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

[Deathkeeper]

Cliffside Shrine

Oh. Well that's easy enough. "Sounds good. I'll be back with some paint later. Probably without the lace, though." And then he's off.
It's a rather bumpy trip back to town.

[Zefir]

[The Underground]


"Oh, possible easily. They live far longer than ten years. But...it's been ten years. Expected them to move on." This changes things.

No one interrupts Mia as she triages the damaged machines and does what she can.
The bridge is too wrecked to be restored to working order - too many cables cut, memory banks burnt out, and parts simply failing from time.
But she can get various consoles working. The main engine is, allegedly, charging up now. There are maps of the stars charting the course that they took until it ended with a crash in the Nexus. There are lists of the cargo the vessel carried - including a batch of dangerous aliens for study.

[The Underground]

"If their ship can provide all nessesary then i assume some would have stayed." she says.

Mia will try zto stop the loading of the engine. Right now there is no use for it anyway so the life systems and other support systems should be powered. Then she tries to download the data befor turning back to her friend.

"So far I got some things running. I didn't expect this much damaged consoles. I assumed they are unrepairable. If we want to use this ship we might need more people. Mostly enougth to prevent a potentional attack from the original owners."

[Rebonack]

[Enchanted Forest]

"I'm here," says a feline smile hanging in mid-air not too far away. "I didn't want to get caught up in the dream so I'm hiding."

Sure.

That makes sense, right?

What if the dream needs her to be something that isn't a cat? That would be tragic.

"You're really here for real, right?" Melissa asks, her white teeth like moonlight. "Not just dreaming? Do you know the way back out?"

Melissa wasn't completely sure on how to get back out. There's some sort of trick to it, right? Some kind of secret for slipping from the Dreamlands to the Waking World.

It's at about this time that a loud caw echoes across the field of flowers. It grows darker, a chill wind whipping across the hills, the daisies wilting at its touch. A feeling of dread begins coiling at the pit of one's stomach. Melissa is still mostly unseen, but one can almost imagine her bristling. "Something came in here with you," she hisses.

Just that pooka, right?

Some harmless trickster?

So why does the air suddenly taste like metal?

[Lord Magtok]

Mountain Trip

Spoiler

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[Mountain Trip]

It might reassure St. Laz and Fidelia that there aren't any signs of animals living in the cave. Not large ones, anyway.

"We can camp out right near the entrance, so we can see the sky before it is time to sleep." It's odd to think that the night sky is such an unusual sight for them. Large, advanced cities like Skyside seem to blot out the sky, both through sheer size of the buildings and some mechanisms she can't entirely understand. "And yes, I do rather doubt there is anything in here we cannot handle." Herself especially. The monk peers into the cave and steps in. It seems to extend a fair bit into the mountain slope, but not very deep. It widens after a few meters and there seems to be a glint of metal around the corner, when a flashlight is shone there.

Mountain Trip

Fidelia responds with a delighted little exhale as she pictures the outlandish image Saint Laz suggests to her. Between that and Calm Reed's decision on where to set up camp, her spirits certainly seem to rise a little, and her eyebrows raise when she spots the glinting off the flashlight's beam. "Hey, wait a minute - what's that?" Could someone else have taken shelter in here once?

Lazarus has her sword up in an instant, legs shoulder-width apart. It's like someone flicked a switch in her mind, with her casual, nonchalant chatter smothered by the demonic beast that had been lying dormant within. A rush of fear and excitement and hatred and possessiveness surges. Kill the thing in the dark if it dares stand against us. Crush its electronic bones if it mistakes the three girls for prey. Murder it if so much as looks at Fidelia the wrong way.

"Do you see it, Calm Reed?" Lazarus asks, creeping forward slowly, blade held high as she tries to stay out of the flashlight's beam and stay on the flank of the whatever-it-is.

[Morty]

[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.

[5a Violista]

[Blind Date]

Obviously June likes other kinds of music, too, is what would be said if the question was asked. But, June thinks the question was about favorite music and 'favorite' assumes certain implications, probably. Not sure. June finds it difficult to think through an answer without saying it aloud first.

The redhead nods. Yup, musical bows.
"Yeah, I agree. Too much predictibility makes it feel...well, boring."

"Snakes that know what hands are would probably want hands," June asserts. 'Like, um..."

June snaps a couple times trying to remember what the snakes-eith-hands are called. "Like, the other day, I saw one with hands. Didn't ask her what she thought about having hands, but she was using them so she probably appreciated them."

[Recaiden]

[Temple of Inari]

But Jade could balance fine without a tail before. Why wouldn't she be able to now? And what's wrong with human ears?

"I don't know exactly. But I'm an engineer. I'm sure I can figure something out." Jade hopes that sounds reassuring. "If I could only figure out how to measure magic. I'm not even sure how it's supposed to work." Jade never wanted any part of magic. It's always been more of a problem than a help. And now she's stuck with it apparently.

Jade could balance fine. But if she wants truly great balance? To hear things further away? At more pitches? A human body won't cut it.

"Jade, I'm an engineering. Not reassuring." Honeysuckle shakes her head, along with a good-natured laugh. "So can tell you, magic is not like electricity. But maybe kinda like chemistry? Change proportion and arrangement of magic-fire and things happen?"
Hmm. Jade is actually trying to help, isn't she? Classic Jade.
"Should go to the lab, try measure magic, then?" She hops to her feet, a little unsteady, but recovering after a moment.

[The Underground]

"If their ship can provide all nessesary then i assume some would have stayed." she says.

Mia will try zto stop the loading of the engine. Right now there is no use for it anyway so the life systems and other support systems should be powered. Then she tries to download the data befor turning back to her friend.

"So far I got some things running. I didn't expect this much damaged consoles. I assumed they are unrepairable. If we want to use this ship we might need more people. Mostly enougth to prevent a potentional attack from the original owners."

Spike nods along with the report, antennae waving unhappily. Unrepairable, that's disappointing.
"How many people, in your assessment? What abilities will they need?"
They glance nervously in the direction the remnant person is supposed to be in.
"We don't know that any of the original owners are active. But in the Nexus, they could always arrive. We haven't really planned for that."

[Blind Date]

Obviously June likes other kinds of music, too, is what would be said if the question was asked. But, June thinks the question was about favorite music and 'favorite' assumes certain implications, probably. Not sure. June finds it difficult to think through an answer without saying it aloud first.

The redhead nods. Yup, musical bows.
"Yeah, I agree. Too much predictibility makes it feel...well, boring."

"Snakes that know what hands are would probably want hands," June asserts. 'Like, um..."

June snaps a couple times trying to remember what the snakes-eith-hands are called. "Like, the other day, I saw one with hands. Didn't ask her what she thought about having hands, but she was using them so she probably appreciated them."

Mei pushes her empty smoothie glass aside, thoughtful.
"I'm undecided. Most people don't appreciate their paws, or wings, or, say, hands. Correct? So a snake that's always had hands, she might take them for granted as much as we do." We ordinary humans who have hands, that's us.
"Things just get used without thinking them. When did you last pick up things and toss them 'round, simply for fun?"

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

Honeysuckle's an engineer? Jade didn't know. "Not so fast. I don't know how to measure it yet." She has to think about it. "I wonder if it would show up on a brain scan. Or maybe thermal imaging? Is there an organ associated with magic sense?" She's already devising experiments in her head, but she needs to know more first.

[Recaiden]

"The tail, obviously." Honeysuckle can answer that part.
"If it didn't show up on brain scan, means what? Gotta think about magic to do magic, right?"

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

Jade looks at her tail. That seems an odd thing to be the source of magic in her body. But it makes a little sense with some things she did know. "I don't know. If magic doesn't operate by any scientific principles we understand, it might not be tied to brain activity. It could be something more nebulous."

[Recaiden]

"People can magic on purpose. Intend to do magic, and magic happens. Know they're doing magic. Has to have brain activity for that, right?"
Of course, there's also magic that occurs spontaneously, without someone wanting it.
And magic could come from some nebulous thing that causes an intention to use magic. Even an illusory intention that isn't reflected in the actual brain activity. But Honeysuckle hasn't made a jump to that option yet.

[Murkus]

[Enchanted Forest]

"I'm here," says the stag. "And as far as I know, we just have to make it back to the road. I think I have someone who can help." He scans the field. "But I don't know if that's them."

Adir flips open his backpack and partially doffs it. He tries to help his daughter inside. There's room enough for her to fit, even on top of Adir's supplies. "Cassie, I want you to hop in here. You might stick out the top, but I want you to hold onto me. As tight as you can. Okay?" He looks toward the strange cat. "Melissa, just stay close. Can you move quick? We might have to move quick."

[5a Violista]

[Blind Date]

"Yeah, a snake that's always had hands would probably treat it the same as anyone else," June admits. "But, y'know, there is that idiom for a reason, that you don't know what you've longed for, until Ines is dead." Is that an idiom that everybody knows here? No, probably not. Hasn't heard anyone else use it.

Speaking of just using hands for fun, June taps a ring finger on the table.

...
Man, idioms are hard to explain when you're not even sure if the other person knows what you're talking about. "Um. I mean, maybe that's not a saying here, but I"m sure there's other ones that are used here. Like...like...a snake that's always had hands would be able to do so much with hands, but a snake that hasn't always had them but suddenly got them would be able to do everything it could before plus everything the one that has already had hands could do. If...if that makes sense." Probably not. It was a poor explanation, probably.

Anyway, back to just using hands for fun: June thinks about it more and thinks back. "Oh, you're right! It's been almost two weeks since I last just-tossed-things around for fun."

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

"That seems right. But we can't know for sure until we test it." Jade hasn't thought of any of those things either. But she's not sure magic will be that simple to analyze. Either way, she'll need special equipment to do the necessary scanning for those tests.

[Gullara]

[Enchanted Forest]

"I'm here," says a feline smile hanging in mid-air not too far away. "I didn't want to get caught up in the dream so I'm hiding."

Sure.

That makes sense, right?

What if the dream needs her to be something that isn't a cat? That would be tragic.

"You're really here for real, right?" Melissa asks, her white teeth like moonlight. "Not just dreaming? Do you know the way back out?"

Melissa wasn't completely sure on how to get back out. There's some sort of trick to it, right? Some kind of secret for slipping from the Dreamlands to the Waking World.

It's at about this time that a loud caw echoes across the field of flowers. It grows darker, a chill wind whipping across the hills, the daisies wilting at its touch. A feeling of dread begins coiling at the pit of one's stomach. Melissa is still mostly unseen, but one can almost imagine her bristling. "Something came in here with you," she hisses.

Just that pooka, right?

Some harmless trickster?

So why does the air suddenly taste like metal?

[Enchanted Forest]

"I'm here," says the stag. "And as far as I know, we just have to make it back to the road. I think I have someone who can help." He scans the field. "But I don't know if that's them."

Adir flips open his backpack partially doffs it. He tries to help his daughter inside. There's room enough for her to fit, even on top of Adir's supplies. "Cassie, I want you to hop in here. You might stick out the top, but I want you to hold onto me. As tight as you can. Okay?" He looks toward the strange cat. "Melissa, just stay close. Can you move quick? We might have to move quick."

[Enchanted Forest]

Cassie won't hesitate for a second. She let's Adir help her inside. When she's secure on his back, she wraps her arms around his neck. "Please hurry, daddy. I wanna go home."

[Recaiden]

[Temple of Inari]

"I dunno anything about how do a brain scan. You?"
Actually, Honeysuckle would be fairly surprised if Jade knew anything about brain scans. That's for brain surgeons to know, and maybe psychics, and that's about it.

"Thermal seems pretty safe bet, for fire magic."
"Oh, can ya turn into a fox?" she thinks to ask.

"Haven't had lessons on it yet, but like, everyone's supposed to be able to, yeah?"

[Blind Date]

"Is Ines dead? I've not heard of an Ines in a while..."

That gets Mei to laugh, at least. "Like a snake combined with a snake with hands, now that is a saying that anyone could understand."

"And that - not even two weeks, that is a pretty good record. Most people, it's been a rather large duration."
"Say-"
With that, she reaches a hand under the table, and brings up a baseball, which she tosses lazily to June. Though she didn't seem to have a baseball when she entered the smoothie shop.

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

"I could operate an MRI, but I wouldn't be able to read the output. We'd need a specialist for that." Jade's taken off guard by Honeysuckle's next question though. "I'm supposed to be able to do that? I've never tried." But she's dreamed about being a fox, so clearly it felt almost real. She can almost feel the soft earth beneath her paws and the breeze in her fur.

[Zefir]

[The Underground]


Spike nods along with the report, antennae waving unhappily. Unrepairable, that's disappointing.
"How many people, in your assessment? What abilities will they need?"
They glance nervously in the direction the remnant person is supposed to be in.
"We don't know that any of the original owners are active. But in the Nexus, they could always arrive. We haven't really planned for that."

[The Underground]

I think he missunderstood. It's more like she expected there is more unrepairable. She just doesn't have enougth material with her to fix everything.

"From what I know, we might be good with a dozen people. More will allways be better. Some should be able to do guard duty and others with skills to repair or at least work on stuff. With the ships systems on our side we can organize the guarding from here. On top we might need some constructino workers to get an easy path down here." Mia says. "Let me try something."

Mia will then attemp to reprogramm the System or in a more specific way she will attemp to change passwords, Pins etc. Kinda making it harder for the original owner to axxess anything when they have to leave.

[5a Violista]

[Blind Date]

"It may be one that anyone would understand, but not everyone has heard of it yet," June says, also deciding to laugh a little.

June looks at the baseball.
And catches it.
"Do you just hide a baseball on you all the time?" The alternative is that it was brought specifically in case the blind date went bad, which is a little odd to think about.

The redhead rolls the ball between hands, and then rolls it over the table at Mei.

[Recaiden]

[Temple of Inari]

Honeysuckle nods.
"So, without a specialist, can we-"

"Oh, yeah. Seems way the more impossible than starting a fire, right?"

[The Underground]

"We could bring guards. And perhaps dig better access to this site. The rest is more difficult."
Reprogramming the system takes time, but should be possible. Locks changed, passwords reset, everyone else locked out.
"You have done enough to help here."

[Blind Date]

"No, that would be silly. You hardly ever need a baseball."
When it's rolled back across the table to her, Mei taps the baseball and it disappears, a look of disappointment on her face.
"It was just temporary."

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

"It's a clear violation of conservation of mass." Jade agrees. Creating fire at least makes some level of sense, if you're transferring energy from one place to another. Changing a person into a different, much smaller, shape doesn't make any kind of logical sense. "Where does the rest of you go?" She muses aloud.

[Zefir]

[The Underground]

"We could bring guards. And perhaps dig better access to this site. The rest is more difficult."
Reprogramming the system takes time, but should be possible. Locks changed, passwords reset, everyone else locked out.
"You have done enough to help here."

[The Underground]

"Enougth?" she replies while working on her task. Then shakes the head. "It may look like it, but leaving so much injured and lost here feels like Ihave done to less. I didn't expect this level of surviver. From my knowledge it's a miracle that there is so much still there. Taking into account the shhip broke in the middle."

When she is done she turns to her company.

"Done. I give you the passwords later, now we should go. I switched most systems to sleep if they aren't nessasary right now."

[Recaiden]

[Temple of Inari]

"Well, the rest of most everything is just, agreement between electric forces, really." Honeysuckle says, shrugging.
"The human body must still there, behind, or within, whatever ya look like, right? Or how could go back? Or even think?

[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."

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

Magic. Ugh. "I don't know? A fox is less massive than a human, so where does all the extra mass end up? How does someone adapt to walking on four feet? All this magic stuff makes no sense to me." Jade emphasizes her point by gesturing frustratedly with both her hands and her tail, although she doesn't really notice the latter. It just does its own thing.

[Recaiden]

"Well, why not try turning to a fox? And I'll watch the mass."
It would be much easier to study if they had someone who knew how to change shape at hand to help in their observations.
But they can at least try.

"Four legs, I think simply know. Maybe like learning how to swim, though."
It's probably easier if you can grow up learning it, rather than having it thrust upon you after some magical weirdness all of a sudden.

"Oh, should check the time machine about it. C'mon." And with that idea occurring to her, Honeysuckle saunters off towards the entrance.

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

"I can't just do that! I've never been a fox, I don't know how! I can't just picture myself on four paws and make it happen." Jade has been a fox, but that memory has been lost when the Kumiho was expelled from her, except for a few fragments. If she knew more about how to do it, she could maybe do it again, but she doesn't know. "Time machine?" They're going from one impossibility to another, it seems. At least time machines seem slightly more possible than shapeshifting.

[Recaiden]

[Temple of Inari]

"Yeah, remember? I got it all set up in the lab now which probably necessary to stabilize timestreams, but actually pretty annoying short-term."
"Was thinking, future, might be easier to get the info about magic from a 3rd party, right?"
Honeysuckle pauses and shakes her head.
"Oh, that part of the stuff you forgot with all this fox stuff?"

"Hmm, could imagine already being a fox, and then try to something?"

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

"Oh, right. The pot!" Jade didn't really think of that as a machine, although it definitely traveled through time. "Future sounds good, I think." To the idea of just imagining being a fox, Jade scoffs a little. "That doesn't make any sense. How could imagining it change my body? It's not like I'm suddenly quadrupedal suddenly because I think about it" ... Jade suddenly stops. When did Honeysuckle get so tall? Actually, everything seems to be so much bigger. And... "Dammit. I'm a fox now, aren't I." She is a fluffy red fox. She bends awkwardly to try to look herself over. "This is really weird."

[Recaiden]

"Yeah, the pots. 's a whole system-"
Honeysuckle laughs, and tries to pick up the fluffy red fox, and carry her inside to one of the sanctuary's mirrors.
"Was all sudden. Human gone, fox here. Mass decreased. Didn't even disturb the air, which, that's even weirder, isn't it?"

[bc56]

Temple of Inari

"That's it? No air displacement, no transfer of energy, nothing?" Jade looks very annoyed at this. "How is that even... Hey! Put me down!" Jade is grabbed and carried into the sanctuary. She looks at her reflection perplexedly. "That's me?" Yes, it's you, Jade. You make a pretty fox. She squirms a little for a better look. "But how?"