Shayan's Lab
Cin frowns at the question and stares at his empty mug for a long moment. "So there is no in-between? No way to make it so you can do it without the drugs?" He asks. "Or any that can synthesize it without the negative effects?"
Printable View
Shayan's Lab
Cin frowns at the question and stares at his empty mug for a long moment. "So there is no in-between? No way to make it so you can do it without the drugs?" He asks. "Or any that can synthesize it without the negative effects?"
"So if I see any big spiders, leave them alone. Not a problem. I wouldn't be interested in something like that anyway, if a spider's nice and big then it's already much better than boring little spiders." Isabelle nods approvingly. Big spiders is best spiders.
Isabelle gets up, "Well, thank you for the warm welcome. I'll head off and get to work on those ferrets." She smiles and heads out of the office.
Shayan's Lab
"I don't know, in either case. I would like to be able to balance both halves, but it seems to be one or the other. The sedative I produce has no lasting effects on its own, and can only spark that state of carelessness and euphoria in me temporarily. It requires other ingredients mixed with it to draw them out over weeks and months. With different concentrations, I may be able to recover some fraction of my former emotions without completely losing my sense."
Shayan's Lab
"Do you know which parts of the brain it activates?" He asks. "I...well, perhaps I could do surgery." Cin offers. "Find a way to permanently stimulate it while leaving your body clear of drugs."
Shayan's Lab
The oracle considers this, "It could be possible. I don't know offhand which parts are triggered, but that's why we need the MRI machines up and running. We could first test the effects on a control group, and then on myself, to see if the results come out differently. If you could manage it somehow..." Shayan scarcely dares to hope. She's gone this long flitting between whimsy and rash decisions based on half-seen visions and cool, calculating logic that she can't remember ever doing anything else. The chance at being emotionally and mentally balanced is extremely tempting.
And yet, in the back of her mind, she's still wondering if this doesn't work, what would she choose. It's obvious Cin would rather not make such a decision objectively when a third option is on the horizon, but she has to keep wondering about it.
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
Geeze, Ilphy! Roxanne's complexion can't get much redder than that! She's blushing up a standard monsoon so swept away is she in Ilphy's sassy quips and chic dress! If her cheeks turned a shade ruddier it'd mean her capillaries were bursting and she'd need to be carted off to the hospital pronto! Why, if she were not raised with as much discipline as she was, she'd start slipping tasteful flirtation into her speech-patterns!
Roxanne begins to titter heartily as she swings the door shut behind Ilphy after she's entered. They'll, with any luck, emerge into a spick-and-span, white hallway lined with twenty or so regularly-spaced doors.
"That's not forbidden here? Even though you're a higher rank than, erm, you're my boss? Perhaps dinner and a movie are in order, then? Y'know. If you have time. I understand that you're a very busy woman, and I won't be dismayed too much if you refuse..."
Just as Roxanne finishes speaking, a mechanized female voice announces,
"The Hatteress and guest entering VR chambers."
over an intercom wired into the walls.
As sudden as that voice echoed throughout the hallways, reverberating against the white metal panels on the walls, a brilliant white light suddenly dissolves the entire hallway, seemingly stranding Roxanne and Ilphy on an endless expanse of verdant grassland, a fruit-bearing apple tree, limbs hanging low, straining to support their load of sweet, sweet and further perfect apples, laid out upon a slightly elevated hill under a starry night sky.
"Control transferred to The Hatteress. Oh, and good evening, ma'am."
-------
[Main Room]
Dang! Whatever this defect is, it is possessing Her friend's body. Nobody messes with Her pack! Nobody! This magical abberation must go!
...
Maybe. Is it hurting Zefir? Clarissa cannot tell. Maybe a treaty can be struck between these two entities that have inherited the same body? Perhaps a mutual symbiosis will develop! Maybe Zefir has split personalities, and extracting this delinquent thing from him would sever his soul in two.
She'll give it a chance. One chance. She hopes this thing doesn't blow it...for its sake.
Clarissa's tails retreat to her backside, swaying with a most pacifying, non-aggressive wave as though to the beat of an invisible metronome, every twitch coordinated for effect.
"What are you, if you don't mind me asking? And what have you done to my buddy? If you've hurt him or brainwashed him in any way, so help me Chaos, I'll drag you to Ilphy's office by the scruff of your neck and exorcise you on the spot!"
Well, Clarissa isn't being nice or patient at all in her dealings with this...creature!
MagOffice
Magtok sighs, and would probably tear his hair out right now if he had any to rip off his scalp at all.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to develop a prototype thingy, and you're going to be gracious enough to volunteer to have it installed in your ear. I can practically guarantee nothing will go wrong, but it'll still seem like you took some sort of risk by volunteering yourself for science to help AMEN. Sound fair?"
I'm sure you can trust him, Cat Burglar! He's a high-ranking member here, that means he's totally trustworthy! It's not like this is an association of evil, nefarious, or malevolent people or anything like that, right?
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
"Kinda in charge here. And trying to stop office romances in one thing. Organization romances, where you live with the people? Hah! Good luck with that. But I'm free to do whomever I want."
I'm sure she meant whatever.
Ilpholin looks around, a bit disconcerted.
"I've heard vague mentions of these." Though they were more extreme magical illusions or dream/drug induced hallucinations.
Shayan's Lab
After she trails off, Cin sets his mug aside to try and set both hands on either side of her face to hold it still while he kisses her forehead. "I will try my absolute best, but, I will say I'd rather have a logical you than one who was too drug addled to even speak. I just hope that you won't forget about me, or more appropriately, us if you lose your emotional half. I am very much more than grateful to have you as a companion and would hate to lose you either way, but like I said, objectively, you're more capable as a medical practitioner or assistant than an Oracle."
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
Interesting, that. Very interesting... The formation of a fundamental foundation for any sort of less than strictly professional relationship between coworkers is nearly completely foreign to Roxanne. Rather, it is less foreign and more eschewed. Sure, it rarely was noted and approved at face value for what it was made out to be, but that happened once in a blue moon.
This gig is the least restrictive assignment that Roxanne has ever been dealt by the hands of fate!
"Wait, everyone who actively serves here can date anyone they covet?"
Oh wow! That's sensational news!
"Cool! Yeah, these virtual reality sims are really something else, aren't they? Everything that you see around you right now is real. We shape quarks into atoms which we arrange to construct the molecules and compounds we desire and string those into anything from lifeforms to battlecruisers. Here."
Roxanne strolls on over to the apple tree and picks a savory red apple which she attempts to hand to Ilphy.
"Try an apple, if you want."
MagOffice
"Er..."
It's 'practically' in that sentence that really bothers the Cat Burglar. Because that practically could mean practically anything. But then, it would have been even more worrying without that slight admission of danger, because then the Cat would know Maggie was lying to him, no operation is without risk, so then he'd spend the entire time panicking, trying to figure precisely what was being hidden from him and.... And...
And any way you slice it, the Cat Burglar does not like this plan, no, not at all.
"A-alright. When."
But that's besides the point because he doesn't really have a choice.
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
"Depends on the other person."
Ilpholin will take the apple, twirl it a little bit, then throw it rapidly at the tree. She wants to see how this 'reality' handles unexpected stimuli. Plus, that whole aversion to eating things people give her.
"It certainly feels real enough. What are the limitations?"
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
The apple will either rebound off of the tree with a discoloration marking where it impacted with the tree or smash open against it, depending on the acceleration Ilphy imparted to the apple and where it hit. Afterward, it plunks to the ground in its ruined condition.
'Tis a real apple and a real tree, laden with bark, fruit, and leaves. Gravity levels in here are fairly standard too, though they could mimic nigh anything with the manipulation of a single parameter.
Roxanne takes a swift and measured step back when Ilphy mightily hurls the apple at the serene tree. She wasn't expecting that violent trial of the system!
"Limitations? Well, the subsection of our lab devoted to this project is rather confined as is. We can simulate whole worlds here, but not if there are multiple people in here walking in opposite directions away from each other. We're circumventing that issue slowly and surely, as progress tends to come. This workspace is only somewhat mobile, suspended on our rail system as it is. We can't remove it from this room as of yet. We'd need to open up the walls, and with the way the walls act around here..."
"Yeah."
"There's also a charge delay for more intricate simulations. It takes untold stores of energy to simulate a battlefield like Hel peninsula. We also have yet to integrate any Chronos systems to slow down time into this units, so every minute you spend in here is a full Nexus minute, for now."
Roxanne clarifies, preparing to switch over to another sim that might better illustrate her point.
[Main Room]
It needs a few moments until the person can clam himself down enougth to sit up. The wings speared and hovering a few inch over the ground in a sitting position. With the scaled hand he wipes away the tears. Still a bit laugthing he starts speaking.
"Why should I help you beat myself?"
Even thought he smiles and looks very maniac his voice and speech seem to cause insane to people.
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
"Can you take out anything that you make in here? Are you capable of making people?" Ilpholin doesn't even want to touch the time warping factor and isn't really sure that being able to move the workspace is that big of an issue. But maybe it is. Depends on what they want to do with it.
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
"Almost any small object may be removed from this room. Gemstones, apples, and automatic weaponry are perfectly embody this rule."
With a thought, a Squad Automatic Weapon materializes on the ground in front of Roxanne along with a jeweled, gilded, scimitar.
"Apart from objects such as these, we highly discourage departure of items from this room. Refining the elements and particles we employ to fuel these simulations is a real pain in the neck. We could manufacture whatever is in the most demand by AMEN here by converting waste materials into fuel for the sims, but that won't be easy without automating everything, and that'd take some time considering the scant manpower allotted to this ordeal. And time is something in scarce supply for both myself and The Hatter."
"As for animating flesh..."
With a flash of bright white light, a replica of Roxanne should appear beside the original.
"They can perform any life processes we program them to, but their behavior isn't spontaneous. They can only act according to our designs. Outside of this chamber, they don't function. When they have been given free range of the lab, we've found them glitchy at best."
-----
[Main Room]
Clarissa is already a certifiable nutcase! As such, she doesn't fall under the spell of chaotic-Zefir's voice as much as other people probably would.
His voice does, however, unlock and call forth her more dangerous potentials.
"Fine then. Be that way."
Clarissa snarls, releasing a thick cloud of tear gas into the air. Dragon eyes and throat or not, this will probably burn like crazy!
"Now will answer my question? What are you?"
Coercion! Yay!
[Main Room]
The gas will fly up before it could even reach Zefir. There it starts to creat forms. And 'Zefir' claps in hands as a cat a mice a worm and other things appear. His head turns to Clarissa.
"Just cause you don't like the answer doesn't mean I didn't gave one."
He still hovers around turning around himself head down head up etc.
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
"And exactly what does it take to create these somethings for nothing? Can you not create your own power sources in an infinite loop?" :smallconfused:
This whole thing is rather disturbing.
[Main Room]
Goodness gracious! This guy is being such a fathead mcjerkerson! Clarissa has had just about enough of his antics! Oooo! If only it weren't wearing Zefir's body! She'd pack this imp into a little ball and play baseball with it until its density grew smaller than its Schwarzchild radius! :smallmad:
Patience and tolerance, Clarissa. Keep breathing in and out. Deep breaths. He'll get his one of these days. Try counting backwards from 10.
"10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. ..."
Didn't work did it? Well, it was worth giving it a shot.
"You still need a name, and since you haven't furnished me with one, I'll have to think one up for you. Let's see here..."
"I'm going to call you Crazy. So, Mister Crazy, what brings you to Zefir's body today?"
-------
[Mad Hatter's Lab]
"Well, we first have to play god with the subatomic particles in whatever we're converting into whatever it is we're focused on producing. Depending on the mass of the subatomic particles, we sometimes have to treat them with a mass recovery procedure."
Because, at the subatomic level, the law of conservation of mass stops working.
"We fuse these atoms together or, through fission, bzap them apart after we've normalized them. We've tapped into the thermal energy of the valcano to attain sufficient energy to power these processes, and after the initial energy dump they're pretty much self-sustaining. As for where we get the atoms? We draw our reserve from rubbish heaps, taking downgraded plastics, metals, and other inorganic items that will never ever decompose and blasting them apart into the elements that they are composed of. Alternatively, we can create a void where nothing, not even air or energy, exists and matter will spontaneously form from it! We don't have many of those 'genesis ports' up and running yet, so we've relied most on the former method."
The Hatteress delineates, talking nerdy to Ilphy in the only way she knows how.
[Main Room]
Wooh Zefir whirls around in the air.
"But you told my name befor. I'm Chaos. CAPTAIN CHAOS... no sounds like a crazy world saving idiot. Mr. Chaos?. Hmm soundys like a rule liking father. Commander Chaos... no to military. Doctor Chaos... yeah that fits the role."
He seems to totally loose intresst on her. Seems like naming himself is much more important. The he seems to come back into the room. She should notice that the fog is going back to her.
"You!" He says. Not knowing if he means you as she is the reason he is here or he is here cause of her actions.
[Main Room]
The fog is going back to Clarissa, huh? Not anymore!
The fog might just happen to be swallowed up into un-existence as Clarissa attempts to flex her magical muscle! The fog should be uncreated long before it trespasses upon her space bubble. She is, after all, responsible for all that ever existed in her homeland, lesser gods included.
"Me? What about me? Do you want to fight with me or do you want to talk with me?"
[Main Room]
Chaos just starts laugthing again, but catches himself fast enougth.
"He really doesn't know you. No the world is not turning around you. Your just the trigger for my appereance here. That answers your question."
He shrugs like there isn#t really much to say otherwise.
[Main Room]
This guy is just itching for a beating, isn't he? Clarissa would be only too happy to indulge him...it. Hmm... It isn't technically an AMENite. It is simply inhabiting an AMENite's body and inhibiting a member. Yeah! Clarissa has identified a lethal loophole that she can exploit to bring the roof crashing down on this mocking thing's cranial cap!
"Watch your tongue, guttersnipe, else I jam it down your throat." :smallfurious:
Clarissa retorts, beginning to flood her form with raw, volatile destructive energy.
Her voice, now infused with the virtually limitless power of wrath, pounds against the air in a most ominous manner.
"Now, at the risk of watching you bash your skull open against the ground while cackling, I command you to answer a simple question. Are you interested in relinquishing your grasp over my fellow member and joining AMEN or must I evict you from his body and expel you from the premises?"
[Main Room]
Chaos looks at her.
"My tounge?" he says after her first words.
Then he tries to stretch his toung out wide enougth to see it. During that he doesn't seem to notice her wrathfull speech. he just speaks up after she ends it.
"What's with it?" ((Assume he says that with the tounge stell strechted))
[Main Room]
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
So after a brief trip outside to find some suitable samples, Isabelle heads into the main room to sit down and relax for a little while. As usual, Cedric is perched on her shoulder.
...
She's also holding a cage. It's a rather large cage. Inside the cage are half a dozen ferrets.
They don't look particularly happy to be there.
[Main Room]
"..."
"Wow."
"Just..."
"Wow."
And thus it finally dawns on Clarissa. This Chaos guy doesn't seem right in the head. He's a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Maybe... Maybe he doesn't appreciate niceties or understand how to be cordial or at least courteous to others?
"Um..."
"I'll ask Ilpholin what I'm supposed to do with you later..."
"Come to think of it, you'd better head on over to her office so that you guys can sort things out and make deliberations and allowances on your abnormal situation. If you get lost or damage any members, I'll have to pry your consciousness out of Zefir's body and torment it until time itself comes to a standstill and I reclaim this filthy world, okay?"
Clarissa sighs before plopping down on the couch, likely beside Isabelle if she has chosen to inject herself into this timeline.
Madness. Clarissa must've been drunk or inordinately bored when she dreamed up that mental deficiency (not that Chaos's madness isn't a different flavor of insanity or less tame than the hysteria of Clarissa's cosmos).
[Main Room]
As Clarissa plops down on the couch, Cedric shrieks at her.
Isabelle tuts disapprovingly, "Now now Cedric, remember what I said? Use your indoor voice to say hello. I know you get excited, but if you're that loud, people might not understand that you're trying to be friendly."
Cedric lets out a much quieter shriek.
...still doesn't sound very friendly.
[Main Room]
"Eep!"
Clarissa whoops as Cedric's shriek routs her eardrums. She bounces 3 inches or so off of the sofa like an overeager, loaded spring! She proceeds to turn to curiously glance over the evil severely mutated squirrel. Oh? What's this? The squirrel-beastie is perched upon a woman! A woman that Clarissa is certain she's never met before.
And then another shriek followed by a much quieter,
"Eep!"
And a 1 inch bounce!
Clarissa resolves that she'd best find out who this woman is before her squirrely companion is afforded another breath of air with which to torture her.
With a toothy grin, a grin that grandly accentuates the razor-sharp rows of teeth lining her mouth, Clarissa extends a hand to Isabelle for the purposes of shaking.
"Hi there! I'm Clarissa! I haven't seen you tooling around here before!"
Clarissa attempts to sniff at Isabelle and Cedic so that she can commit their scents to memory. It would be categorized as a welcoming gesture in the animal kingdom, I guess, but among humans...
[Main Room]
Isabelle shakes Clarissa's hand, and isn't at all bothered by any sniffing. Isabelle's scent might be a little masked by the light dash here and there of flowery perfume she uses, but if Clarissa's sense of smell is powerful enough, that presumably won't be an issue.
Cedric smells like a squirrel gone wrong.
"Delightful to meet you! I'm Isabelle, I've only recently joined. And my friend here is Cedric." Isabelle smiles, and Cedric shrieks again. Isabelle doesn't seem remotely concerned by those sharp teeth Clarissa has. Isabelle has tinkered with a few sharp-toothed animals over the years.
Not much in the way of teeth scares her now, not after she'd opened up that crocodile's mouth...