GLoG 89

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

A gentle hand lays itself on Sophie's shoulder as another one sneakily steals a bit of her coffee cake and slides it up between Julie's smiling, immaculately painted lips, "Thattagirl. Azik's probably has some kind of affection draught you could grab, right? And if it doesn't go well, we could always get some well-reasoned, moderate revenge on someone to make you feel better. Drop a bag of Nicky's turds on VIGIL's front step for having a cooler title than GLoG or something else, right?" She jabs Sophie in the side with an elbow lightly, grinning wildly through her perfect teeth. She's so enthused about it, it's impossible to tell if she's actually joking or not.

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"Come on, Julie, it wasn't VIGIL that hooked me up with someone of incompatible sex," Sophie says, but her spirits seem to be lifted. "I'll play a prank on Tobias instead if it doesn't work out. He probably has it coming for something, anyway." She pauses. "I'd have to be careful buying the potion, though. I don't need it to make me attracted to her, or anyone, just... open up the possibility."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"And who says VIGIL doesn't have a harmless prank or two coming themselves? Anyway, I wouldn't be too worried about what potion you get. If it does make you attracted to her, then what you gauge it by is how you feel after it wears off. If it makes you open to the idea then there could be some intertia, your brain telling you that it's not right and such. You seem pretty open to things though, so maybe you're right to go with a milder option." A light shrug is had, and another morsel of cake, "Damn, if I actually needed calories there's no way I would've lost that baby fat."

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"I think so," Sophie agrees. "I don't have any, you know, hangups about dating a woman, I just don't feel attracted to them. And I hope Shrike doesn't decide to exploit the situation if she finds out." Hard to tell if she's serious.

[The Bushranger]

[By the lake]

Shrike happens to be working out here. And wondering why her ears are burning.

[Goblin vs Junco - Round Three - FIGHT]

"I had a little help," Brinika says, grinning. "Do you have a name, bird? You're smart and wear a fancy hat, I'm sure you have a name."

Tom preens at the praise. Fluffs his feathers. And chirrup-sings some more.

"Name's Tom, atcher service."

===

[MedLab]

Tovia sighs and turns back to Quinn, her cheeks faintly coloring. Yes, it has been a little over nine months. Are there truly no complications? That is such a relief. Despite her words, her eyes still show concern. She can tell that Quinn saw something and she doesn't know her sister-in-law well enough to trust her yet. Ah... I don't mean to offend you Quinn, but are you the kind of doctor that keeps her patients' medical details confidential?

"The only way I'd ever release information would be if it was necessary to saving their lives," Quinn assures, putting a hand on Tovia's shoulder. "I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror if it were otherwise. Even if sometimes Toby over there tempts me to do horrible, terrible, no-good very bad things with his data," she adds with a conspiritorial wink and a giggle.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Well there you go. And I promise I won't tell Shrike until it'd be really funny to gossip about it. Fair?" She's teasing... right? She's probably just teasing.

Probably.

"You'd better go shopping, and give that lady of yours a call."

[Morty]

[Rowan Cabin]

"I suppose I should," Sophie says, before impulsively giving Julie a hug. "Thanks, Julie. You've really helped me. I'll be sure to introduce Trick to you if things hit off."

[Goblin vs Junco - Round Four - FIGHT]

Brinika tentatively steps from behind her rock and sits down on the grass.

"Does everyone in your family wear hats and have names?" she asks the junco.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate Kyland walks up to Rowan cabin and knocks.

Clunk clunk clunk.

Kate frowns at her silvery hand. Now that her skin was made of living mithral, Kate kept noticing differences. Even small things like smells and the weight on her body. Not to mention that the metallic click of her fingers when she tapped them together gave her a feeling of Deja Vu.

Maybe she should have gone somewhere and asked for a dispelling first. Oh, well, too late now.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"I can already guess. I just get back from away and I've got a visit from Sophie already, so... Copi?" Comes Julie's melodic voice from beyond the door as it opens a crack. When it swings fully open she blinks, but that's just because of the glare off of Kate's skin.

"Okay, revising my guess. Someone built a Kate statue and you gained sapience?" She's good at this, but of course the real answer couldn't possibly be so simple.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate blinks. "Oh, you must not have gotten a chance to talk to Eric yet." Kate sees a lot of awkward in the near future.

Well... it's not going to be as much awkward as is in her past. Kate takes a deep breath. "No, it's me. I'm alive again. Okay, I didn't technically come back to life, and technically I'm not back, I'm here again... it's a long explanation and one way or the other it's really good to see you again!" Kate offers a hug.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Alright, tell me all about it." Julie returns the hug gingerly and pulls back, "Can you drink tea like that? I can put on a pot, but judging from the comic-book levels of resurrection complexity you're hinting at, I don't want to disrupt whatever techno-organic virus thing you've got going on now."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"Yeah, this is apparently just my skin. It isn't connected to my coming back, this just happened this morning and I've been around... a month? I don't know, I lost track of the days."

Kate will enter the house if invited in, and sit down somewhere before looking around.

"Man, the good memories in here are REALLY thick."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Ah. I home-schooled the girls over the summer in one of Waldorf's... things. It was practically a house. Anyway, I was always certain that you'd be back somehow. I don't know if this is at all relevant, but we preserved your body in stasis just in case something was going to happen." Julie pats the couch and goes into the attached kitchen to pour some cups, "Have a seat and start spilling missy! You and I have a lot of catching up to do."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate smiles and nods. "We do! Well... I guess to start with I'm not technically, physically, the Kate you knew. That body is still where you left it. I grew up in a galaxy with spaceships, ftl drives, laser weapons, all that stuff. And then I appear here, and not only are there people around that know me, I suddenly recognize things I've never seen and have skills I never developed, because I somehow picked up the memories from the previous Kate."

Kate sighs. "And so now I'm running around with two sets of memories. Thankfully, Copi managed to talk me into letting her and Eric into my brain and they did... something to sort the two different memory sets apart, so at least I'm not fumbling them together anymore."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

Julie nods and hands over a cup, exactly as the other Kate used to like it, "Alternate dimensional selves, got it. At least two of my family members thought they might be the same person from two different versions of the same world, but we never figured that out." Julie doesn't mention which two, because Ceres unmade himself and she can only vaguely remember him as having been a family member without any of the relevant details.

"So why are you all T-1000 now? Is that real metal in place of your skin, do your nerves still work through it, can it be cut, can it heal back together after a cut or do you need to weld it? Whole deal, because this looks like a pretty huge problem from where I'm sitting. I'd have thought you'd want it taken care of pronto over giving me a visit."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"It's mithral, apparently, and it feels fine and works fine. I guess my old life is rubbing off on me, because the first thing to come to mind after I got home was, 'I should go see if Julie is back'." Kate shrugs. "But there is a more pressing concern; you know how I was Nexused away from my other life? Turns out I'm still there."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Makes sense. It has to work like that for some people, because if it didn't then with how many people end up in the Nexus, their respective worlds would notice quite a few more unexplained and completely untraceable disappearances happening." Not that they don't happen, but there'd be enough of them to establish a pattern.

"Maybe you Narniaed out, and when you died you came back an instant after you left. Which means the other you could still come back if it happens again, and it could happen to you too, but the only way you could test that is to send someone to where you were when you left your dimension, then kill you here and see if you show up. Not very good if we test it and I'm wrong." Julie sips lightly. Apparently home-schooling a pair of half-spawns got her knowledge base way up on things like dimensional mechanics and ethics. Which... makes sense when they're just beginning to be (relative) teens and they have powers beyond most parents' comprehensions.

"But you really need to get that turned back into skin. If you get hurt underneath it, there's no telling if a doctor would have something able to cut mithral in time to perform surgery or drain off internal bleeding. It's pretty serious to not have cuttable skin. And even if it can be cut, if it doesn't grow back together then you'd have to weld it, right? That'd be its own nightmare." Welding something together on top of flesh... that actually does make her skin crawl.

[The Alexandrian]

[Redacted Cabin - Avoid All Contact With Infected Individuals]

Hoverbot(TM) receives a 1 Boot to the Robohead! Ouch! Stupid meatbag! It spins off back into the darkness. Justin might be able to hear it ping off of a nearby wall before it rebounds off of said wall and crashes into the back of Alyca's television!

Hoverbot(TM) will not forget this, meatbag! You will rue this day! Rueee!

While Hoverbot(TM) is busy whizzing about the room like a frisbee thrown by Hercules, Justin might notice that Alyca isn't doing so well. Her breathing is alarmingly rapid and shallow. She isn't helping Justin move her either...

-------
[Maple Cabin]

Oooo! Now this is starting to get interesting!

Khyli promptly ignores Mark's comment. He's just an quarrelsome toaster, so she honestly doesn't care what he thinks of her.

As for Sophie...

"And yet, you've done bugger all about it. No offense, but it's no wonder you failed to redeem my alt-verse mother - not that she ever believed she was in need of redeeming while she lived here."

"Speaking of which..."

A soft, violet light glows in the palm of Khyli's left hand (the one which isn't buried within a wall). It's nigh imperceptible, but she's definitely precasting something.

"I know about your power, and you'd best not try to use it on me. It's neat, I'll admit, but in this case, it's totally unnecessary. I'll be happy to take my leave of you after I finish soundproofing this cabin. Please give me a minute more to repair this."

Khyli will attempt to break off a chip of Timmy and Mark's wall. Only then will she withdraw her hand from it. She'll examine the color and texture of the chip before touching the wall and casting yet another spell. The hole in the wall should stitch itself shut as the properties of the materials of which the wall is composed is modified. When this process is over, Khyli will quickly depart as per Sophie's request, unless stopped, having altered the wall's physical properties (thereby upgrading the cabin). The cabin should be better insulated, flame retardant, and soundproofed if she succeeds in this action. With neighbors like those, soundproofed walls are a necessity, she thinks. It would've been cruel not install them.

Please note that Khyli may be interrupted at any time after her dialogue is finished. If Sophie makes use of her Voice, Khyli will activate her precast spell, whatever it might be.

The following day, Sophie might receive a handwritten letter of apology in the mail in which Khyli apologizes for falcon punching the wall and entreats Sophie to help Celica convince Cheasadh to reconsider her beliefs about tall people and etc.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"I know she's still there because I'm getting her memories, too. Sometimes, often when I'm asleep or just not doing much else, the memories from the two mes sync up. She's getting the memories from this me, and I'm getting memories from her."

And then, musing about metal skin.

"That is disturbing. Well, it's magic, so I'll ask someone about dispelling it tomorrow. A... Azik has that magic and spell store, right?"

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"He does. Say what you will about his jokes, but he's always reliable when it comes to removing unnecessary magic." Another light sip, and then Julie leans forward to look at Kate's eyes, which are about the only parts of her that aren't emitting too much glare.

Another downside of a shiny metal body, though a layer of paint really could help there, "So what are your plans? The usual job, volunteer, maybe some adventuring that the other Kate got up to? I suppose even if you are the same person genetically and you're sharing mindspace with her that you've got your own experiences. Things do change, even when you're away." She pauses for a moment, then adds, "And on the off chance she recalls this, Goodbye Kate. You were one of my dearest friends while you were here and I'm sure that you'll continue to be, if you ever come back." Satisfied that her message might get to the Kate she lost, Julie finishes off her tea, "Not to devalue you, sug, but you're not quite the same as the original to me. It's more of a second verse, alike to the first."

[OrchestraHc]

[Redacted Cabin - Avoid All Contact With Infected Individuals]

Hoverbot(TM) receives a 1 Boot to the Robohead! Ouch! Stupid meatbag! It spins off back into the darkness. Justin might be able to hear it ping off of a nearby wall before it rebounds off of said wall and crashes into the back of Alyca's television!

Hoverbot(TM) will not forget this, meatbag! You will rue this day! Rueee!

While Hoverbot(TM) is busy whizzing about the room like a frisbee thrown by Hercules, Justin might notice that Alyca isn't doing so well. Her breathing is alarmingly rapid and shallow. She isn't helping Justin move her either...

[Redacted Cabin - Beside Manner]

Oh. Oh Vault damn it. The bot was responding to an actual medical emergency. And Justin just kicked his girlfriend's nurse in the face. Maybe he should grab the thing...

Nope, no stopping. When you do something wrong and there's no time to stop, you dont apologize and try to make right. You hit the ground, roll, and keep running. This is GLoG. Best infirmary you've ever seen. It's clean and everything and has a ghost nurse.

Keeping his adrenaline going, he jimmies the door open and scoots out with Alyca. He gives a harsh, sharp whistle as he continues down the hallway. If he sees Miriah, and he probably will, he keeps walking and says, "Alyca is breathing erratically, I'm taking her to the infirmary. Grab the disease dossier from her desk and catch up. Do not trust the robot," as authoritatively as possible.

He does not stop unless physically stopped. He is in charge. He is to be obeyed, not questioned.

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate takes a deep breath.

"That... that actually means a lot to me, Julie." Kate smiles, a little sadly. "Hey. One of my regrets, if I had the time to regret, I don't remember my death yet, was likely that I wasn't able to say goodbye to you and your girls. It hadn't occurred to me, but... I hope that your message does get through to her somehow." Kate will try to hug Julie again before taking a sip of her own tea. "Truth be told, I feel very much the same way. I'm basically picking my past life up as a starting point, but... I don't feel like it'd be right to just be happy with it. I want to build something myself, I just have to figure out where to go from here."

[FireFox]

[MedLab]


"The only way I'd ever release information would be if it was necessary to saving their lives," Quinn assures, putting a hand on Tovia's shoulder. "I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror if it were otherwise. Even if sometimes Toby over there tempts me to do horrible, terrible, no-good very bad things with his data," she adds with a conspiritorial wink and a giggle.

Tovia giggles too, but it's more out of nerves. I think... I think it's almost over. The end is in sight.

[The Bushranger]

[Goblin vs Junco - Round Five - FIGHT]

Brinika tentatively steps from behind her rock and sits down on the grass.

"Does everyone in your family wear hats and have names?" she asks the junco.

Tom chirrups and sings, managing to look bemused.

He's still peering occasionally.

~Can't say that they do, Princess, ol' Tom 'ere's one of a kind. Say, got any grashoppers?~


[MedLab]

Tovia giggles too, but it's more out of nerves. I think... I think it's almost over. The end is in sight.

"And then you get to experience one of the most wonderful things in life: motherhood," Quinn agrees, smiling encouragingly.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

Kate takes a deep breath.

"That... that actually means a lot to me, Julie." Kate smiles, a little sadly. "Hey. One of my regrets, if I had the time to regret, I don't remember my death yet, was likely that I wasn't able to say goodbye to you and your girls. It hadn't occurred to me, but... I hope that your message does get through to her somehow." Kate will try to hug Julie again before taking a sip of her own tea. "Truth be told, I feel very much the same way. I'm basically picking my past life up as a starting point, but... I don't feel like it'd be right to just be happy with it. I want to build something myself, I just have to figure out where to go from here."

Rowan Cabin

"Oh lord sugar, don't tell me you came here without a plan. You should remember by now just where my plans got anyone. The safest thing I could probably recommend to you is taking up pole dancing. As a hobby, mind, it's really good exercise." And might help this new Kate actually get a date, of all things. Julie keeps that to herself.

"But if you want to build something, start there. Other Kate built her own AI when hopped up on pixie dust, and I can't imagine you're any worse with programming since you've got space-future tech in your head. Build a program or a robot or something that you think the world's lacking. Maybe something with absolutely no potential to self-replicate and slowly consume the world though. Tends to happen and all that."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"No, I meant more... metaphorical than that. Build up my own life. Maybe move out of the apartment. I'm not sure what I'd do with a lawn, mind you. Maybe just get something more than a three-room apartment. Actually pursue a career instead of sitting in one place. Pfft, maybe I'll start writing again. I know Copi's been writing something on-and-off for a while. Maybe I'll start actually designing AIs. I do know how to do that now, it's just that the equipment is expensive. But get a hobby, one way or another. Get more involved in GLoG. Do things. I don't want to say I feel like I have new lease on life and all that, it's more that I feel like I've been given a lot of charity, and I still need to accomplish things myself."

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

"Sounds very solid and not at all metaphorical. Just turn those maybes into goals, and if they don't interest you once you go after them... then let them go and find new ones. Nothing but time and effort lost, and that's only temporary, right? It sounds like an interesting life to pursue."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

"I'm not sure what you mean by interesting, but goals are something that I do need to set for myself. I've always had trouble with those beyond the concrete next step. You know, get a job, get an apartment, that kind of stuff." Kate thinks for a minute. "You know, I wouldn't be against an occasional adventure if it were the more normal kind of adventure. The 'visit-the-town' kind instead of the 'save-the-town' kind."

'Try something new' instead of 'be the hero'. 'Get lost in firth' instead of 'get lost in insmouth'.

[Slii Arhem]

Rowan Cabin

I mean it sounds like you'll have a lot to keep you going. Here I am with a life, a job more or less sewing for a few clothing stores that I sell to, an amazing husband and a pair of adorable children, and I'm not doing anything but. I've settled, and it's fine, but from my point of view your new start is quite a bit more interesting than my daily routine."

[Lost_Deep]

Rowan Cabin

Kate smiles a little. "It sounds like you need something new to do, too. I think that Copi's life is a bit extreme, but I can understand her angle: eventually, any routine begins to feel less like an accomplishment and more like a set of obligations."

"...hey, where are the girls? I'm surprised that they didn't swarm me when you first opened the door."