Inside 66: Order up!

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

"No, your plan is sound. I will not be the mass, though."
The thought of a positive shell around himself literally makes his skin crawl. Wisps of shadowstuff flicker across his body in a disturbed wave.

Edict frowns and slips closer to the exposed wall, examining it.
"I need enough surface to create the containment area around the anomaly. Once it is broken, I need them restrained from the sources of their power."
Worship, for most gods, supplies a flow of power to them that makes them hard to surpass. Cutting them off from that flow can rather effectively neutralize a large portion of their advantage.
Others draw from other things, but the concept is generally the same.
"A charming god eater was contained with this arrangement, it should work."

Without waiting for the Professor to move anything else, tendrils flick out of Edict's form and begin carving symbols into the wall.
"One of the gods in here owns this cafe."
A familiarly predatory grins creeps onto his face, his vaguely contained madness overjoyed.
"I made her and I will unmake her. A beautiful experiment that bore fruit beyond my wildest expectations."

Manic glee drives his carving tendrils into a faster flurry, covering every surface he can with the spread of glyphs. If the Professor doesn't move his wires fast enough, they're going to become part of his containment plan.
"The other is a friend of hers, a death goddess that has been unusually sociable in the city. A little bonus prize I hadn't expected, but will happily accept."

[Devixer]

Kushiro Inn

Keiko lets out a sigh. "It is much the same in my home. Wars are fought over where someone lives. But I get the sense that it is different here. That with all this size and... difference, in machines and people and places alike, that people here have bigger problems than whether one follows the Path, worships the Ten, the Spirits, or any gods.

[Earl of Purple]

Kushiro Inn

"I do not remember what god I worshipped. I remember being in a choir, and the word for me has religious connotations, but... Beliefs, practices and symbols are all lost to me. I hope you are right, and I am worrying foolishly." Makuro still has doubts, however, though they are eased. That two people from such different worlds agree that humanity doesn't tolerate differences within itself suggests this world may not be as accepting as they hope.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"That word you're using, Edict, I had rather hoped you'd have moved past engaging in such silly behaviour." The floating Affy-hologram folds his arms, looking rather unamused. "If you created one of these creatures, it's hardly worthy of being called a god, is it? Come now, whatever powerful creatures they may be, whatever sources of power they may have, they are not gods. There's no such thing." Divinity is a lie and Affidavit will hear nothing to the contrary.

After all, look at them! Trapped in that bubble, so helpless. How could such a creature ever be considered a god?

Some pieces of equipment are moved out of the way, some are not. A few wires and cables here or there, who cares? It's not like Affidavit has reason to care about resources now - it's all there for him to use and discard as he sees fit.

"A containment area to cut them off from their power, hmm? Interesting. How long can you leave it up for? With enough time I dare say I can figure out how to replicate it. It'd be a useful tool to have. But of course, if anything goes wrong, you do realise I'll happily drop everything on the spot?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

Edict doesn't even deign to reply to the Professor's criticism of "god". He doesn't care. Divinity is a matter of fact.
It's omnipotence, however, is far more questionable.

So he continues mumbling to himself for a few moments, scrawling enough glyphs throughout the space surrounding the anomaly to make the surfaces nearly impossible to focus on.
"I can't contain both of them for very long, with just this. A day or two, perhaps. Only the death goddess is going to be paying rent, though."
The other one really won't be here very long at all.

"Presuming she doesn't immediately break containment, I will need to grab a few things to bolster the trap.
If she does break containment, I assume I won't survive long enough to upset with you abandoning me."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"Well, of course I rather hope all goes well, Edict. This should prove to be a fascinating little thing to observe." Trapping a couple of deities powerful creatures. Sure. That sounds like a "little thing".

But it would be a useful little thing to replicate.

"How does something like a death goddess even come about? What justification can there possibly be for a god of a natural process? Death comes to you all eventually." To you all. To everyone else. Affy found a few ways to game the system long ago. "I'd rather you not be at risk of losing your own life just yet, mind you. I assume you have some sort of exit strategy if it all goes wrong?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

"Oh, the first part shouldn't be much of an issue. Shouldn't. It should go quite well."
In fact, it's the only part of this he knows for a fact is going to work!
The rest of it is just very educated guessing, really.

Edict has slowed in his etchings, now, instead drifting around and carefully inspecting his various symbols.
He periodically corrects or scratches in more.
"In some places, there are spirits that govern natural forces, either being directly responsible for their existence or having been brought into existence by the reverence of mortals. That is how most deities come to be: reverence or recognition. Or terror. Terror appears to be a good divine spark. I imagine Death draws a bit from all of the above."
This is more or less how he knows divinity to be a fact, despite Affidavit's disagreements. Also a bit why he finds it a bit petulant and foolish. In some sense or another, it's just another scientific classification of being: entities brought about/sustained by worship or reverence, or otherwise govern rather notable forces and gather notice because of this.
"There are...magically dry realms, run purely by mechanical forces, where this makes no sense perhaps. Many, various beings are so intrinsically tied into the fabric of reality itself that they very literally embody the concepts they are known for. Such as death."
Again, it is foolish to find this disagreeable. The laws of existence care not for your agreement.

Another symbol is adjusted, a slight flourish tacked onto a point curving into another neighboring glyph.
"And no, there's no particular exit plan for myself. I will perish."

That's what the 4th Edict was for, squirreled away in a dark warehouse. Surrounded by workers moving boxes and supplies to and fro, he sits in the middle of carefully prepared magic circle, muttering and sustaining a different magic.
It's safer if the Professor is unaware of this one for the time being.

[Devixer]

Kushiro Inn

"Truth be told, I am hoping so as well. But if I am wrong... know that I am your friend, if that brings any comfort." Keiko smiles and nods to Makuro. They still knew very little about each other, but it's hard to face such a strange place alongside someone and not feel something akin to friendship with them.

[Earl of Purple]

Kushiro Inn

Makuro smiles at Keiko. "It does, yes." Makuro still doesn't know that much about Makuro; her amnesia is pretty comprehensive, and most of what she's remembered about before she's already told the other woman.

The hoopoe is still here! Asleep. It hasn't awoken yet.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"They only have power over you if you're willing to buy into their illusion." Technically true. The effects of the divine don't really work on Affidavit, so potent is his denial, his disbelief. "A god of death has no more capacity to kill me than any other being. They have no more power to deny my death than any other being either. Death is not theirs to control, it cannot be, and yet as long as people insist on believing in it- you included, Edict."

One might imagine that Affidavit is like poison to a deity these days.

His refusal to accept the existence of a power so clearly demonstrated in front of him would easily be considered quite foolish, yet if everyone were to display the same behaviour...

"Still, I suppose I can't judge you too harshly if you're going to drain them dry of their silly fake powers. In your hands, at least, it will be worth something. Unless you're secretly sustained by a cult making periodic blood sacrifices to you. I shall leave you to it and observe." The hologram fades away, the lights dim, the cafe is reduced from a frantic buzzing to a faint hum. How peaceful.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

Faithless.
Edict pauses slightly and considers the space around him. The Professor is silent(ish) and non-visible, but undoubtedly still here.
"You are more fortunate than most, Professor. Most mortals of...such afflicted realms are tied into The Way Things Are rather intrinsically themselves, by their souls or other means. If they resist as you do, disbelieve as you do, they pay for it later."
A great wall, stretching into a truly boundless horizon, faces screaming, howling, begging for any release so kind as destruction.
He would find it a more amusing thought, barring particular circumstances.

The shade's voice falls to a murmur as he backs away from the anomaly and his rather complex runic prison.
"So few can really say and mean 'no strings on me'..."
Edict rolls his shadowy shoulders, moments before the green flames of his eyes gutter out, to be replaced by a dark flickering blue.
A sequence of purple runes dimly glow into existence along his left arm, heralding the glow of a seemingly random assortment of the runes carved around the room.

After scarcely a moment, a vague pattern of a circle can be seen along the floor and running up the walls around the anomaly, following the three dimensions of the environment rather loyally.
A random assortment of other runes scattered around the room also glow, though by and large the vast majority of them remain dark.
"For your records: I engage only a basic containment circle, to avoid antagonizing the anomaly. It should be enough to buy the few seconds to energize the rest, when the space has been normalized.
The others are your 'lances of life'."

Here lies the final moment, the precipice of his planned-but-rushed endeavor. He came for one goddess, that he knew quite well, but landed a far bigger fish than he expected in addition to the originally anticipated guppy.
Things will go quickly, success or failure.
"Hehehehe. Bon appetit, witch."

Spoiler: Reality breaks for a few moments.

Show

Edict clenches a purple glowing fist and jerks it towards the anomaly, drawing the more errant glyphs into a searing bright white glow. There are several cracking noises from around the room as the glyphs tear out linear portions of the structure beneath them, rocketing towards the anomaly.
The Professor's positive-coated material projectiles.

To anyone but the Professor and his finely tuned monitoring equipment, time seems to lurch forward in an uneven and jerky one, like a film put on slightly-too-fast-forward.

The missiles strike.
The dome brightens, grows nearly to the border of the symbols.
Reverses course, shrinking and collapsing to a singular, slash-shaped point in space.
A grim looking figure in a dark cloak throws a small boy who had been hiding behind her towards the broken portal behind them.
A terrified woman in an orange cloak throws a small girl in the same direction.
Time buckles again, the children are gone, the figures facing Edict.
Every glyph in the room flares to life and the two cloaked figures stagger.
The orange figure falls to her knees.
Another jerk in time.
The black figure pressing against an invisible barrier and the lights growing blinding, flickering.
Edict raising a figurine of an obsidian obelisk, yelling unheard into a rumbling growl consuming the room.
The orange figure falling further, black motes breaking free and leaving absence of flesh behind.
One last jolt in time.
Approaching viewable normalcy.

Edict holds the obelisk figurine in his hand, quivering with no small amount of power, and the wild glee of near-madness overtaking his features once again.
The orange-cloaked figure who had been inside the runic prison is there no longer, leaving behind only the figure in the dark cloak who stands motionless and watching.
More than a few of the various glyphs have gone dark through the room, leaving much of the array patchwork and uneven, but seemingly enough to keep the last deity from leaving.

They watch as he drives the pointed tip of the figurine into the center of his chest, shoving it deeply enough to begin protruding from his back.
A wild, screaming laughter erupts from the shade as he falls to his hands and knees, jerking and twitching as wisps of shadowstuff engulf his form like flames.

As the scene settles and the laws of physics decide to be cooperative once more, Edict is left kneeling on the ground in an almost worshipful pose, seeming to burn with a lightless black fire.
A transparent, black shard of obsidian spears him through his chest and back, but otherwise causing no immediate discomfort as he giggles under his breath.

The black cloaked figure within the empty space where the anomaly had existed stands large motionless, observing silently.
Their cage of runes glows dimly, but patchwork.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"Witch."

An eery, hollow chuckle echoes around the building as it hums back to life, so infested by Affidavit at this point that one might as well consider his equipment and the cafe all part of the same thing. With but a thought he could likely collapse several of the walls and undo Edict's hard work. But where would be the fun in that? He has a prisoner! A fascinating one! One that should be studied as much as possible in whatever brief window of time is available, particularly since-

"She will be making an appearance then?" The hologram of Affidavit flickers back into view. He strolls over the room and stops, standing over Edict, leaning on his cane as peers down at his old colleague. "Do I need to start mocking you too, Edict? Are you going to claim yourself a god having consumed something undeserving of such a title? Would a god still be someone else's puppet?" As Affidavit talks, his numerous appendages and pieces of equipment are re-arranged, bringing every sensor, every camera lens, every little tool that Edict has given him to bear on Edict's captive. "In a way, I'm rather disappointed. You're capable of marvellous displays such as this, yet you're still stuck under her thumb. You ought to have found a way to escape by now. You're better than this. Or, at least, you should be." Edict's mad giggling is apparently of no concern to Affidavit. In fairness, very little is these days. Here he stands, a phantom born of electricity, without a care in the world.

But enough taunting Edict. Onto the important business. As he seeks to observe Edict's prisoner in every manner imaginable to draw as much information about the cloaked figure out as possible, he walks his hologram over and crouches down in front of the figure. "Greetings, false goddess. Rarely do I have the pleasure to engage in conversations with those who would pretend to be divine in such, hmm, peaceful circumstances?" Usually he manages to antagonise them within a few minutes. Perhaps he'll end up doing the same here and burst Edict's bubble earlier than he'd like. "I hope you feel like talking. I'd love to know how you can claim to have domain over death. Your kind fascinates me, as much as I despise you for being fakes- we are all fake. But I'll learn what I need to learn regardless of what you say, so why not keep our conversation pleasant? What's your name?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

A good old fashioned taunting!
If Edict even hears it, he doesn't defend himself. Instead his giggling tapers off into a sort of gasp, the flickering blackness across body building up in appearance to a roaring flame.

"It can't hear you, child of Random. The divinity it has consumed must be subdued or else perish."
The caged goddess could be gazing at Edict. Could be the Professor.
A bit hard to tell when there's literally nothing detectable in that cloak. Shadows would be jealous.

Just a cloak that prevents any light at all from revealing what lies within. There doesn't even appear to be any particular amount of power or magic emanating outwards.
The cloak itself seems to be rather densely divine, magical, whatever the Professor wants to define it as, but it has everything tightly reined enough that it is projecting nothing more than the image of the dark shroud.

"You may know me as Libitina. You share the title Professor Affidavit as your name."

[Devixer]

Kushiro Inn

"Now then, I believe there was discussion of breakfast. If we were in my land, I would be all too happy to prepare rice and rainbowfish for you. But instead, I suppose we shall have to look for something else." Keiko is still keeping an eye on the hoopoe, but as long as it hasn't awoken, she won't disturb it.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"Interesting." Affidavit's eyes light up. Literally. The beam of light being emitted in them just jumped up several levels in intensity. One could roughly compare it to if Libitina was being stared down by two lighthouses.

The power fizzles out near-instantly from the neighbourhood.

"That name is very, very old. I wonder how you know of it? Knowledge of the history of the Nexus must exist somewhere. Perhaps you are simply an avid reader? Albeit someone who must skip over pages when bored, since your statements are incorrect." Try as he might, Affidavit can't hide a slight smirk creeping across his face. It's fun telling people they're wrong. The Edict thing is a little bothersome. Affidavit glances over his shoulder at him, deliberately avoiding letting the light come into contact with him. Edict vs Lighthouse probably doesn't end well. It's a sort of awkward look while not looking.

It's all for show anyway.

"That name is simply another psuedonym. Falsehoods upon falsehoods. Just as I am simply a fake Affidavit- we are all fake. Him in memory but not in form. Not his child. His children are his creations, and they live without need for guidance now. I would be impressed by your knowledge, if it was accurate. Libitina. Libitina. Tell me, why do you look like that?"

[Earl of Purple]

Kushiro Inn

"I am sure that is a fine breakfast, too. Though I don't know what a rainbowfish is." Makuro moves to the door, light on her feet and not disturbing the hoopoe. She'll unlock the door and open it for Keiko to leave first.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

That's almost considerate of the Professor, to not add more physical fuel to Edict's discomfort. Maybe it helps?
He's not yet in a position to be appreciative. Still burning.

Libitina's sleeves drift behind her back and settle there, in a presumed idle hand-holding gesture. Mostly just looks like the sleeves fuse.
The searchlight eyes' gaze upon her accomplishes little, beyond make her seem even darker against the surrounding brightness. After a beat, a faint silhouette of a face becomes visible under the hood.
A courtesy, under the presumption that this is what the Professor seeks.
"I do enjoy a good book. That is not the case, here, however. When you initially breached the daemon's wound, I stole a glimpse along related time. The gloomchild's machinations were prudent to investigate, for their immediate relevance. Admittedly, less time was spent on yourself, there could be inaccuracies."
She only had the briefest moment to glean what she could, her power is not infinite. Obviously.
Edict still ate her friend.

"Our names are what we are called, they cannot be fake beyond deliberate deceptions. Even these, however, define us in small ways and acquire validity. You are called Professor Affidavit. If you disagree, you will have to argue with all those who call you so, such as the one on the ground just there."
A small gesture to Edict's frame.
You are Random's child in that his efforts directly contributed to your existence. The beings that were in the employee of this business were the children of my companion, in the same manner. This is a point of pedantry."

And largely, she assumes, not of genuine interest to the Professor unless he just lives for silly arguments. Doesn't have the same value as direct information about her divine little self does.
"I look like this because I want to look like this."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"Hmm. That makes sense. It was not a one-way mirror, after all. Unfortunate that I lacked the equipment to look through your past. I imagine it would have been most illuminating." More's the pity. Looking through time is not easy to do. And often not wise to do. Indeed, it would be very dangerous to risk having an effect on someone's past. "You could cause inaccuracies with your actions as well, you know. Observation is not as passive an activity as you may think." Affidavit is observing right now, and it's hardly a passive activity.

An array of sensors remained focused on her, in case of any interesting developments, but for now Affidavit seems content to sit down (or pretend to sit down) and talk.

"Setting aside your gross misunderstanding of what a child is, then, you're still displaying a lack of knowledge. There never was a person called Random, it was a falsehood, it was a lie. Calling me the child of Random, irrespective of whether I am a child or not, is still wrong. And I am a fake- we are all fakes because the real one is still out there. Just...hidden. Ah, but you're right. I'm splitting hairs. I do that a lot." Affidavit chuckles. He could talk all day if he wasn't careful. He has before.

It's so refreshing being able to acknowledge his own flaws.

"Perhaps it seems irrelevant to you, but it's interesting to me. A person is born with a set physical form, yes? Shapeshifting aside, we have our set appearances and that's that. So I'm curious as to whether you are simply flexing your magical muscles to shift your shape, or whether you're completely lacking in a, hmm, a base form, if you will. Were you born at all, for that matter?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

"Mm, my nature provides some degree of safeguard for prior events. I doubt you would find such a view of myself terribly interesting."
Quite a bit of standard reaper practice in there with quite a few "boring" people. Some amount of simple existence. Some amount of antagonizing doting on Magtok. Etc.

She inclines her head somewhat at the Professor's "splitting hairs" comment, in as neutral an agreement of topic cessation as she can.
That line can be left where it is, lest one or both of them get irritable about stupid definitions. If he wants to continue...too bad.

Libitina is more agreeable towards the topic of her form, though. It's less open to debate. Slightly.
"A little of A and a little of B. My conceptual existence is formless and abstract. The entirety of 'death' cannot be condensed into a form such as this. I suppose I was birthed when mortal minds attributed a consciousness to what was unknown or terrifying to them. I'm unsure if that is accurate, but it is a theory that has been presented to me that fits other similar beings."
She shrugs, not overly concerned with the details of her initial existence. It's been a very, very long time since that was relevant.
"For your original question, at the moment I am presenting this form by magical will. Typically it is based on some degree of perception on the viewers, on their opinions of death.
This cage restricts me somewhat."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"What you have done in life is, I suspect, largely irrelevant to me. Although a thorough understanding of how your powers become applicable to persons when they shouldn't be- there's merit to that. Death does not require you. You're completely superfluous to the whole process." Affidavit rubs his chin thoughtfully. Sort of hitting the nail on the head there in terms of why he has an issue with Libitina's existence specifically. People die all the time. What lunatic decided there needed to be someone else involved in that process? It's just a thing that happens! Libitina is like the completely unnecessary, overpaid consultant that businesses keep around for...reasons.

"And of course, your "birth" would also provide some very valuable insight. If you yourself lack knowledge of how exactly you came to be, well, that's a question that needs to be answered, isn't it?" Think of all the helpful things that could come about with such knowledge! You could engineer the existence of deities as you see fit! "After all, if I know how a false-god comes into existence, I'd know how to break the cycle and rid these blind, foolish creatures of some of their idiocy. A rarity...I'd be doing the Nexus a favour if I prevented the lot of you from ever existing." Oooor you could do that. That's more of a typical Affidavit response.

"Considering my own opinion on death is that it's irrelevant to me, I'm rather surprised you have a form at all. I'm a ghost- a phantom in the midst of all the technology to be found within the Nexus. Why would I ever be concerned about death?" Affidavit shrugs. He hovers. He lets himself fade in an out a few times. He can't help himself. He delights in the own absurdity of his own existence - really, the projection is just there to make it easier for people to interact with him, and for him to show off. "And yet, you're a darkened cloak that shrugs off all light. Is it Edict's influence? Your appearance is still sort of "scary" and "mysterious", isn't it? Seems very different from what I'd expect to see."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

If the Professor wasn't so inherently grating, Libitina might smile or respect this line of thought. It has good points.
Instead, she shrugs a bit and seems to glance off towards one of the walls.
"Perhaps I am not necessary here. The 'Nexus' works under strange rules. Some places truly do need one such as me, where the consequences of being trapped in this cage would have immediately become catastrophic."
No death, anywhere. Which isn't remotely as appealing in practice as it sounds.
A lot of just about dying but not being able to seal the deal. And then being stuck like that.
"Here, I suppose I am more akin to a living patch of water within a great ocean. By and large, it moves on unthinkingly as intended, yet here I remain. Part of it. Intimately."

She finds it refreshing, sometimes. Takes some of the pressure off.
Being solely responsible for this mad house of a universe would be too much for any single being.

"With that in mind, your question of my birth really won't give you a helpful answer. Not here. Where perhaps I came from the faith of the mortals, another could have created the idea of death in the first place to inflict upon the mortals. Another simply born into existence at its inception.
You won't find a single answer. Logic's grip on the 'Nexus' is tenuous, at best."
This really does make her smile, though it's tricky to tell in the facial silhouette. It's just so amusing.
A bit like Magtok. So illogical, yet so earnest and endearing.

There goes the smile.

Libitina walks around the border of the prison a little, until she's closer to where Edict has fallen prone.
"It's influence on my current appearance is minimal. This is just a stereotype and simple to maintain. Though I imagine it would be far different otherwise...your concern about death does not make it irrelevant. All things end, some day. The cosmos has a time limit, something all those within it share.
Even if their arrogance blinds them to it."

One of her arms swings back around, towards the edge of her containment, and a single pale finger slips free of the rather literally clinging blackness.
It drags down the invisible barrier, leaving behind a horrible visual kaleidoscope of colors and causing most of the nearby sigils to flare brighter in protest.
"Do you care for that thing in any small way, Professor Affidavit?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"The Nexus is both incredibly frustrating and extremely important. That you can exist here, that the next false-god will have come about in a completely different manner- it may make my research more challenging, but it also ensures it will be much more complete. Perhaps it will prove to be an endless task, but I'm learning from it the whole time." Affidavit folds his arms, content to simply sit and watch as Libitina explores her prison. He has, well, he has some stake in all this, but not much. "And I have rather a long time to learn everything I need to know. You say all things come to an end? Sure, as they are now, it's only a matter of time. But it's rather a lot of time. Time a'plenty for me to find a way to prevent everything from ever ending. Call it arrogance if you must, but what I propose is not impossible." It's like building a wall, brick by brick. Every brick another little piece of knowledge. Give a single person enough time and, one brick at a time, they'll still build one hell of a wall in the end.

It's all just a matter of time. And that's not running out any time soon.

"I suppose in a way the Nexus is almost a "safe space" for all, isn't it? The laws of different realities seem to just combine here. I had wondered if one set of laws would triumph, if one reality or perhaps a series of realities with similar laws would have so much more of a presence here that they'd end up overriding the rest. My years of observation have led to the conclusion that it's too well balanced for such a thing to occur, though. There is no dominant reality, and new ones are mixed in too regularly for it to ever really settle down." Nothing can ever be simple. When someone's constantly rewriting the rules behind your back, it becomes rather challenging to keep track of what's actually going on.

And then there's the perpetual thorn in Affidavit's side that is deadtime. Life goes on around him and at times he does not. Bothersome.

"I'm curious, Libitina, what is it you're doing here?" The question is ignored for a moment as he refocuses on what she's doing to her prison. "Are you bending the bars of your jail cell, or breaking them? Or are you just driving your warden mad-" He nods towards Edict, "until he gives in and leaves the door unlocked?" There's a pause as Affidavit scratches his chin thoughtfully. It's not often he considers whether he actually cares about Edict. "I suppose I must. Once upon a time I knew a number of people of value - be it for their use as test subjects, their loyalty to me, or occasionally for their ability to collaborate with me on projects. Nowadays I only really have Edict to lean on, and I suspect I do need someone. So I care in the sense that I would be forced to find someone else to periodically associate with if he wasnt around. And as engaging as our conversation is, I can't imagine you'd have any interest in talking to me outside of your cage." Despite his words, Affidavit shrugs and walks a distance away, leaving Libitina to do as she pleases. "I might have the means to hinder you from harming him, but not with the resources at my disposal. I will say this, though - if I understand the situation correctly, breaking out of your prison and trying to kill him will likely just make things much worse for you. I'm a bit of a passive observer in all this. Although of course, observation is never quite as passive an activity as it may seem."

[bc56]

Busy Corner

Kothar leads Jonas to a street corner not far from The Olympian. "I saw him here. He jumped through a portal and ran away. I chased him here, but he escaped me."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

Whatever Libitina is doing here, it doesn't include continuing the breadth of her and the Professor's conversation at the moment.
She stares down at Edict, her silhouette faintly tinged by the wild colors sparking away from her finger as she claws it down her prison wall.

Runes grow brighter and Edict's form seems to quiver along with it.
Almost like a tuning fork being strummed.

The strobing colors cast a wild appearance on the death goddess, but there is a sense of satisfaction here now.
Her head turns back to the Professor, but she doesn't stop what she's doing.
"You have a narrow window to save its existence."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"I see. I see. You're not irritating the warden, you're poisoning him. Now assuming I understood Edict's description of this prison correctly, which is certainly questionable, you should be cut off from that which gives you your power. You should be reliant on that which is innate to your form. So either false-gods are less reliant on external support over time, or you're draining your own batteries to do this."

Affidavit turns and looks at Edict again.

"But his are draining faster, aren't they? I don't know how much I care about him, but I suspect he was expecting me to aid him if necessary. And I don't particularly care to figure out what I do without him just yet. So if you're poisoning him, perhaps I should give him the antidote."

The lights go out. The hologram of Affidavit remains, an eery blue spectre in the darkness, his lamp-like eyes turning to fix their beams on Libitina once more.

But darkness is not absolute yet. He's glowing, and there's still light outside. The cafe rumbles as wires and cables burst out of the ground to form a physical barrier against the light around Edict, swirling around him and cocooning him within - the various now-dormant screens being hauled over to add a further reflective barrier around it to provide as near-complete a shield against the light as Affidavit can manage with the tools at his disposal. It was fun making Edict squirm, but enough is enough, for now anyway.

"Here's hoping he doesn't need to be able to see the prison to sustain it, hmm? That's about as much as I can do for him anyway, so if you break through now, I'd say you're home free." He leans in closer, curious, looking for any sign that his little display achieved something.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

She keeps at it for a few more seconds, gaze trained squarely on the Professor.

And then her finger relaxes, the lights spluttering and giving out, before she withdraws her arm.

"Passive observation is a dangerous road. Narrowing down the paths to the future requires action.
You've taken yours, today."
The facial silhouette she had revealed darkens and the entirely of her form seems to become...fuzzier, very slightly less distinct.
"It can still be saved."
With that comment, she drifts away from her prison wall and back towards the middle of the circle, before becoming quiet.

Meanwhile, within the cocoon...
The quivering ends immediately, while the trails of energy moving along Edict reduce in ferocity, too.
Within the darkness, Edict remains kneeling.
"Heh."

Then explodes like a water balloon full of tar, splattering the inside of the cocoon and the ground with a thick black substance.
Depending on the insulating qualities of the Professor's arrangement, a sudden plummeting of the surrounding temperature will begin drawing frost on the nearby space.

[Devixer]

Kushiro Inn

"They are quite common in the swamps of my homeland. I hope we can find a suitable replacement here." Keiko, despite her armor, manages to step quiet as she moves to grab her staff and head out of the room, taking in care in kind to not disturb the bird.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

Affidavit wags a finger at her. "Now now, Libitina, what did I say before? Observation is never quite as passive an activity as it may seem to be." He's not going to back down on that, it seems. Or maybe that's just what he's looping on now. Probably slightly better than banging on about how long a time it's been since something happened.

He tilts his head and gives her a thoughtful look. "If you're trying to teach me a lesson, I'd have thought it was clear by now that I'm not really likely to heed advice from you. Especially not when you're wrong. Or when you insist on being "mysterious" about things. Why do so many supposedly divine beings engage in that kind of behaviour?" It's really quite bothersome! Although maybe if he did actually focus and pay attention to her...

But he's too busy disagreeing with her.

"Having fun in there, Edict? Feel free to make yourself an exit. Not like anything here really matters." Wires and cables are wires and cables. However tightly packed to block out the light they may be, they're not going to do much to prevent the spread of frost. Without any silly fleshy bits to worry about, Affidavit is hardly going to be concerned about a little cold. "I wonder, Libitina, why doesn't this concern you? Is your safe escape already assured? Has death made peace with death? Or do you just not care?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Comfort Bites]

Libitina remains quiet a few moments, long enough to seem like she isn't going to answer any additional questions from Affidavit.
She does break the silence, eventually, and briefly.
"I am a slave of fate as much a warden of it. There's only so much I can do here, even in defense of myself."

And that seems to be all she has to say on the matter.

Off to the side, the tar-like substance is spilling out of the cocoon, irregardless of how tightly bound it may be. It doesn't seem terribly concerned about how much space it might realistically need to move with.
Little blue lights flicker into existence here and there, on bigger leaks, looking precisely as Edict's eyes did earlier today.
His voice echos from somewhere around them.
"No fear, Professor. I don't need to destroy your equipment just yet."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Comfort Bites]

"A false god enslaved by an illusion. I'm sorry, Libitina, that's just pathetic. My future is my own. It is not predetermined, it's not controlled by anyone else, and you're a fool if you think otherwise about your own."

...

Although sometimes I wonder.

Seeing that his work is done, Affidavit has the cocoon dismantle itself and withdraw. Seems it isn't much of an inconvenience to Edict, but there's not much point leaving it there now anyway. It can be put to better use anyway, such as plugging a few of those holes he put in the building so it doesn't collapse around them!

"Fear would be a bit of a stretch, Edict. None of it is particularly valuable. There's a few pieces here it might be nice to keep, I guess. Are you feeling better now? Libitina seemed to know just how to push your buttons. I think she's trying to teach me a lesson."