| Revelations, Book II | ||
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You walk into a very large restaurant with high ceilings that leave the rafters exposed. Fluorescent lamps hang from the ceiling, adding light to the place and tables. Windows adorn the sides of the place, looking out onto the chaos that is Twisted. On some of the walls are paintings, photographs, and some holograms of different B-movies, and a number of people who tend to visit the UR as they're singing karaoke. The hardwood bar rests at the back of the place, it's surface polished and shiny and all together spotless (most of the time). Behind the bar are various beverages that are served and a giant mirror. There seems to be an inordinate amount of different drinks. A large stage rests in one of the corners of the restaurant, with an amazing sound system and a few microphones strung about it. Multiple round wood tables are in the room, and a swing door leads into the kitchen. Another door leads to the dance club, and another to the gym. And of course, there's an exit to the outside. A large fireplace rests in one of the walls, with a beautiful stone chimney that flows up and out. A long spiral staircase rests near the entrance to the kitchen, leading to a second floor balcony that overlooks the UR itself. The lights up there are a bit dimmer than those down below. The Usual Restaurant.. surprisingly quiet at the moment.. indeed, there is only one person with anyone sitting at it at all, dead in the middle of the main room, reading a large, leather-bound book. the Skutters are going about their business, cleaning around her as felina reads.. If somebody approached from behind, they would see that on the pages there are single glyphs, which she is studying quite intently. One of the lights begins to slowly swing back and forth, just enough to create a loud, rusty, recurring *CCRREEAAKK*. A sparking sound is also heard, and the lights fade in and out for a moment, before returning to normal. The apparent blip in the power supply is noticed by the young catwoman, who looks up, closing the book and placing it away.. somewhere... Must be her hammerspace pocket. Glancing about, Felina's voice is quiet.. "Who's there?" she reaches out with her senses to see if she can feel anything particularly odd about the magic in the area. At this point, the lights all fail, and the room fills with darkness, aside from the ambient light from outside. The wind can be heard beginning to howl outside, as the front door begins to open and close on its own, blown by the wind, creating loud slams as it reaches the end of each arc. Felina frowns, getting to her feet and she extends her claws while narrowing her eyes.. She gestures towards the counter, and whoever is working there, "Something's here... You might want to duck for cover. I don't really trust... " then the lights fail, and the door starts to slam... and she jumps back up onto the table, quickly tracing in the air a barrier sigil between herself and the door. The door continues to slam menacingly at her, its cacophonus assault unphased by her hastily-erected magical barrier! Meanwhile, a pair of red glows appear in the rafters above the front door, glaring evily at the pair. Soft, girlish laughter echoes throughout the room. Felina frowns, looking around, and when she sees the eyes she folds her arms, "Whoeverr the hell you are, if you aren't going to come down and show yourself, you are just being annoying." there is a certain wavering in her voice though, as if trying to sound more confident than she actually is. The giggle can be heard again, as a peal of thunder fills the room, and lightening cracks outside, lighting up the room for a split second. The eyes vanish with the bright light during one of these. Once more leaving the room in darkness. Frowning as the room is plunged into darkness, Felina raises a hand.. "Enough of this... " there is a spark, as the room is illuminated by a simple enough spell.. "Reveal yourself! enough with the melodrama already!" A giggle comes from right behind Felina, and all the lights in the room come back on. Felina spins around, to look straight at the giggling individual.. "Who the hell are you?" ( Felina sees what appears to be a small humanoid doll. Its long black hair covers its eyes, but stops short of its mouth, which is set in a malicious, frozen grin, its mouth full of sharp teeth. On its lower body is an old, yellowish kimono. Its smile widens as Felina turns to look at it, although for the moment it simply floats there. ) Felina looks at the creepy doll, her fingers flexing faintly, and she remains silent for a long moment, lightning crackling around her claws. From Felinas left, a voice "Your right. No fun at all. Even for one of her... talents". The doll giggles once more, and then vanishes from sight. Felina whirls to her left, though she holds off from the instinct to hurl the power crackling around her hand.. "This isn't fun for me either. Who the hell are you, and what do you WANT?" Oblivion smirks "Well, aside from seeing how you react in a creepy situation..... " he shrugs "... to see how you react in a creepy situation!". He gives an evil lopsided grin "Shes right, though. Your definately no fun in such a scenario". Felina sighs, "I see. Now who the hell are you? My name is Felina.. and I didn't want to trash the Restaurant. You don't demolish the place where you live. " sitting herself back down, she shakes her head faintly. Oblivion peers curiously at her "You dont? My, what sort of weirdo ARE you?!?". He spins his barstool around with an amused "Wheeeeee!", his head eventually stopping to look at her, while the rest of his body keeps spinning "As for who i am, well, no one of serious consequence. Simply a regular to this place come for a bit of amusement and a good drink" Felina smirks, "You are a funny one.. I'll give you that. " she watches Oblivion fora moment, considering, "You said something before about my talents.. What do you know about me then?" Oblivion grabs the desk, stopping his body, but causing his head to start spinning for a few seconds. Seemingly unphased by this, he continues "Magic flows.... DIFFERENTLY around you than most others. Odd for one of your.... construction. I can say little more". The small doll creature reappears beside him, handing him a glass of some unknown liquid, to which he says "Thank you, my dear!". It giggles, and vanishes. He looks at Felina after taking a sip "Isnt she cute?". Felina frowns.. "My construction? Now I definitely want to hear more. " At the appearance of the doll, she shakes her head, "Kind of creepy, if you ask me.. " Oblivion raises the glass, and laughs "Precisely! Shes ADORABLE!". He snickers, finishing the drink in one gulp, followed by the required act of throwing the glass over his shoulder, where it smashes into pieces on impact with whatever and wherever it happens to blindly land. "Aahh.... i have said too much already, it seems.... alas. Pretty one too" Felina now looks very sternly at Oblivion, "What is it? I want to know what it is that you know about me!" retracting her claws, she slenches her hands into fists.. "Tell me!" Oblivion smiles evily at her "Not really my place to do so. Besides, information doesnt come cheap from me". He pulls a piece of bread or something out of nowhere "Sure you dont want some?" Felina lets out a dark, low growl, "What is your price, stranger? Name it." Oblivion snerks "Guess you dont like the cornbread, either....". He puts it away, and leans back, smirking at her "Depends on what you want to know". Felina frowns, "Well I already know that I was created to be a weapon.. that something went wrong as a cat hair got put into what i was made from. That I need magical energy to survive, but I can't gather my own here because it is corrupted somehow. How is magic flowing differently around me? What else do you know? Am I.... going to die soon or something?" Oblivion reaches down and pulls out a cloth. As it passes between the two of them, his clothing appearently changes, with him now wearing an old gypsy outfit of some kind, or what is supposed to look like one. He puts the cloth in his other hand, and pulls it off again, making a crystal ball appear in his palm. He begins looking at it "Iiiiinteresting......". He looks up at her, then back down at it. "VERY interesting.....". Felina raises a brow, glaring faintly, "Enough with the theatrics, please?" Oblivion puts a finger to his lips and goes "SSHH! This is the best part..... House is about to figure out whats wrong with the kid....". He mutters, dropping the crystal ball, which makes a burst of smoke, after which he is back in his prior black-armored attire "Oh, your no fun. Forget it! Your on your own for now, toots!". He smiles and wiggles his fingers at her in a mock 'goodbye', and abruptly vanishes. Felina blinks as Oblivion disappears, looking around.. Then she shakes her head faintly.. "For all the... Whoever the hell that guy was.. Nah.. he probably didn't know anything.. he was messing with my head.. he had to be..." "Actually, knowing him, he DOES know more than we do". Xues voice comes from the now-open door to the back rooms "However, his price for such knowledge are usually not worth the gain. His chaotic streak should rarely be trusted, and even when so should be scrutinized closely". She walks over and sits down, ordering a glass of water. Felina hmms, looking over.. "Oh, Miss Xue... Who was that guy? He was just odd.. unnerving... But what he said.. well, it made me worry. He said magic flows oddly around me.. " speaking of which, her fur is looking quite dull, she hasn't been feeding like she had been. Xue takes a sip of her water "Can you show me the glyph, or some other method i can actually analyze, for how you produce this 'mana'? When i use my method for drawing from my surroundings, i cant find a trace of it. I wonder if perhaps your spell has a flaw somewhere in its incantation" Felina hmmms, and she nods.."I.. I can draw it for you, miss Xue.. And I can demonstrate the method again. " she extracts from her hammerspace her book, opening to a black page. On the page she begins to draw the glyph. Her hands are shaking slightly as she draws. Xue nods "I need it drawn. That way i can analyze it more specificly. A musician can listen to a piece to analyze it, but always sees more in the written music than the sounds themselves. Especially when looking for mistakes the sounds might hide". She waits for Felina to finish otherwise. Felina nods... and a few minutes laer she has finished.. and passes over the book. The Glyph is a lot more complicated than Xue might have expected, on careful examination, she would find that the mana gathered with this glyph will have a very specially encoded effect, to change Felina, her fur, and to affect her mind and memory. Xue quickly analyzes the glyph with the eye of a master archmage. She quickly spots the transmutation and enchantment effects "I thought so..... youve been sabotaged. The good news is that with this, i know precisely whats been altered, and can simply come up with a spell to reverse the specifics. On the other hand, do NOT use this again. Ever. Unless against an enemy as a trick or something." Felina blinks.. "Wha.... Sabotaged? You mean... Somebody made me draw mana like this? But that's.. horrible..." Xue points out in the glyph where the issues are "Here... here.... here... and here." Felina looks at the places, and she hmms... "I... See... " Then she hmms, "So.. how should I be doing it, to gather mana safely?"
Xue casts detect magic, and watches to see if the process works... Felina soon has the cup filled, and she is about to drink from it. Xue grabs Felinas hand "Stop. You didnt do it right. You used the 'old' method youve been using prior..... try again". Now shes actually on alert. Felina should have no problem with this one, with her capability. Felina blinks, frowning as she looks at the cup... "Okay.... " she tries again.... and it's EXACTLY the same. Xue shakes her head "Again, your using your older method..... " she sighs, pondering "With all these failsafes, it might be some kinda suggestion or coersion spell....". Since she has detect magic going, she begins to look closely at Felina, looking for any potential external enchantment-specific spells on her. Felina frowns, shaking her head, she can't help herself... There aren't any external spells, but then, she was programmed essentially from within, using the amulet, and the portion of her soul within. Xue hhmms "Must be something they put right into your head, then..... thats probably gonna be a lot harder to fix..... must not have wanted to risk you being clever enough to come up with your own safer version" Felina scowls... and she closes her eyes, getting out the amulet... "You don't think?" Xue says, "potentially.... however, im not sure i want to dive willy-nilly into that. One mistake could seriously mess you up further." Felina nods.. "I understand, miss Xue... They.. did this on purpose.. didn't they? They knew that I would have to feed... even if I was not with them.. so they made it so doing so would... make me forget.." Xue nods "thereby making you docile, and mindless, and easily reaquired, with the magical boost making you easier to locate.... they covered all their bases suprisingly well..... i DO have an idea, however.....". She pulls out a small golden-ring, inset with a sapphire. She begins casting, the arcane sigil she made in front of her to use as a reference. After about two straight hours of this, she finally finishes, sweaty, but none the worse for wear. "Here. Wear this. THAT will pull the mana FOR you with the spell ive created. Then all you need to do is drain it when its at capacity. No muss, no fuss, no casting on your part to set off hidden contingencies." Felina watches, and waits, and she gracefully accepts the ring.. "Thank you.. Thank you Xue.. I owe you so much.. This will keep me alive.. and allow me to keep my mind... " slipping the ring onto her finger, she closes her eyes.. "I hate them for doing this to me.. What gives them the right to create a living being.. to use as a weapon?" Xue shrugs "Zealots seem to exist in every world somewhere, in some fashion. Flesh golems arent all that uncommon. Your only reason for being 'you' and sentient is cause they goofed. As they saying goes, they missed by a hairs length. Literally, in this case. Biological golems are useful in that they tend to have the qualities of living things, like self-healing, and are therefore easier to 'repair' after being damaged, with little cost in resources to fix." Felina nods, listening.. "It's cruel.. really.. You say that biological golems have many of the qualities of living things... But.. What drawbacks do they have? I don't know why.. but what that guy was saying, it gave me the distinct impression that I was running out of time.. That my life is definitely Finite..." Xue says, "Very rare exceptions aside, all life is finite. The downside to biological golems is that their affected by thigns most golems are immune to, like fire, cold, sharp piercing objects, blood or fluid loss. Things most golems are built specificly to resist. Bio golems are usually for infiltration, or for cheap budgets due to their cheap repair methods, meaning any healing sitting around at the time, rather than costly componants and raw materials. They usually are NOT sentient, or have any will of their own." Felina nods, "But they fucked up when making me. And I do have a mind of my own.. so they went to lengths to limit that. With the Amulet." Xue smirks "Precisely why they did such a sloppy job. You were more than likely expendable, or likely to be later on, and they were in a rush, so did a crappy job. As an archmage, im appalled they did such a sloppy job with the magical arts. As a living being, im appalled at their intents, and methods to reach them". She stands "This is irrelevent now, however. You are who and what you are. What matters isnt where or how you came, but what and who you are in the present. Ill continue my research, and see what i can discover further". She heads towards the back room, her water glass empty by now. Felina nods, "You're right, that is what is important, Xue. And now I have a safe way to feed, so I don't need to be afraid about that any more!" | |
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