[Nexus] GLoG 81: Ghostbusters!

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

Julie closes the door behind Kate before she answers, taking time to adjust Prism in her arms, "It's her talent. Both of them are somewhat talented with Far abilities and psionics, even now, but Prism is leaning more towards my side of things, and Scylla more towards Eric's. Prism has been manipulating light for months now, and it's gotten to the point where I can almost tell how she's feeling by the colors she makes." Of course, that's mostly due to her peeking into Prism's emotions now and then to make sure she isn't fussing for any particular reason. It really helps when you know when your baby is hungry, or just wants attention.

Not that she's been particularly fussy. That honor goes to Scylla, the little glory hound of the family.

"So really, what's on your mind? I've never seen you this... spaced out I guess." Over on the stove, a teakettle is being heated up with a continuous flicker of green flame. Odd, Julie's fire wasn't green before, was it?

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate doesn't notice the kettle. She's a little distracted. By life. She will sit down in an available chair, and then start talking.

"Okay, do you know about Mintbalm, the pixie? Who is also my friend? Did I ever tell you about her? Anyway, the other day... that might have been a while ago... I was on my way here, when I bumped into her. The figure of speech, not literally. We had a talk, pixie dust was thrown around, I scared myself... by the end of it, was was exhausted and went straight home to take a nap. And ever since... bluuh... it's almost hard to think at all." She shakes her head. "I had to call in sick to work the next day, and ever since I'm just having such trouble... I don't even know how long it's been. I remember going to bed, and waking up, and doing some things, and the sun rising and setting, and other things so that I know time is passing, but it's all running together and I feel like I don't know what's going on half the time."

She shakes her head again. "And the dreams haven't helped in the slightest."

[The Bushranger]

[Fire Pit]

"So, any black imps I see are going to get blasted," Quinn says, matter-of-factly.

Or they'll have their brain stems ripped out!

Assuming boggarts have brain stems.

"Are there any signs of boggarts aside from 'pranks and mischief'? Because that could also describe the actions of some of our resident ghosts." Palon, for instance.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

That is serious. Kate gets a light touch on the shoulder and a sympathetic look, the best Julie can muster up in this situation. When the kettle starts to whistle the succubus stands and puts Prism in a high chair in the adjoining kitchen and shakes out some round cereal for her to munch on. The babies are still being breast fed, but with teething and such coming on early it's best to wean them on other foods as well. Then she pours out two cups of tea and brings them over to the couch, levitating a jug of milk behind her.

Julie shakes her head, indicating she hasn't heard of Mintbalm,"It sounds like magical interference to me. Can you remember any common theme to the past few days? What about the dreams?" Dreams are how some succubi do all their best corrupting. If something's going on with Kate's dreams, it could be the reason she's still spaced out this long after a run in with a pixie. It could even be the pixie herself, playing a prank.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"The dreams... I don't know. They don't make any sense. But... the more than don't just make sense. There usually isn't any people or places or anything... I mean, sometimes there isn't even any color or sound. Just... it's like my brain is going and going and not going anywhere. And it doesn't make any sense, but I feel like it should make sense, or it would make sense, but I'm missing something... something really obvious! As for a common theme..."

Kate is quiet for a bit. "Give me a minute to think."

[Rebonack]

[Fire Pit]

Boggarts do not have brains, no.

"Eerr... killing Boggarts with anything other than sanctified salt tends to be pretty hard. They're made of soot and stomping them just spreads them around until they can reform."

They're resilliant little buggers!

"Their pranks tend to be mean spirited in nature. Breaking tools, injuring animals, throwing dung down wells, souring milk. Things of that nature."

Wow.

These critters sound terrible.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"The dreams... I don't know. They don't make any sense. But... the more than don't just make sense. There usually isn't any people or places or anything... I mean, sometimes there isn't even any color or sound. Just... it's like my brain is going and going and not going anywhere. And it doesn't make any sense, but I feel like it should make sense, or it would make sense, but I'm missing something... something really obvious! As for a common theme..."

Kate is quiet for a bit. "Give me a minute to think."

Rowan Cabin

"I think you need more than a minute hun. You say this has been going on for a week or so? I can't imagine how you've worked at all with how much time you've lost track of. I think you should get looked at by a mage, just so we can rule out someone getting up to no good with your mind." Julie sets one of the steaming, fragrant teacups on the coffee table in front of Kate and adds milk to her own, taking a deep sniff. Lavender and lemon, just perfect for today.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate will pour some milk into her own cup and sip the tea a bit.

"...Actually, now that I think about it, it's less that it's hard to think and more that it's... funny, I guess? I can try to figure out a problem for half an hour, and then out of the blue comes this beautiful idea, and I use it, but half an hour later I'm not sure why it works so well. Or at all."

Despite how this might sound, Kate is actually doing well at her current job. Between certain features in her eyes and these eureka moments, she's actually doing better than she was before.

"But yeah, I probably should get it looked at. I just... really... don't like the idea of someone poking around in my head." She sighs. "Of course, if something is messing with my brain right now it would be more than worth looking into. Any idea where I could go for something like that? Can anyone in GLoG help me?"

[The Bushranger]

[Fire Pit]

Boggarts do not have brains, no.

"Eerr... killing Boggarts with anything other than sanctified salt tends to be pretty hard. They're made of soot and stomping them just spreads them around until they can reform."

They're resilliant little buggers!

"Their pranks tend to be mean spirited in nature. Breaking tools, injuring animals, throwing dung down wells, souring milk. Things of that nature."

Wow.

These critters sound terrible.

"So, blowing them up psionically is out?"
Quinn raises an eyebrow!

[Rebonack]

[Fire Pit]

Freddie just kind of...

Well.

Stares at Quinn for a little while.

He looks a bit sheepish!

"Eerr... I'm not sure what 'psionically' means..."

That isn't a word where he comes from!

Silly psionics.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

Julie gives Kate a flat look, "Kate, who have I introduced you to that loves dissecting magical phenomena and has already taken a look at your problems with pixie dust?" Before Julie is even finished speaking, an empty slushie cup sails past her head into the open garbage can next to Prism's chair. The baby is surprisingly delighted at this, clapping excitedly and even giggling a bit as cheerful yellow rays collect around her upper body.

In a chair that didn't exist in this timestream moments ago, Waldorf is holding a cup of steaming tea and jug of milk, pouring as he speaks. He apparently arrived mid sentence, but this doesn't deter him from continuing.

"-definitely a problem with excess amounts of fey magic, although besides an identifiable spike some time ago, it's like cause by a slow bleed effect, either perpetrated by your own lax control of your powers or active sabotage by an outsider, the former being more likely than the latter. Since you are not entirely in the "pixie" mindset, or completely "human" your mind is distracted by the disassociation of being caught between states, and will be until you fix your problem or fully revert to being a pixie." Waldorf doesn't look up from his teacup until he's finished, and blinks at Julie's presence.

"Ah, hello there Julie. I would've thought you'd be in the bathroom by now. Lovely tea you made here, although you really could have kept it on the burner, as it's going to be cold in a few minutes."

Julie is thoroughly nonplussed by all this, including the fact that she was just about to take a second to nip to the bathroom when Waldorf showed up, now she turns to Kate, her expression a bit twitchy, "Mind if I leave you with him for a second? I have to go freshen up a bit and check on Scylla."

[UncleWolf]

[Forest Hut]

The welfen cub yawns and nuzzles her head into Waterstrider's chest. Her little paws grab hold of his fur

Renetta lies beside Waterstrider and rests her head on his shoulder. "She really is." She touches her daughter's paw.

Forest Hut

Waterstrider leans over to nibble his love's muzzle affectionately before nuzzling against her as he keeps one paw on Flamecrest to keep her warm. "I love you, Renetta." He tells her tiredly.

[Outside the Main Cabin]

Reelshka, as it happens, is passing by there. She smiles when she sees Pathfinder and heads in his direction... but then she sees his bandaged paw. She quickens her pace, concerned.

Outside Main Cabin

Pathfinder hears her familiar steps and turns to her with a smile. "Hello, my fair gobliness. The hunt went well." He informs her, hoping she wouldn't be too bothered by the bandages. They were fake after all.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

...

Crazy time archmage.

"Okay... so, it's an excess of fairy magic... blast, I didn't think the dusting was that bad. I mean..."

...

"Wait, I'm going to have to cooperate with you and give you the information that lets you come to that conclusion, aren't I?"

And then he will begin his talk, only to pop back in time, get the information and... wait... given the time frame... and the fact that he knew that...

"Wait... okay, I'm not going to think about that right now. You were saying?"

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Quite. I came to that conclusion by first scanning you to see what magic has been used on you in the last month, and then testing my theory about the spike by subjecting you to a large amount of fey magic which I stole from you during our initial meeting."

"After first fixing myself a cup of tea. Out of all of my sister's many talents, her ability to brew tea is my favorite." There is a massive snap of reality being pulled too far as the original Waldorf shows up standing next to the chair, grabbing the teacup from mid-air without spilling a drop. The first Waldorf has, of course, vanished from the timestream to be replaced by this one.

There's a muffled scream from the bathroom as Julie momentarily has to deal with two sets of smug, archmagery thoughts from her living room before reality untopples itself, which prompts a much louder scream from the twin's room as Scylla is woken up. Julie doesn't bother rushing through the bedroom, instead fireporting right to her baby's crib to calm her down.

Prism seems a bit agitated herself, her aura becoming a dark pink and her face scrunching up a bit. Maybe her uncle Waldorf is causing her some bad vibes, or maybe that last Oat-E-O went down uncomfortably.

Waldorf takes another sip from his tea, waiting for all the ruckus to calm down so he can get to the fun bits.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

...

Kate does not facepalm. That was... not nice at all. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

She wants to facepalm, but does not. It wouldn't surprise her if time was crying right now, though.

..."Shall we get started, then?"

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Of course we shall." And Waldorf casts an imperious hand at her, attempting to drag out an impression of all the magic that has been used on her in the last month. Assuming he finds what he's looking for, he'll take another sip with a more serious expression on his face as the crying dies down in the other room.

Then he whips his other hand around, sloshing the tea out of the cup where it turns into a massive wave of condensed bright orange fey energy that attempts to enter Kate's forehead and affect her a bit more so that Waldorf can observe the worsening of the condition. When the energy dissipates, the cup is gone too, presumably so that it can be used for the pouring of tea some time in the future.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate suddenly shrinks to just under four and a half feet tall; 4 foot 4 to be exact. She blinks a bit, looking somewhat confused.

"Was that really necessary? I mean, really?"

"Really?"

"Are you sure?"

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Magical rigor is always necessary. From this, I can tell that it's -" Waldorf poofs out of existence, back to when he showed up in the first place.

And in walks Waldorf from the front door! straight over to Julie's kettle, sliding a cup that wasn't there until he opened the cupboard out so he can pour himself a bit of tea. Once he's done with this, he moves over to his chair and takes a seat again, taking a sip before deeming it too hot and picking up the jug of milk.

"I suppose I could remove what I'm about to do to you now, but I'm honestly intrigued as to where the tipping point will be for this little anomaly. You've been steadily losing fey energy, albeit at a slower and slower rate, since the last spike, but if your "dusting" is what's causing the slowness of your recovery then there should be a point when it gets too frequent and too powerful for you to revert at all, and instead worsens your condition, because of the nature of being only partially a pixie making it harder to control yourself." Waldorf looks like he very much wants to steeple his fingers, but his occupied hands prevent it. He compromises by not yet pouring his milk.

"So convince me, discomfort more important than an experiment which could determine the cause of your troubles, and possibly reverse them or at least enable you to avoid these incidents again?"

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Oy Vey."

Kate pinches the bridge of her nose. Because... Waldorf.

"What experiment are you thinking of, exactly? The one that you just did/are about to do? Or are you implying something more? If it's the one you just did/are about to do, just go ahead and do it and not risk making... I don't know... time implode or something else. If you're thinking of something more, please detail it for me."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

Waldorf shakes his head, "It was the one I'm about to do. I can undo now what I'm about to do back then, since they both take place on your timestream linearly. If you don't want me to observe whether or not the energy leaves you naturally in the future, I can extract it all now and leave you as human as you came in. It may be somewhat disorienting though." That's a bit of an understatement. Going from 4'4" to 5'2" on its own would be nasty, but having a bunch of hyperactive magic suddenly leave you on top of that will only make things worse.

"If it does leave you naturally, and my theory proves to be wrong, we could arrange for further tests to be done. You are quite an intriguing case Ms. Kyland."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Well, you actually have a good point. I know it lessens over time, or at least is supposed to, but things like the rate... and... other things... I think that it should be measured. It'll probably make sense to me when I get better."

"Assuming I do."

"Go do your time thing and make time cry, or place some kind of scry thing on me and then do the time thingy. you went to all that trouble to do the time thing, just do it already."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Actually Ms. Kyland, I haven't done that just yet, having just arrived. Let me think on how this ought to work for a second. Obviously the teacup, the chair and the milk need to go back to when Julie goes to use the bathroom." The named objects vanish, leaving Waldorf balanced on nothing where he was sitting before, hovering in mid air.

"And I suppose I'll have to go back to steal that teacup back after I'm done making my analysis, just before I start my scan. Simple enough. Goodbye Ms. Kyland, and do contact Julie once your head is clear, or if your condition starts getting worse. I'll show up for another scan then, and we can get this over with non-invasively." And Waldorf goes as well, leaving Kate alone with Julie and the two kids.

Oh yes, that's right, Julie has just stepped out of the twin's room with Scylla cheerfully in her arms. The little betentacled baby is a bit chubbier than her older sister, but not by much. More importantly, she seems very happy to see Kate, giving an almost toothless grin. That's right, she's got her first tooth! Most of it anyway.

"Sorry about all that, did he, wait a second... That ass stole my teacup!" And the rest of her milk, but that's not such a big deal. That was a nice teacup.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"I should probably call work and let them know I'm not coming in tomor-hello there!"

Kate goes over to greet and examine Scylla. This close to pixie, Kate is getting the "It's a baby!" reaction that she was lacking before. If Julie has any questions to ask about what just happened, she will have to ask them of her specifically because baby baby baby =D

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

Julie already knows what happened here due to the mindlink she shares with Waldorf (which she usually avoids looking at, but with him messing around with Kate she couldn't afford to keep him unsupervised) so she doesn't ask anything more.

"Say hello Scylla!" Julie hefts the baby up higher, and Kate may be surprised to hear a tiny voice gurgle at her.

"Hello!" Scylla said a word! Julie beams with pride, although from the look on her face it's clear that this isn't the first time she's heard it happen.

"Little Scylla here is a talented mimic. Between her and Prism, we have quite the little duo."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Oh! So, she's just parroting for now? That's how all babies start..."

Wait...

"Wait... How old is she? Isn't she just like..."

...

"What day is it? Of the year, I mean."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

Julie has to actually look at the calender pinned to the fridge for that one, "It's June 2nd, which makes these two ninety days old. By looks, they're a bit over a year and a month old though, which is usual, if a bit fast for demon-blooded babies." Everything is faster if you add a bit of demonblood to the mix! Even go-karts.

Kate should probably stop thinking about demonic go-karts though. There's babies to fawn over!

"You can hold Prism if you'd like, just be careful. I don't think Scylla will let me go, as grabby as she is."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Aw, they're too old for peekaboo. They should be walking soon, right?"

She can hold Prism?

"Oh, of course I'll be careful."

She goes over to Prism, looks at her, and carefully lifts her out of the chair. If Prism objects in any way, Kate will stop and let her back down.

Of course, Kate will hold Prism properly for a baby of that effective age. Despite the fact that Kate isn't too clear-headed right now, permission to hold another's baby is a sign of trust and Kate is not about to betray any trust given to her. She is careful, gentle, and knows how to hold babies.

[The Bushranger]

[Fire Pit]

Freddie just kind of...

Well.

Stares at Quinn for a little while.

He looks a bit sheepish!

"Eerr... I'm not sure what 'psionically' means..."

That isn't a word where he comes from!

Silly psionics.

"You're not familiar with telepathy, telekinesis, and assorted other 'mind magic' abilities?" Quinn asks. Her eyebrow raising higher! "Those are my primary abilities when it comes to magic."

She can also Lay On Hands! She's only done that to Tobias recently though.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Scylla will still giggle at peekaboo, but Prism caught on early that you don't go away if you cover your face." Sneaky little Prism, who happens to be trying to grab hold of Kate's hair at the moment. It make take her a minute to guess why, but it's obviously because the glowing strands fascinate the little baby, much like her own lights do.

She doesn't object to being picked up, since it gets her closer to the hair. An odd thing will happen if she touches it though. The strands will glow green! Just as long as her fingers run across them though.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Prism doesn't have to do much to get some of the orange, glowing strands, especially since Kate will try to entertain her by wiggling her antenna in the baby's face! Wiggu wiggu! A positive reaction will result in more antenna wiggling! The result is sure to be adorable.

"What about walking? They should be at least able to crawl by now... well, I might imagine that Scylla would have a harder time due to the amount of limbs she has... that aren't really made for land locomotion."