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Post by Jay on Nov 9, 2017 0:52:58 GMT
"Day Seven, Genesis or something." I lived for the moments when things fit together. I must have spent a while in this place, working hard on the various parts of the studies given to me. The books, once originally a problem, became easy after my third read through each. Thank god for speed reading, as it had taken me a good portion of about an hour each read through. The three days following the day I got here, it was all reading and notation. Three hours of reading through the text three times, then about fourteen hours of practice. Seventeen full hours of work for three days, leaving me around seven to myself. I spent that time sleeping. Well... I spent four of them, anyways. The other three were spent examining things. In short, I very, very rarely interacted with anyone. The only time was when one of the sun servants walked in to make sure I was still breathing... and to remind me to shower. That was pretty important, yes. By day six, nearing the end of the first week, I had asked that same servant for another book. They seemed... surprised? Yes, dude, a mortal girl didn't find your sun people textbooks all that frightening. Funny world we live in. Well, no, that was a lie, each of the texts were extremely high-brow. It'd be damn near infernal to anyone who didn't spend their life messing with equations. The one time I was happy that my mom drilled me on my education, honestly. Anyways, the next few books were a bit harder to digest, as expected, but I had enough of a grasp of the things given to me to follow along with my own things. I'd gotten a lot of insight into what was wrong with half the crap I used. Namely, there wasn't anything wrong, but that a lot of it was vastly inferior to half the shit I'd be dealing with on my missions. Almost made me embarrassed that I toted around my gun like some sort of bandit. That was my first project. I'd gone back to my house for a bit to grab a few things - clothes, some books, my bag - and locked it up. I gave Patches a little smooch on the head - don't think she appreciated that much, even as a cat - then I went on my merry way back to the sun palace. I didn't ask for much after that - a few supplies for building and that was it. I got what I liked to call the Exalt Talk, about the intricacies of every part of their realm and the implications of blah blah blah, look I really didn't give a damn when they waxed poetic. I just took what I needed and got to work on disassembling my gun. I felt like a regular ol' machinist. "Day Thirteen, I built a doodad." See, the servants who walked in were expecting me to be finished with the little project I'd undertaken. 'How's your firearm' they would ask. Then, that awkward moment came when they eyed the tiny water turbine in front of me, powering few flat, spinning pieces of hardened plastic inside of a circular frame, subsisting entirely on the liquid that seemed to be glowing golden from the magical prope- A fan. I made a fan. Don't look at me like that, I was hot in here. Sitting in this place in a tanktop, some sweat pants, barefoot, doing math and some little specks of engineering all day? Yeah, it was bound to make the skin slick with sweat. Not that I didn't shower. No, I learned my lesson. I showered maybe three or four times a day now. I took advantage of the accommodations, and every time I came into contact with either Shinzo or Kishar, I would hold up a ten minute conversation. Then, it was back to work. I was supposed to be learning magic, but I ended up learning Magitech. That... wasn't a problem to me. I took a drink of some Celestial Wine, then went back to work. My notebooks I had were full, and a board had been presented to me. Thank the gods. I was standing at it, writing down some equations. Equations I'd derived on my own from the Devonian methods. Graphs, charts, interactions - the numbers were adding up, and they were telling me how to increase the efficiency of my gun. Hell, I'd realized partway through that I didn't need to have physical ammunition anymore. Finding out my way on how to do something like that filled me with pride. I was a regular scientist. Wait till Patches sees this. "Maybe I'll build her a fan. She likes fans," I said out loud, continuing to write on the board. Little Eureka Moments
Kenessa | Present Day | Sonlas |
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Post by Kishar on Nov 10, 2017 3:02:28 GMT
It had been exactly thirteen days, twelve hours, and 36 minutes since the last time I had been asleep. The cause of the reason that I had not been asleep was not anything directly to do with the fact that we had a visitor, indeed I had actually spent most of that time locked away from the both of them. What had been of interest to me were some of the readings I got off of her at different points via the analytics on the manse, and how that affected my current project. This place, while it still ran on the rules of creation, still interacted with the outside universe at large, and that had been the largest sticking point that I had in regards to getting my designs right for this place. What I had been working on did not seem right for this place, but once I had taken into account the differences that I noticed thanks to the odd readings that she had given off, which were in themselves something that I needed to explore but not something that I could do myself, I had a solid foundation for the ideas that I had been working on for how to create Pattern Spiders and a Loom of Fate for this world. I had known that Shinzo would be trying to get me to sleep, and while under normal circumstances that might have been fine, I couldn't afford to let this inspiration go to waste. As such, I took the time and effort to ward my room against intrusion and teleportation using a bit of thaumaturgy, which would be enough to stop him hopefully given how he tended to get around.
And with that done, I just worked. And worked. And worked. The ideas came flowing to my mind without end, endless excellence oozing from the very pores of my being as I expended so much Essence and effort to get every single detail of what I was working on correct. It all made sense, it was all clicking, I had my ideas all ready and done. And so this moment came to pass, and just to make sure that I had everything right I decided that I might as well run the risk of Shinzo trying to forcibly make me sleep to go over to where our guest Nessie was currently working in order to confirm the readings for myself so that I could adjust for any slight margin for error that might have come from the manse and get the last bits of fine tuning down. The best part was that thanks to the fact that I was in full anima display, rendering me looking the same as the first time I had met Nessie, I could call upon what I needed to do the analysis instantly and without cost. Such were the benefits of being as tapped as I was, I supposed. I still had some in me, as I had such a large regeneration here that I rarely had the ability to fully tap my reservoirs simply through use of my Excellencies.
With a thought I broke the anti-teleportation ward on my room and teleported in to where Nessie was and looked around, finding her rather quickly. What she had made with the fan and the equations on the board, as well as what the fancy firewand on the desk all warranted a bit of investigation, but I didn't really have the time to do that right now. I had to do what I needed to do and get back quickly enough to ensure that I could keep up what I was doing. I probably looked a bit less glorious than usual, reflecting the fact that I had gone so long without sleep. Sleep deprived, thats what it was called. Yes. "Nessie, I hope you don't mind but would you do that thing you did to measure my power once more? I need to analyze it to finish a project that is of rather high importance and I need to do it before Shinzo gets here and forces me to sleep," I said, more than a little hurriedly as I kept an eye out for the Sidereal who was very likely hot on my trail as we spoke. "Also, build who a fan? And why did you make a fan? You could have asked Enki to adjust the air conditioning if you were too warm," I added as a bit of an afterthought as I mulled over the words I had overheard when I popped in.
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Post by Jay on Nov 10, 2017 3:22:02 GMT
Kenessa The sight of the babbling chipmunk of a solar person standing in the room I was bumming in wasn't necessarily exciting. Over time, Shinzo and Kishar were more or less a normal sight. I made a gesture of hello to her when she came in.
Then, she asked me to speak to her about measuring her Essence. "Kishar, you know I'm not cool with doing that," I had, a few days ago, told Shinzo about how shaken I was when I looked up their powers. That wasn't necessarily something I'd want to do again. "Is there something really pressing that you finish before you sleep?"
When she asked me about the fan, I realized she had been listening in on me. That would've bothered me if I wasn't both bumming in her house, and she were someone meaner. So, I just answered. "The little love of my life," I said with a wispy sort of voice, fluttering my eyes as if Patches could hear the slight sarcasm. "My ca-"
She was babbling now. "Cause it's ho-"
Then, I lifted a finger. "Kishar!" I called to her. "One thing at a time. Please." Planeswalking human
True Neutral | 31 | Female |
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Post by Kishar on Nov 10, 2017 5:04:37 GMT
I knew something like that? No, nothing like that came to my mind immediately, at least not as definitively as she said it. I had thought that might have just been out of surprise rather than something uncomfortable, hence why I had asked. "Hmm, I don't recall being informed of that but I shall take you at your word that such a thing is the truth," I said, nodding a bit as I paced back and forth, my mind going a million miles an hour while I thought over the various different permutations that could optimize what I was doing to it's utmost, and I needed to know the signatures of what she was doing in order to derive the final variables values. "Is there something else with a similar resonance that I can use to calibrate what I'm doing that you can do? As for what it's for, well it's a bit of a project of mine to create a fate management device to help stabilize this place, as well as mechanical spider guardians to maintain it instead of having Shinzo do the work since I am neither capable of it and he has other things he could do with his time," I said, nodding along and looking around the room, analyzing the various pieces to see if any of it carried some resonance of her rather interesting powers that I had noted from the manse readings from before. They interacted with the Tapestry in just the right way to give me the information I needed to finish it. "The reason I need to finish it before I sleep is mostly just to keep up my momentum. I haven't slept or left my room since I left you to your studies after all. Any encounters you might have had were as as result of some Sidereal Martial Arts that let me pull a nigh-identical clone from an alternate dimension, I did it to keep Shinzo from catching on too quickly about my little spree. He always hates it when I don't get my sleep for some reason, I can't fathom why," I said, shrugging and shaking my head.
As she tells me to slow down I twitch a little before taking a breath and letting my energy go back to the back of my mind and try to control it, "Sorry about that, I just happen to get a bit excited when I am in the middle of a project." I pulled out a bottle of alcohol from one of the pockets of my outfit, which definitely looked too small to hold it but such were the miracles of Elsewhere technology and downed some of it to help depress my mind and get it to run at a speed more comprehensible to a mortal. "Now then what were you saying about a love of your life? I didn't take you for the sort to settle down and marry. Good on you, too many people nowadays take monogamy like some sort of joke. At least where I'm from they do," I said, having calmed down in my pace quite a bit but still being a bit talkative.
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Post by Jay on Nov 10, 2017 5:51:14 GMT
Kenessa I nodded, letting Kishar continue her little tirade for the time being. So, she wanted something that could measure her power.
Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to jump down that hole, again. Feeling the energy that Creation hammered into my face, I was pretty sure that opening that valve again would only hurt my head. It wasn't because of the energy having an effect on me - my powers did some useful adaptation to it. But, it would be a psychological hit.
"I don't know what else could help, really," I said to Kishar. I tapped my bicep for a second, trying to run through my head what would actually help her. Then, I looked to my sword leaning on the table. "Actually... I might have something," I walked over to the table.
While I unsheathed the blade, I answered her next questions. "Ah. Nah, she's my little friend, but not my significant other," I responded. "I'm gonna give her a present."
Turning back to Kishar, I explained my intent. "Okay. So, I found out this has the power to resonate with energy. If you touch the blade, it'll reflect the power back to you. Since I'm pretty sure you've got some 300-word reason for why your light can't hurt you, it should just be a feedback loop for you." Planeswalking human
True Neutral | 31 | Female |
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Post by shinzo on Nov 10, 2017 6:12:25 GMT
Kishar deciding to seal herself off from the world was about the stupidest thing I could imagine could happen. Not only was it obviously an impediment to talk to her, not only was she a damned idiot for working herself far past the point of usefulness...why I gave her that astrological blessing, I had no idea, but then she went and did something as incredibly, mind-bogglingly stupid as use the Obsidian Shard of Infinity in a way that was so far beyond the pale even the most dimwitted Battles-caste Sidereal would know not to do and created a clone of herself with her martial arts. What sort of sifu could she have possibly had that could be so colossally foolish as to not impress, in very clear and certain terms, that doing that -wasn't- a good idea, and likely, would -never- be a good idea. Furthermore, what she was obviously trying to do was incredibly stupid to be trying to do -without- me, considering she didn't have a damn bit of knowledge on how to craft fate. Even if she did, she didn't have the same experience with the Autocthonian Pattern Spiders I did, and would likely miss out on just what role they filled and how they interacted with the Loom, another thing she had no experience in. It was about the most foolish thing I could possibly imagine, and when I got my hands on her...
I sigh. Really, getting worked up over nothing. Why did I think this would be anything different. A dark voice I thought had gone silent crept back in, whispering to me about how things were proceeding just as I knew it would, that she really was just another foolish, shortsighted, condescending threat to Creation that can and should be stopped at the first possible opportunity. That she had gone to Malfeas in a handbasket after I left for a few damn days...was she really this unstable? Was she really this impossible to work with? And this was supposed to be one of the more reasonable Solars? While things weren't right, while there was obvious chicanery at work...was it really false?
As I came back on my scheduled day to give Nessie her swordsmanship lessons, I had learned about all that had gone on remarkably quickly. It really was about the easiest thing in the world to figure out, and the fact that Kishar thought that it would fool me for more than a few moments was rather absurd once I saw the tangled mess it left in Fate to have a second individual with an essence scale that bordered on the Primordial or the Incarnae wandering around. As if the fact I couldn't get into her room, whether through teleportation or otherwise. I thought to just break her door down with a few charms of my own, but I felt it would only be fair to give her that ultimatum herself. And so, when I encountered her in the room talking to Nessie, I used my own abilities to listen to the tune of what was going on, to the flow of essence, to the mystical bond between the creator and created...and identified her as the original. Well well, out of the room.
Moving quickly through the room to catch her by surprise, if not leave her with no ability to react, I attempt to pull her into a bit of a squeeze. "Kishar! Out of your room after all this time! It's been too long!" While I was honestly happy to see her, there was certainly a terseness in my voice at the prospect of the utter foolishness she's gotten herself into. "But you know what time it is, don't you~" Glancing over at Nessie, I flash her a harried grin. "Sorry about this. Kishar's been an idiot again, so I have to take care of her."
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Post by Kishar on Nov 10, 2017 6:33:11 GMT
No no, thats not what I wanted. I needed to view the way her Essence interacted with the outside world! Not something silly like measuring my own power, and the look on my face displayed confusion and a bit of disappointment. However, before I could really act on it, I suddenly was grabbed from behind and almost jumped out of my skin. I didn't even hear what he said, my surprise and exhaustion hitting me all at once and causing me to just straight up collapse here and now. I really ought to have thought a bit more about the fact that he might catch me off guard like this, and maybe controlled my clone instead...that probably was a better idea.
As I was passed out, however, I did not slip into a bleak darkness. Would that be the case, no, this was part of the same reason that I had the habit of not sleeping from. Scenes from my past played out before my eyes. Better times, times where my mate was there with me. However, these times would not last. They never did. The past was gone and never would come back. Time skipped forward and I dreaded the conclusion that it kept heading towards, knowing hazily from prior experience so many times over so many years exactly what was coming forward. The scene I dreaded finally arrived, I saw my mate and I heading off into battle. The memories of what we were fighting and how the battle was going were hazy, clouded by the strangeness that was around the Old Enemy that we were fighting. It was fierce, we were both quite wounded. The battle was at a tipping point, it could go either way. We were about to be overrun, but they were fatally overextending themselves.
He looked at me and gave me a smile before tossing me away from the front, too injured to fight back but able to take the impact without issue. I had something to deal with that. He had given me an artifact before the battle to deal with impacts like that, some sort of insight perhaps. He threw himself into the fray, and I saw him fight past the point where he should have died. I cried, begging him not to leave me alone here, that my life wasnt worth living without him. However it was all in vain, I couldn't change the course of the events that followed. All I could do was watch until he died. And when he did, I felt something snap into place in me, and I felt disgust set in. He was my third sacrifice, and while I hated myself at that very moment, what surpassed my self hatred was the hate of those who did that to him. A Holy, righteous fury bubbled up within me, and with the force of the unconquered sun, I unleashed my first Solar Circle Sorcery onto the battle, clearing that point before passing out on top of my mate.
The only sight of this suffering in the real world was a bit of turning in my unconscious state, and perhaps a tear or two coming out of my closed eyes, an anguished look on my face. All they could know for sure was that I was having a nightmare, short of Shinzo using some charm.
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Post by Jay on Nov 10, 2017 18:49:32 GMT
Kenessa I would be lying if I said I got what was going on. There was a lot of Creation-related context I was missing throughout this whole interaction, but I boiled it down to 'Kishar was being naughty'. Shinzo's words outright confirmed it, and I only offered a slight hum of affirmation.
It wasn't that I disliked talking to them, I just disliked their talking to me as if I got all of their inside jokes. Shinzo was good about it, though I chalked up Kishar's lack of ability to read that to her very scientific way of thinking. Everything was an equation to her, it seemed.
I could respect that, even if it presented some awkwardness. I barely knew if Kishar could actually show emotion - most of the time I was by myself. Sans my making her laugh once, she didn't seem like the type to just broadcast her feelings.
Which made seeing tears fall... jarring.
That was a face I was acutely aware of. Night terrors were a sonuvabitch, no matter who you were. The dream gods weren't kind - hell, I was sure they used their powers primarily for seeing how much they could get away with covertly breaking our sanity.
A farce, sanity was, and you'll be destroyed for it.
... wait, that wasn't at all what I was thinking.
I simply decided to ignore that, shook my head, and looked to Shinzo. "Do what you need to do. We can start our thing whenever you want." Planeswalking human
True Neutral | 31 | Female |
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Post by shinzo on Nov 10, 2017 23:06:14 GMT
That had been entirely unexpected. Not the most surprising thing thinking about it, but being surprised into sleep made sense when, as she had been, using sheer willpower to remain awake for over thirteen days in a row. It was too bad, I'd have to have my talk with her after she woke up, then, about how utterly stupid so much of what she did was. Even if I was very sorry for how things turned out now, I was still more than a bit cross with her, considering the other things she did. Still, what mattered now was the fact that she was sleeping, which was probably the most important thing she could be doing right now. She could have her lecture later.
Still, I sigh when I noticed her murmuring and tearing up in her sleep. It was piteous. I certainly didn't seek initiation into the Quicksilver Hand of Dreams style, with all the innumerable consequences learning that style had, so there was no easy way for me to stop it. I do weave a charm in order to hopefully provide her a bit of respite. I weave the essence of the world into strands too thin for the eye to see, and, crafting a net, smother her dreams with it. If I left it, she would, of course, not be able to obtain restful sleep, which is why I remove it immediately. This should adequately destroy her dream as it was starting, and, with how it's likely to go, either let it move on to something else entirely, or, most likely, just allow her to obtain a restful, dreamless sleep. As I withdrew the net, it discarded, the forceful handling far too powerful for the light gossamer.
As Nessie gives me leave to do what I needed to do, I wince a bit. "Well, I was hoping to just have her get some sleep. Really, the way she did it was about the worst thing possible for her, but I can't say I didn't have a hand in it. I should have been here more." I sigh. "There's also the matter of that absurd clone she created...the fact that her sifu didn't express in minute, exacting detail how colossally stupid an idea it is to make a clone of yourself...well, I'm getting off track." It was frustrating. So frustrating. "I have to clean up that mess, first. Fortunately, given Kishar's state of exhaustion, I'll likely be able to overpower and destroy the copy fairly easily...if she were awake, it'd be easier to have her do it, since the clone can never defeat the original." I didn't like the prospect of the likely titanic fight, even with her weakened. Not only was she an obviously existential threat to me, but...it was essentially cold-blooded murder. Something I despised, something that I wouldn't do without the just cause I had. Still...it rebelled against me, from my core. "Once I'm back, I should be able to teach you. I shouldn't be so hard up I can't perform terrestrial-level techniques." With that, I lay Kishar up on a couch, giving her a comfortable place to sleep and, after performing a thought-swiping distraction to ensure that her dream was either nonexistent or not painful, I begin to make my way.
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Post by Jay on Nov 12, 2017 22:14:53 GMT
Kenessa I should have known better considering my last slip of the tongue, but I couldn't help myself.
"Wear protection," I said to Shinzo as he went to go and do his thing. "Safe sex is smart sex." Planeswalking human
True Neutral | 31 | Female |
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