic wreckage.

"I- Well, I don't think it's that priceless, but... I do wonder what it's doing out here." The knifefighter tries to take a closer look, peering at the assembly.

[Recaiden]

[The Underground]

"I can't tell you how long it will be." Mia says. " usually going through datas can be days or months dependend on the amount. I would suggest to leave it here until all datas are cleared. Then we can extract it and rebuild them somewhere you controll. Such a process migth damage the data of course."

She might be able to do someething much faster, but unless needed she won't suggest it. There is a danger at hand, but she assumes it's unlikly to destroy everything.

Spike shakes their head (only slightly, mindful of their antennae) "No, we have no location to rebuild electronics, for data or anything else."

Mia is the expert, so, no reason not to follow her advice.

They assume the same, it's unlikely the ship will get any more destroyed. How bad could things go before they excavate a way in and go through the data?

[Blind Date]

June considers that question. How is 'someone I just met' quantitatively different from 'everyone else'?

"Someone I know a little is more legit than someone I don't," is the explanation. Simplistic explanation, yes, but it's the best explanation June can give for this.

"Big plans..." June laughs, thinking about it. "I've spent so much time just trying to get used to how the Nexus is that I haven't really given much time revisiting my big plans. . .I dunno. To be honest, coming here today was my big and exciting plan. Jeez, I need to fix that." A blind date is pretty exciting and big but definitely not big or exciting enough.

"Well, alright. If you <directions>, and just tell them than I sent you, maybe you can learn something."

"It's not easy to do something like this! Approaching someone who could turn out to be anyone."
"I have some plans that are literally big, but really they're just day-to-day work." Mei admits. She also could do with something ambitious and exciting.

[5a Violista]

[Blind Date]

June nods. "Okay." <Directions>. Seems simple enough.

"Some people find approaching random people to be easier than others," June says. June is one of those people, doing it at bus stops and in grocery stores.
"Sounds...big. Not sure if I should call it exciting or not. Though, one of my teachers said the only way to eat an elephant is a bit at a time, so I guess most everything big and exciting have to just be done day-to-day."

Well, it looks like the shakes are done. Hair (and other stuff) is still galaxy-colored. "Ha. Speaking of....I had gotten so used to our hair looking like this that I had stopped noticing it. Looks really good on you, I think." But, even though the shakes are done, there's not really any defined plans after this. The blind date app that planned out this part left what happens afterwards to be a little undefined.

[Murkus]

[Enchanted Forest]

Adir is kept from planting a few more bolts in the hag by the massive, obscuring sprays of dirt and mud that come between them. Even when the ground settles again, the brambles crawl over him. He lets his weapon slump on its strap so he can draw his knife and hack at the crawling arms of the swamp. Unfortunately that's doing a lot to delay him from trying to end the hag. Maybe Melissa and Sarget can handle it?

"Hit her, Sarget! Hard!" Adir cries to his father-in-law. He knows the big tree might hesitate to do anything that could be considered lethal, but with Cassie in harm's way they can't afford to be anything except merciless.