The Twofold Houses 5: Rebuilding

[Gullara]

[The Mithar Keep]

"Um, nope. Wenomir says that's for older kids." Cora explains as she takes back her sword. "Oh, but I'm really good at pushups! See?" The girl drops to the floor, putting her sword beside her, and starts doing pushups. Ten of them!

"Nuh uh, you're strong, mommy." Jillian protests.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Mithar Keep]

The gargoyle have been present at enough of Cora's training sessions to know to keep his distance once weapons are drawn. Not that an accidental hit by a wooden sword would hurt him but that the sword itself might break against his stoney hide. Which is something that has already happened more than once.

"Not as strong as your sister will be. Look at her go." Cessie gestures at Cora. "She's going to be able to lift you like I do soon."

[Murkus]

[Molerat Wranglin']

Viviana shivers and stomps in the mud, laughing with the little girl. She turns herself toward Gwydion and Cern, seeming to consider the boys for a moment. The matronly lady bends over towards the water, looking down into the shallows, and mutters a few scrambled syllables. The words seem to have a shape, a solidity of their own, rippling through the air to touch the surface of the pond.

A couple bubbles emerge from the surface. They're very large, and they float in the direction of Cern and Gwydion if they aren't quick... bursting over them to douse them with the pondwater!

Spooky Encounters!]

Laela can be tugged close. The little things seemed harmless, but this new purple one was weird, and it was in their house without their say-so. Still, she tries to be a fearless princess. "Get out of here! Leave us alone!"
____________

"Oh my gosh!" Lucy is aghast... for a second. "They look... kinda cool!"

A pause. That noise... Lucy definitely starts to get a bit nervous. "We should, um... we should call my mommy." Which Lucy will definitely start to head towards. Of course, if the power's out and not just the lights...

"We gotta watch out though. The phone's in the kitchen."

[Sweet Dreams]

Adir will follow. He's got nothin' to do except observe for the time being though. Except maybe manage to make a bad joke. "Sorry in advance if you guys see anything too illuminating about me in there."

[Morty]

[Molerat Wranglin']

"Maybe you can visit Underside again and then you'll -" Tuskfang's idea is interrupted by a rather high-pitched squeak and giggle when Lucy splashes him. The woblin retaliates by splashing the water with both his hands, unaware of the doom creeping over Cern and Gwydion.

[Reinholdt]

[The Mithar Keep]

"Mmm, maybe," Ilpholin says, not as convinced. She is convinced that Cora is very good at pushups though. The evidence is pretty clear. "You are quite good at that. I bet you get record times on the obstacle courses huh?" Ilpholin says with a smile. That reminds her she needs to get with Mister Squiggles and start designing new obstacle courses.

The nymph looks up at Bastion. "What do you have there?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Spooky Encounters!]

The two ghosts suddenly back away from the children as if they had been afraid of the third newcomer.
As Laela yells at the new ghost, she only seem to make it more entertained as it's smile quickly grows wider. Then it starts to wave its wand around while uttering some weird words, or just noises, it's hard to tell.

However, should no one interrupt it Laela will suddenly get a new haircut as her hair grows suddenly grow even faster than her little sisters. The excess hair will disappear after roughly 30 minutes, not that Laela will be aware of this.

This happening is amusing this spirit greately as it starts cackling like crazy.

---

The two girls will see that the light from the refrigerator is still working as the door is open, the sound they heard being someone or something rummaging around in it. They can see a pair of flat feet, the lower part of a round body and a small hand gripping the fridge door.
Then the creature suddenly stops and they can see it lean back, catching a glimpse of a single cyclopean eye.

((As a size reference.))

[Sweet Dreams]

"Don't worry Adir, I won't judge anything you do in the privacy of your own home. I have great respect for that." Cessie assures him as they head upstairs.

"Your part won't be very complicated, miss Frescot. I will simply set the device near the bed as you lay down. Then you should simply relax as I will help guide you and miss Mithar to sleep. Then you will simply wake up and we will be done. You might remember parts of what happened as a dream, but it won't be much more than that." The scholar explains and will once they reach the bedroom move a chair over to the bed and sit down on it. Looking at the others expectingly.

[Gullara]

[Spooky Encounters!]

Bastion blinks at Laela's sudden hair growth. "That ghost's crazy." He murmurs.

Emboldened by the other kids at her back and the other ghosts retreating, Cora faces this newcomer boldly. "Go away! This isn't your house!" She raises her sword again.

---

"Where? We're in the kitchen." Jillian whispers. And freezes and her eyes widen when she hears the noise. She turns and peaks around the opposite side of the island.

...

"Aahh!" Jillian screams and runs down the hallways in the opposite direction they'd come before. She turns to hide behind the side of the staircase.

[Sweet Dreams]

"Alright. I'm pretty sure I can do that." Sakura lays down on the bed, tucking a pillow behind her head. "It might be harder with you all watching me, though." She laughs a little.

[The Mithar Keep]

"I'm super fast." Cora boasts confidently.

But now it's Bastion's turn. Once he's prompted he steps past his sister. "It's my magic orb." He holds up the glowing, light blue orb. "Cora had one too, but she lost hers."

"Nuh uh! I just can't find it."

Jillian giggles. "Do you have muscles, mommy? Like miss Jezebel?"

[Molerat Wranglin']

Lucy squeals with delight and flees the counterattack. Of course, she gets about as wet splashing across the pond as she would getting hit, but she doesn't mind.

The boys are pretty distracted when the sneaky bubbles approach. Gwydion's head turns upward at the last minute, though! He squeaks and rolls out of the way. Cern is caught unawares though. He gets drenched! And so does David. He's looks around in utter shock. What?

[Shadowcaller]

[The Mithar Keep]

Cessie shakes her head. "I'm afraid not, ladybug. Miss Jezebel have trained her entire life to get muscles like that while I've only trained my eldritch muscles. That's how we have Garn and all the elementals. They're being strong for me. Just like miss Jezebel." She smiles widely at her daughter.

[Morty]

[Molerat Wranglin']

Tuskfang turns around briskly when Cern and Gwydion are suddenly splashed. Where did all this water come from?

"What happened?" he asks.

[Reinholdt]

[The Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin glances briefly at Jillian and Cessie, but it's hard to keep one's attention off of Cora. "Mmm... fast enough to run around the Keep in five minutes?" Ilpholin dares Cora.

The nymph peers at Bastion's orb. "What's it do?"

[Murkus]

[Spooky Encounters]

"Gack!" Says Laela, if it could be called 'saying' anything. She reaches up and grabs at her new 'do, making another confused sound. "The heck! My hair!"
________________________

"Oh, yeah," Lucy squints into the dark. But it isn't so dark in a minute, and Laela squeaks out a scream as well, hurrying after Jillian... Or what she thinks is after Jillian. She might veer off while she can't see real well like this!

[Molerat Wranglin']

David is decidedly displeased with this sudden soaking, but suddenly wriggling free of Cern's grip only ends up dunking him in the pond!

Speaking of dunking... Viviana smiles sweetly at the boys before she flicks her hand again, and numerous round bubbles start to float from the top of the pond, slowly pursuing the scattered children. One or two of them even contain a very confused looking frog!

[Sweet Dreams]

Adir settles nearby and crosses his arms. He still doesn't look too happy, but he's here.

[Shadowcaller]

[Spooky Encounters]

The 'ghost' doesn't seem to fear neither of the girls, no matter how much they posture. Though something about what Cora says seems to catch it's attention. "Missma?" It utters, complete nonsense of course but the first time it has actually said anything.

Then it cackles once more and with a quick movement of its wand a new spell is cast.

This time Cora will turn invisible but her clothes and the things she's holding won't. In turn the spirit seems to have now assumed the girls apperance. It would likely have looked exactly like her if not now wearing this outfit (though with a much longer skirt) and still levitating around in the air.

It then giggles, sounding exactly like Cora, and starts flying straight for the portal while continuing waving it's wand around. The two other ghosts quickly hide as the third one starts moving towards them. One behind Laela's new hairdo and the other behind Bastion.

As the Ghost!Cora waves it's wand the perspective of the portal changes from looking over the keep to what Cora and Bastion will recognize as the VIGIL base (as their mother have taken them there once or twice, mostly on Cora's insistance.)

---

The strange creature will look after the girls as they run but then turn back to the fridge and start to stuff its mouth full with its contents. They can likely hear it starting to munch on the Frescots food even as they're hiding away.

[Sweet Dreams]

Cessie will lay down on the bed next to Sakura. "Would it help if we held hands?" She asks the scholar who seems to consider the question for a moment.
"Actually, yes. It could." She answers with a nod.

The sorceress then takes Sakura's hand and squeezes it. "Alright then, we're ready."

"Very well." Ambrosia glances at Adir. "I'm now going to put them both to sleep, so don't be concerned, alright? And don't breath in my breath." Adir will only get a few moments to consider what that means before the scholar takes a deep breath and then breathes out a stream of mist that quickly starts to settle over the bed and its occupants. Quickly lulling both Sakura and Cessie to sleep as they breath it in.

[Gullara]

[Spooky Encounters]

Bastion gives Cora a bug eyed look. He tries to speak up and say something about this, but Cora hasn't noticed what's happened to her yet.

She does, however, see the identity theft! "How'd you- Hey! Come back here!" She runs after the doppleganger!

---

If Lucy goes astray, Jillian tries to wave her over. "Psst psst!"

Once they're both behind the staircase, she sits with her back against the wall. "It's not chasing us." She whispers.

[Molerat Wranglin']

There's a moment of pause as the kids absorb what's happening. Then chaos. Lucy shrieks, and then runs laughing toward the edge of the pond. It's hard to move fast when you're knee deep in water, though. The boys each scramble to their feet. "Run Tuskfang!" They split, though each moving generally in the direction of the house.

[The Mithar Keep]

"Pfft! That's easy!" Cora exclaims. Then, to prove her words, she turns and runs out of the room one more time.

Bastion watches her go, but then looks back to Ilpholin. "Um, it glows." He smiles. "But you need the lights off." Even in the light it's clearly emitting light, but it's true the effect is diminished.

Jillian considers that for a moment. "Will Cora have bigger muscles than yours?"

[Terumitsu]

[The Mithar Keep - A Package!]

Or.. Mailslot? Where does the mail go at this place?

Regardless, there was a very neatly wrapped container there. Freshly delivered by drone and everything. Which may or may not explain where this came from depending on if Cessie used the internet or not. Or maybe she just used some kind of aether-flavored equivalent.

None of that mattered to the package though. It just sat there.

Waiting.

Very.

Very.

Patiently.

[Morty]

[Molerat Wranglin']

Tuskfang seems ready to run himself... but then he sees what's in the bubbles. Frogs! That's a chance to catch one after all and prove he's a hunter just like his dad. He runs purposefully towards one of the bubbles carrying a frog, trying to either get hit by it or grab it.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Mithar Keep]

"If she keeps up her training, yes." Cessie remarks as she watches Cora run out the door. That boundless energy... "Unless of course I start to train too. It's never too late." She chuckles.

[The Mithar Keep - A Package!]

If it had mattered to the package, Garn would probably have been more concerned as he approached it.
Grabbing it he first inspects it for any labels or other information he can gather from it's packaging. If there isn't anything on the package that he's familiar with, such as a name or title, he will then move on to open it to inspect its contents as well before even bringing it into the courtyard. Due to the demon threat and the fact he hadn't been told to expect any sort of package, that was simply what he did these days. Could never be too careful.

[Murkus]

Spooky Encounters

Now that's just a bit more eerie, for little Laela. "Oh no! C-Cora, it's gonna pretend it's you and... probably do bad stuff and get you in trouble!" Just like in every evil clone episode of every cartoon ever. "Bastion! Can you do something?" Laela might be overestimating his 'magical' abilities from when they play together... But he does also have wings.
____________________

Lucy finds her way back to her friend. Once they're safe again, she squats down, pursing her lips together in thought. Her ears perk and flick as they listen. "Naw... I guess he's just... hungry?" You would think a monster would be more hungry for little girls and boys, but nope.

A thought. A genius thought! "I got an idea! I got an idea!" She spreads her hands, smiling at Jillian. "We lure him outta the kitchen with a trail of our candy! Then we can get at tha phone!"

[Molerat Wranglin']

Viviana strides out of the pond, still keeping her dress off of her wet legs, immensely pleased with herself. She turns as she hears a pop, and probably finds a very wet Tuskfang with his arms around one very fat frog. "Oh my goodness! Tuskfang! Well done." She applauds softly. Meanwhile, a number of the bubble-bound frogs start to converge on little Lucy... And of course, the boys will still be pursued by the floating amphibians, possibly all the way back to the house.

[Sweet Dreams]

Adir presses his lips together a little tightly. He smiles as the women join hands, happy that at least Cessie is gonna be the one to do this, and nods to Ambrosia. The elaborate display of magic doesn't really dismay or surprise him at this point, being a long time Nexusian, and he just stands back to watch over them.

[Shadowcaller]

Spooky Encounters

Cora can catch up with the spirit but it's floating just out of reach of her little hands. It turns around in the air and sticks out its tounge at the quarter-dragon once it has almost reached the portal. This is followed by a menacing cackle.
The other ghosts are still "hiding" by covering their eyes while just floating in the air near Bastion and Laela.

---

The sound of the monster eating through the fridges contents does not stop. It must be really hungry.

[Reinholdt]

[The Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin mentally starts the clock, but Bastion is still around.

"Ah," Ilpholin says, hoping it did a little more than it was already doing. It was probably more impressive in the dark as they say. "Are you studying how it works? I bet you anything your mom has a lot of good books on the subject."

[Terumitsu]

[The Mithar Keep - A Package!]

The package didn't mind. It wasn't a sentient thing after all.

Garn would, however, see... Were those characters or musical notes? Maybe just some kind of emblem? Underneath whatever that was were the words "Heln-Gelter Thaumaturgicals" It depends on if he would remember that name or not.

If he opened it.. Or just opened it anyway, he'd find... A.. Dress? It was something that certainly would fit the tastes of the lady of the house while also managing an extra bit of flair with what seemed to be thin ribbons of silvery.. Was that metal? It flowed like fabric.. There wasn't much, strictly speaking, but it certainly made for an interesting trim.

Below that would be what could best be described as the mating of a velvet glove one might find paired with an evening gown and gothic plate mail.. That is to say, it looked far more as a decorative piece than actual armor while still being sleek enough to be an accessory rather than a centerpiece.It too was made of this silver-white.. Pseudo-fabric-metal.. Stuff..

And below that would be a small, satin box in which sat a pair of what looked to be ruby earrings. The trim as well was apparently this silvery metal but this time it acted like metal was expected to, at least... But the innards of the gemstones themselves seemed.. Well, they glittered as if they held dozens and dozens of tiny stars and if one were to take a jeweler's monocle to them, one would feel as if they both contained faint threads inside which refracted light where they crossed.

And then there was a small, round disk with a small blue button. That probably did things. Important things even. Maybe even explain what the hell this all was. Cessie might want to see that first assuming that this all didn't just end up in the trash somewhere.

[Gullara]

[Sweet Dreams]

Cessie will lay down on the bed next to Sakura. "Would it help if we held hands?" She asks the scholar who seems to consider the question for a moment.
"Actually, yes. It could." She answers with a nod.

The sorceress then takes Sakura's hand and squeezes it. "Alright then, we're ready."

"Very well." Ambrosia glances at Adir. "I'm now going to put them both to sleep, so don't be concerned, alright? And don't breath in my breath." Adir will only get a few moments to consider what that means before the scholar takes a deep breath and then breathes out a stream of mist that quickly starts to settle over the bed and its occupants. Quickly lulling both Sakura and Cessie to sleep as they breath it in.

[Sweet Dreams]

Adir presses his lips together a little tightly. He smiles as the women join hands, happy that at least Cessie is gonna be the one to do this, and nods to Ambrosia. The elaborate display of magic doesn't really dismay or surprise him at this point, being a long time Nexusian, and he just stands back to watch over them.

[Sweet Dreams]

Sakura smiles at her friend and squeezes her hand. She nods and then closes her eyes. As the mist washes over them, she falls into a deep sleep.

---

The next thing Cessie knows is she’s standing on a rise, looking over serene forest. Each tree as far as the eye can see is a cherry blossom tree in full bloom. Over the distant horizon the sun is rising, bathing the forest in light.

Before her is a path, packed by foot travel. It meanders down into the woods below. Behind her is… she doesn’t actually spare a thought to behind her, does she. Nor does she think about how she got here. She simply did get here and there’s no reason to look backward right now.

[Molerat Wranglin']

Tuskfang seems ready to run himself... but then he sees what's in the bubbles. Frogs! That's a chance to catch one after all and prove he's a hunter just like his dad. He runs purposefully towards one of the bubbles carrying a frog, trying to either get hit by it or grab it.

[Molerat Wranglin']

Viviana strides out of the pond, still keeping her dress off of her wet legs, immensely pleased with herself. She turns as she hears a pop, and probably finds a very wet Tuskfang with his arms around one very fat frog. "Oh my goodness! Tuskfang! Well done." She applauds softly. Meanwhile, a number of the bubble-bound frogs start to converge on little Lucy... And of course, the boys will still be pursued by the floating amphibians, possibly all the way back to the house.

[Molerat Wranglin']

Lucy squeals and tries to run away! But the bubbles are overwhelming. At the last minute, the girl ducks and covers her head. “Stop!” In the same instant, the orbs around her stop and then collapse. The water splashes around her feet and confused frogs hop every which direction. Lucy looks around, confused that she never got drenched.

Cern and Gwydion don’t run that far. They go into a thicker crops of trees and each grab up a stick! They turn toward the bubbles and brandish their weapons. If the bubbles continue to approach, they’ll get a prod. To pop them!

[The Mithar Keep]

"If she keeps up her training, yes." Cessie remarks as she watches Cora run out the door. That boundless energy... "Unless of course I start to train too. It's never too late." She chuckles.

[The Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin mentally starts the clock, but Bastion is still around.

"Ah," Ilpholin says, hoping it did a little more than it was already doing. It was probably more impressive in the dark as they say. "Are you studying how it works? I bet you anything your mom has a lot of good books on the subject."

[The Mithar Keep]

“Um, not really.” Bastion brings the orb closer to himself again. He looks at his mom curiously. “Do you?”

Spooky Encounters

Now that's just a bit more eerie, for little Laela. "Oh no! C-Cora, it's gonna pretend it's you and... probably do bad stuff and get you in trouble!" Just like in every evil clone episode of every cartoon ever. "Bastion! Can you do something?" Laela might be overestimating his 'magical' abilities from when they play together... But he does also have wings.
____________________

Lucy finds her way back to her friend. Once they're safe again, she squats down, pursing her lips together in thought. Her ears perk and flick as they listen. "Naw... I guess he's just... hungry?" You would think a monster would be more hungry for little girls and boys, but nope.

A thought. A genius thought! "I got an idea! I got an idea!" She spreads her hands, smiling at Jillian. "We lure him outta the kitchen with a trail of our candy! Then we can get at tha phone!"

Spooky Encounters

Cora can catch up with the spirit but it's floating just out of reach of her little hands. It turns around in the air and sticks out its tounge at the quarter-dragon once it has almost reached the portal. This is followed by a menacing cackle.
The other ghosts are still "hiding" by covering their eyes while just floating in the air near Bastion and Laela.

---

The sound of the monster eating through the fridges contents does not stop. It must be really hungry.

[Spooky Encounters]

“Hey! Stop looking like me!” Cora shouts, ineffectual. She can’t reach the ghost, not even with her sword!

Bastion goes wide eyed when laela prompts him to do something. In a moment of panic he throws his costume staff at the fake Cora.

---

“Good idea!” Jillian whispers excitedly. “We left our candy on the stairs.” Thankfully that’s right here. The girls tiptoes quietly out in front of the stairs and head up to where they’d stopped part way before the lights went out. She feels around in the darkness for the candy bags.

[Shadowcaller]

[Sweet Dreams]

Dream logic, it wasn't the first time Cessie encountered it, nor would it be the last.
The sorceress continues down the path and simply let's herself enjoy her sorrundings. She didn't expect to find any danger here which was a huge relief, but that didn't mean this would be easy. Sakura's might not be dangerous, but she nontheless expected it to be as complex as any other persons behind all the facades.

She will simply be on the look out for what this dream world would have in store for her next.

[The Mithar Keep]

"Thad gave it to you, didn't he, Bastion?" Cessie smiles at her son. "So either you can ask him, or we could try finding out together at some point. I don't know myself so I'm just as curious as you are."

[Spooky Encounters==>Spooky VIGIL Encounters]

Bastion's staff flies by ghost!Cora and into the portal where it disappears, which the girls doppleganger also will after tapping its witch-hat in the quarter dragons direction, bidding her farewell with mischievous grin on its face.

Cora will however be able to enter the portal too if she keeps running and will suddenly find herself at the VIGIL base.

---

They can no doubt find the candy bags they left there. The monster is not paying them any attention this time and just keeps devouring the food inside the bridge. It's only pausing when it seems to have some difficulty opening up a jar. "Clops..." It moans.

[The Mithar Keep - A Package!]

Garn never forgot the name of a troublemaker and "Heln-Gelter" certainly fell into that category. He wasn't too found on mysterious packages but now he was downright dreading whatever this person had sent to his master. But at least she hadn't delivered it herself. Now that would be a pain, just like the other times.

He carefully inspected each item, hoping to be granted a reason to simply throw them all out. But unless they explode or caused some other undesirable effect simply from being observered and touched, there would be none of that. They didn't look like bombs after all, not that Garn gave them much more credit than that.

Unsatisfied, the gargoyle would give the world outside the keep a stare, knowing that Riss was out there somewhere, before he went inside, closing and locking the doors behind him.

---

"These didn't come with instructions, Garn?" The sorceress inquires as she opens the box herself. She had retreated into her lab as she found it best to deal with Riss inventions in here.
"No." The gargoyle shook his head while keeping an close eye on each item in case they would suddenly animate and attack.

But Cessie soon found what might be just that once she noticed the disc. Takes it up and presses the button as Garn stares wide-eyed at the horrific scene before him. What madness would the master unleash now?

[Morty]

[Molerat Wranglin']

Tuskfang stands there for a moment, staring at the amphibian in his paws, as if not believing what he's seeing. Then he laughs.

"I caught a frog! Cern, Gwydion, Lucy, look! I caught a frog!" He runs towards his friends, holding the frog in his hands, too caught up in his triumph to pay attention to much else.

[Reinholdt]

[The Mithar Keep]

Ilpholin tilts her head, having believed Cessie gave Bastion the orb and surprised she didn't know how it worked. "Who is Thad?" She asks.

"Oh. And speaking of books, we should probably go get the ones we talked about huh?" Ilpholin says, slowly starting to stand, finding momentum harder to generate. "As soon as Cora gets back anyways."

[Terumitsu]

[The Mithar Keep - A Package!]

There was an almost cartoonish 'Bweep!' as the button was pressed. A brief flash of light swung around the edge of the little device as the same musical-note-esque logo shimmered into being at Cessie's eye-level with an accompanying tinkling like glass wind-chimes. It was all very much designed to be rather soothing yet cultured presentation but that was to be expected from a 'professional' presentation after all. The logo faded out to be briefly replaced by 'Heln-Gelter Thaumaturgical' before that in turn was replaced by: "Detected: Cessie Mithar and One Other. Contents of this Smart-Manual are recommended to be kept confidential. If this Other is a trusted party, please press the button twice in succession within ten seconds. Otherwise, this device will shut down until re-activated." Though she wouldn't know it unless she asked her gargoyle about it, Cessie was the only one in the room able to see this message.

If she went ahead and decided that Garn was a 'trusted party,' or if she waited until later to activate the device, the words "Please select the topic of interest by vocal command" appeared as holographic images of the earrings, glove, and dress appeared, each gently rotating in space.

Spoiler: The Dress

Show

Upon selection, A two-dimentional frame would appear, replacing the holographic images of the glove and earrings while that of the dress expanded to take up the remaining space. The window showed a playback of Riss looking.. Happy? Pleased? She seemed to be enjoying herself if the smile was anything to do with it. Probably looked odd given how un-emotive she had been previously. "Hello Cessie! So, as you will probably see in the glove entry, that adamantine you've given me can do some really cool stuff when alloying it properly. Toss in a dollop of titanium, a pinch of tungsten, a few other elements in a proprietary blend and you get, well, a 'programmable' metal. Have you heard of memory metals? This is kind of the same concept. I won't bore you with the details but if you want to know the science behind it, just ask the manual once this presentation is done." she began. The scene behind her very clearly had a rather stripped-down version of the garment that had been delivered resting on a mannequin but there was no mistake that they were of the same make. And then the muse hefted a firearm into frame. "Considering your affinity to heat, magma, etcetera, I decided to capitalize on that when making something of a defensive bent for you. What's interesting is that while in it's pure form, the adamantine would be inimical to your craft, alloying will alter that property. Now, I will admit that this is by no means a perfect measure but given that this is supposed to be a defense they didn't know you had, it's still useful. When struck by any majorly thaumaturgically sourced construct or discharge, the material of the garment will deform which will release a... Sorry, getting too technical again. Basically, it will behave as if it got hit by something physical while diffusing whatever thaumaturgy you got hit by." she said, touching something offscreen before a circle of runes lit up around the mannequin and struck it with alternating bolts of what looked to be fire and lightning. To the sorceress' trained eye, it was clear that no single discharge of energy would be strictly lethal but it would certainly really suck to get hit by one without any defenses. All of them combined, however...

Regardless, as advertised, the proto-dress crumpled like armor being beaten in. Riss moved over to the garment on display, and pulled it off the mannequin which, while gently singed in places seemed to be largely undamaged. Still, the dress looked like it could stand to have a good ironing.. Or three but it was quickly replaced before the muse returned to the foreground. "Now, it will degrade the more it wrinkles up and will be less effective as it does so but that doesn't mean this is just a single use thing. I did mention those memory-metal properties. An interesting function is that you can 'program' metal to take certain shapes when heated to a certain temperature. This is the same concept even if the actual science behind it is almost entirely different. By applying a high enough heat for a certain duration of time, the fabric will 'unwrinkle' itself and return to it's original state." she said, snapping the fingers of her free hand as the circle around the mannequin began to gently glow while the air inside shimmered from the high heat. The muse stood stock still despite lettering appearing on the window stating "Playback showing an accelerated timeframe." with a counter showing how much time was actually passing as the dress quite literally unwrinkled and resumed its flowing appearance with no apparent indication it had been so disheveled mere minutes before. According to the timer, a bit over six minutes had passed and, rather helpfully, a recommended temperature was supplied that Cessie would likely find to be easily achievable with her abilities. "As a bonus with this latter property.. Well, watch:" she said as she pointed the gun behind her without looking and fired off three shots, each causing the same wrinkling crumple as before but in a way that showed any impact felt would, at best, leave a bruise rather than piercing through the dress and the person wearing it. Putting the gun down as if it was perfectly normal to land blind shots like that, she added:"I would say that anything more than small-arms fire will.. Well, that's more than this is rated for. You'll likely survive a higher caliber shot or two but, well... There's a lot between just surviving and thriving if you catch my meaning. With that said, you shouldn't notice much difference in weight compared to something else of the same cut though it will still be heavier. Plus I managed to make it feel quite similar to charmeuse so it should be comfortable! Aaaand, best part for last: At lower temperatures, you can alter it's hue!" Riss said, making one last gesture as the dress began shifting from the deeper blues to a near-turquoise. "Hope you like it!"

Spoiler: The Glove

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Upon selection, A two-dimentional frame would appear, replacing the holographic images of the dress and earrings while that of the dress expanded to take up the remaining space. The window showed a playback of Riss looking.. Happy? Pleased? She seemed to be enjoying herself if the smile was anything to do with it. Probably looked odd given how un-emotive she had been previously. "Hello Cessie! So, as you will probably see in the dress entry, that adamantine you've given me can do some really cool stuff when alloying it properly. It's a proprietary blend but it's so coooool!" she said following up with a quickly stifled giggle. "*Ahem* So! I had the idea for this when I.. Actually you don't need to know what I was doing at the time. Sorry, getting ahead of myself. Anyway, this little creation is probably my second favorite. In some ways I almost feel jealous of handing it over but, unfortunately I don't even have the capacity to use it regardless of how much I like it. So, when heated to the temperatures you see below, you will get different.. Effects." she said, moving out of frame as the image zoomed in to show the glove inside a runic circle which jolted to life with a gentle gleam as the muse tapped the edge of the ring with her foot. Of course, as mentioned, there were three different temperatures listed with the first two being relatively 'close' together in scale. All of them, of course, were well within Cessie's ability to achieve and maintain. Quite rapidly, though, the glove changed and wrapped, almost appearing as if it would just 'peel' itself off of the arm it was covering to where a 'handle' would remain. It looked.. Something like a firearm in many ways but it seemed where the 'handle' pressed against the palm there was an aperture which fed into the barrel. The trigger was perfectly functional as well but how the muse had managed to get such a thing to work from the initial base was.. Well, it would probably take far more time than it was worth to figure out how she had managed that feat. "Now the first two configurations are, admittedly, potentially superfluous for you but I figured you were intelligent enough to determine if they have any use to you or not. This first one will, when heated, can be made to eject bursts of super-heated air for a short-ranged deterrent if you want something that will definitely hurt but not kill.. Unless you want to give someone a really bad time, I guess.

"Now just a bit warmer and if you were to conjure and feed magma through this aperture here.." she said, pointing at said gap in the handle from off-screen with a wooden rod which immediately burst into flame at the end just by crossing over the runes. It was quickly pulled away after the point had been made and soon after the sudden, sharp hiss of something on fire being dunked into a lot of water followed. "You can create a near-molten obsidian 'bullets' which can then be ejected with similar velocities to a standard powder-charge assuming you keep the same temperature going. If you can mange it, I would highly recommend rhyolitic magma considering it's high silicate concentration." she said. "If you want, you can see further effects from testing by asking the manual later. Basically it'll explain how the charge is made, shaped, and rifled before firing as well as how pressure is built up before you fire. Also exact timings on refire rate as this is obviously a semi-automatic given the involved processes." she added. It would fire a bit slower than a mechanical counterpart but the actual effects of the near-molten glass bullets on a polymer human target simulacra would be.. Well, frightening might be one way to put things.

Moving on to the last temperature, the material rapidly shifted again to imitate the shape of a rapier. As before, the 'handle' would appear to easily remain in the user's palm during transformation even if the grip changed somewhat as some of the excess material formed a basket hilt. While looking just like a normal sword, there was a high hissing noise issuing from it... And a heck of a lot of visual distortion coming from the edges. "While this may not look as impressive as the previous configurations, this wasn't any less of a feat if you don't mind me saying. It incorporates a similar idea from the first 'deterrent' configuration but vents out heat a rate and at such a focused point that whatever you strike will behave as if you just blasted it with ionized gas in the grand majority of cases. So be careful where you point this thing. Plus you can block and parry with this weapon without too much worry of breaking it in a 'normal' sword fight as it will just momentarily deform and then snap back to it's programmed shape.

"And when you're all done? Just let it cool and it'll be a glove once more! One thing I would like to draw your attention to is that at no point would you have seen this material 'glow' like you might expect from metal under high heat. Generally if a metal starts to glow, it'll start to actually permanently deform so I had to go through a lot to get this kind of resistance even with the material I had to start off with. I hope you don't need to use this but if you do, I hope you find it useful!"

Spoiler: The Earrings

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Upon selection, A two-dimentional frame would appear, replacing the holographic images of the dress and glove while that of the dress expanded to take up the remaining space. The window showed a playback of Riss looking.. Amused in a pensive sort of way. It was almost as if she couldn't quite decide if she should be giving out a particularly juicy secret or not. "Hello Cessie. Unlike the other two, I am not going to tell you how these work. You won't understand it. I'm not saying this to be mean, it's just that I'm not even sure if I should be giving these over to you in the first place.. But.. Well, what's the point of making something to be used and then just not using it? They aren't inherently dangerous but.. Well, let me just describe it in the best terms I am able. Consider each earring to be like an additional capacity for your ability to concentrate on manipulating what you call Aether. Rather than having to constantly concentrate on something, these will act as sub-minds that you can delegate that concentration to. Now, that isn't to say they will be able to make decisions for you or that they can manipulate anything on their own but they can be 'programmed' to perform tasks on your behalf as you focus on other things as long as you provide the initial source to work from. So, in short, basically pseudo-brains that you attach to your own that will help you do more of what you normally do. An augmentation, if you will. Only while you wear them, of course." she said with a sly smile. "This one is perhaps my best work of the three. I especially hope this is to your liking."

[Gullara]

[The Mithar Keep]

"He's the babysitter. He watches us sometimes." Bastion explains. He fills in the gaps the Frescots can't fill at least. As much as Sakura might try, she can't provide 24/7 childcare.

"It can make sounds too." Bastion remembers all of a sudden. "He holds it in front of his face and closes his eyes. A moment later it emits the sound of gentle rain over a lake. He opens his eyes and looks to Ilpholin again.

A moment alter Cora comes running back into the room. She's breathing heavily, but still very lively. "I told you I could!" Her estimation isn't off. It certainly hasn't been five minutes.

[Sweet Dreams]

Cessie's fully among the trees in moments. In every direction there are trees, blossoming pink, except for the path in front of her and behind her which extend as far as she can see. Sunlight streams through the canopy. The temperature is pleasantly warm; it's a beautiful day.

The trees appear to shudder, as if blow by a breeze Cessie can't feel. A squirrel squeaks on a nearby branch and a few songbirds flit through the tree, cross her path, and continue on their way. She can hear the calls of birds in the air now, and the rustle of life in the undergrowth.

"Cessie!" A familiar voice calls, though it's unclear from what direction. "I didn't know you were coming." The greeting is like so many she's heard before.

[Murkus]

[Spooky Encounters]

Well, at least Bastion tried. Laela squeaks her friend's name and pursues her through the portal if she can.
___________________

Once Jillian has brought them back, Lucy tells her "Good job!" And holds her finger to her lips for silence. She will creep over and start to lay out a trail of candy next to the creature, one after another, leading it in a long trail through the house. Then, if she can, she'll take Jillian's hand and circle back around, hoping the hungry thing has taken the bait!

[Molerat Wranglin']

Pop, pop and pop! The boys don't have to worry about fending off the floating frogs for too long, thankfully, because when Lucy demands for them to stop, they all stop. At least in part because Viviana looks back over towards her, her concentration fading, and blinks several times. "Lucy? What did you do?"

Her eyes track to Tuskfang as he scurries past to show his friends his prize. Vivi's thoughts are still all about Lucy, however.

[Gullara]

[Spooky Encounters]

Looks like they're all running through the portal, with Bastion trailing behind.

---

Jillian just follows initially, but she has an idea as they back out of the kitchen. "This way." She guides Lucy's candy laying into the living room to wear Cora, Bastion, and lae's candy piles are still sitting. "It'll take forever to eat all this." She explains.

[Molerat Wranglin']

The boys blink in surprise and then let out whoops and cries of triumph. They did it! When Tuskfang comes running over they go to meet him. "Wow, good job!"

"He's a fat one." Cern laughs.

Lucy looks at least as surprised as Viviana when all the bubbles popped. She looks at her grandma with wide eyes. "Ummm, stopped it?" Yes, she's pretty sure she did that.

[Morty]

[Molerat Wranglin']

Tuskfang grins toothily.

"Is he? I dunno how big frogs usually are. Or how to tell if it's a boy frog or a girl frog. Should I put him back into the pond?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Mithar Keep]

Cessie gives her daughter an applaud as she comes storming in. "Very impressive. Maybe you should come along on one of my walks sometime." She would adress Ilpholin too but right now her daughter had to take center stage and she knew how much athlethic achivements mattered to Cora.

[Spooky Encounters]

Bastion and Laela will arrive at the same location in VIGIL as Cora did. Though the question is if the portal leads here now, then where would the portal from the keep lead?

---

They can hear another moan, this one in triumph, as the ghost managed to get the lid open and pour its contents into its maw. It doesn't seem like it has seen the candy trail they left yet so perhaps they need to do something to call attention to it, other than waiting for the fridge to get empty of course.

[Sweet Dreams]

Cessie stops to look around to see if she can see anything that stands out in this sea of pink. She was in Sakura's mind after all so suddenly she imagined herself somehow being lost in the dryads own hair. Was that that this was? It certainly evoked the idea to be on someone's mind in a very literal way...

"Sakura? Where are you?" She calls back.

[The Mithar Keep - A Package!]

No explosion or surge of chaos. Garn looks almost disappointed that his predjuices towards Riss weren't confirmed. No, it looked like things that eventually would lead to chaos no doubt.

Still, Cessie looks through all three projections and finds herself impressed. She hadn't know what to expected from Riss after all this time but she had no idea that she had put so much effort into this. So the fact that the scientist seemed to have enjoyed it did not come as a surprise to her at all. Seemed more like an requirement after all this.

Still, enjoyment or not she had to do more to repay Riss after this. It would be unbecoming of her to owe her so much after this. She realized that she couldn't respond to the projections and since the instructions didn't mention it there didn't seem to be a way to reply to the scientist. A letter wouldn't do, partly since she wasn't sure what Riss adress was, though she imagined she could look it up in the package, but mostly since she felt it wouldn't be enough after what Riss had given her.

But first thing first, before she would reply to Riss at all she should probably try out the items. Proper feedback was something she imagined Riss would want more than anything else. Or that was at least the impression she got from watching all the projections.

She would need to set things up first, and ask someone to help her out with the tests...