The giggles take a while to subside as Julie sets a piece of cake in front of Kate and sits down opposite her, "Yes, well, he might be a great guy and all, but my body is on indefinite loan from Hades as you might remember, so I'm afraid I'd be hurting his feelings if I started kneeling down and blowing up the ego of any other god. Wouldn't mind meeting your heavenly squeeze of course, but I'm a one deity chick from here on out." She sets down a fork on the edge of the plate and picks up her own slice, sinking her fork into it to break up the conversation.
Zero raises his eye brows at the book but attempts to kiss Valaria anyway.
I really missed you.
[Maple Cabin]
"I really missed you too! And I missed food! And I missed the sunlight! And I missed happiness! But you're back now! So none of that even matters anymore!"
Valaira declares, her innocent eyes sweeping the room in a state of confusion.
"So, uh, it says right here that the next thing we need to do is locate some curtains to pull. Trouble is, I torched all of your curtains a long time ago..."
"So... What do we do now?"
Valaira attempts to pass Zero her book entitled "Nexus Relationships". She needed relationship advice! What can I say?
"Great. I hope they have something I can grab quick." Kitty says. She doesn't rush though, despite the gnawing in her stomach. No, it's not even proper hunger at this point. She just needs to eat.
"They should. I know that if it's empty there is basically a guarantee of other problems, mainly a whole family of halflings going missing."
Yes, she says it with a straight face.
Rowan Cabin
Kate nods. "Perfectly understandable, but please don't joke about me having a squeeze... it's been the other way around twice now." That was so awkward. Both times. She will eat some of the coffee cake, and she rather likes coffee cake so unless it's bad coffee cake she will enjoy it. "Anyway, you said that you could teach me how to switch bodies myself? I would appreciate that."
The curtain isn't a literal curtain in that sense though it is visible and tangible when you need it to be. A curtain can be found just about anywhere.
Zero says as he thinks of a way to explain it.
It's a decency barrier that most anyone in the Nexus can use at will.
The coffee cake is average, but nothing risky. Julie followed a simple recipe exactly and got out what she put into it. It is blueberry flavored though, so it's not completely bereft of taste.
Julie chuckles nervously when the topic of switching back and forth comes up, "Well, there's a few parts to that. I have to show you, mentally, what it feels like to go from one body to another, so you can reach for that feeling and try to trigger it yourself. Without a guide, someone not in tune with their own mind doesn't even notice the trigger. Then, once you're sure you have it, I have to put you under a sort of stress test to incentivize your doing it on your own quickly. That part can be unpleasant."
Kitty wonders what exactly Coni means by that, but she's too close to getting food to get into that now. So, the two step inside the building, presumably being met with the sight of Justin and the halflings.
"Hmm, okay. That makes sense, even if the last bit seems a little unnecessary for everyday use. Well, on second thought it helps ensure that you can do it consistently." She finishes her cake. "Nice cake. So, we start by you switching me a couple times so that I know what I'm trying to do?"
Main Cabin
Copi will simply try to slip past the group there and into the kitchen. No point messing with them, everyone has their own problems.
"Curtains are an at will power? ... But I don't wanna use an at will power! I haven't slept in weeks! Zero, can we just go to bed and try this again tomorrow? Please? Pretty please? I'm sleepy!"
Valaira yawns, strolls up a wall, and falls down onto Zero's bed.
"We have a blanket but..."
"I sorta cried on it and it needs to be washed so we're going to have to cuddle unless you want to freeze to death. And stuff."
And freezing to death is unhealthy! So... Cuddle guaranteed!
Oh, looks like they're going right through then. Kitty gives Justin and the halflings a little wave before she heads into the kitchen behind Copi. Time to get some food.
"Hmm, okay. That makes sense, even if the last bit seems a little unnecessary for everyday use. Well, on second thought it helps ensure that you can do it consistently." She finishes her cake. "Nice cake. So, we start by you switching me a couple times so that I know what I'm trying to do?"
Main Cabin
Copi will simply try to slip past the group there and into the kitchen. No point messing with them, everyone has their own problems.
Rowan Cabin
"Thank you. It'll start with me switching you, but the stress test is the more important part. If you want to switch into "powered" mode, you're probably going to be in trouble. Besides, doing a stress test the first time puts some urgency to it that, without it, means you might never get it down because you can't focus or your brain is being lazy." Because let's face it, the brain does exactly as much work as it feels it can get away with. If it thought you grew gills and no longer needed your lungs, it'd shut them down just so it didn't have to concentrate on them.
But lazy brains aside, Julie steadies herself when she gets to this next part, "When I learned this from my brother, my aversion was pain. When I taught it to Eric, I tried embarrassing him. I learned some things from that, and where not to go, but I want your word that once we start this you're going to see it through to the end. I felt horrible putting Eric through what I did to get him to learn even though some good came out of it, and I'd feel worse if I did it to you and it was all for nothing."
Valaira yawns and stretches, dismissing the sun's petition that she open her eyes. She kicks her legs over the brink of the bed and plunges off of it, landing crouched on all fours.
Only now does she unseal her eyelids and behold the beauty of the world laid bear before her blessed eyes.
She sniffs at Zero's clothes, drawing in his scent. The scent comforted her. With a blissful smile, she dons some of Zero's clothing, items selected seemingly at random.
"I wouldn't touch those if I was you!"
Valaira twitters, raising her voice not in worship of any god but in a caution unto Zero!
"They sting! Some of them. And I'm not kidding around when I say they sting. They've hooks and barbs for a reason! But all they do is channel magic and summon demons, so they're not that bad! Not bothersome enough to warrant their destruction! That'd take some effort. And some water. And a sponge. And dispel magic. Lots of dispel magic."
Trust me, unless you wanna get kicked out of here these things need to go. I can deal with it. I'm just gonna need to eat pretty badly afterwards, this is a lot of work.
Zero says, frowning at the symbols in his concentration. Then the blue sparks that sometimes appear around his hands flare to life and show that he is ready to work. He decides to deal with the magical aspects of them and therefore starts working towards dispelling the magic.
"Why would they kick me out? There's nothing wrong with blood rituals! There's only something wrong with blood rituals if the person donating the blood is slain in the process! And I don't do that! If I have need of that type of blood I buy it by the barrel from hell. They have so much of it that they don't know where to stow it all down there, and a flood would be icky!"
"If anything, these markings have the power to resurrect people and heal the dying. GLoG would be grateful to have a set of these in the infirmary! With them, you can cure just about anything."
"Even death itself!"
Valaira elaborates and proudly nods, stepping between Zero and her project, attempting to rest her hands on his shoulders and distract him from his special edition janitorial round of jeopardy. If he proceeds with his dispelling of magics in spite of her intervention, he'll find most of the symbols easily dispelled, what with his magic being probably boosted to x4.
The drawings are disturbing and somewhat evil, but they have the potential to do the world some good! Isn't that what GLoG is all about?
Zero looks at the symbols for a few moments more before sighing and allowing the energy around his hands to recede. As long as Valaria's intentions are good, Zero reasons, there shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Fine. Why don't we go get something to eat?
As much as Zero is reassured by Valaria's intentions he is still worried for her and intends to try to talk to either Quinn or Sophie about it as soon as he can.
"There's no jacks or lawns in this bowling so, probably not?" Justin answers, yet says it like a question. "It's an indoor game. You roll a ball down a wooden lane and knock over pins. Long story short, I live in a hall for playing that game." He has yet to mention that it was abandoned, but he has to release the info slowly. He actually cares what this family thinks of him, for some reason.
Just imagine how much you could get done if you recruited all the GLoG kiddies...
Brand makes more specific arrangement and gets directions to the place. Is there anything else that needs to be covered in this scene? I'm okay for it to keep going or not, whichever you prefer.
Kitchen
Copi and Kitty will find ample amounts of food. Sandwich fixings are sitting out from where Lily didn't put her work away, and her step stool is dragged up by the counter. There's also the giant fridge, the blood fridge (clearly marked), and the big pantry.
Brand gets the appointment and directions. I'd like to continue, but not quite sure what to continue with. If you have any ideas, please, otherwise, I'd be happy to just say he enjoys the company for a while longer.
__________________
Pirate Justin avatar by myself. Emmi avatar by Gulaghar, Much Thanks!
"Thank you. It'll start with me switching you, but the stress test is the more important part. If you want to switch into "powered" mode, you're probably going to be in trouble. Besides, doing a stress test the first time puts some urgency to it that, without it, means you might never get it down because you can't focus or your brain is being lazy." Because let's face it, the brain does exactly as much work as it feels it can get away with. If it thought you grew gills and no longer needed your lungs, it'd shut them down just so it didn't have to concentrate on them.
But lazy brains aside, Julie steadies herself when she gets to this next part, "When I learned this from my brother, my aversion was pain. When I taught it to Eric, I tried embarrassing him. I learned some things from that, and where not to go, but I want your word that once we start this you're going to see it through to the end. I felt horrible putting Eric through what I did to get him to learn even though some good came out of it, and I'd feel worse if I did it to you and it was all for nothing."
Kate listens to what Julie has to say, thinking about it. It's not going to be nice, of course, and if she's going to do it she's going to have to stick with it.
Kate knows what she'll say, but she doesn't want to say it until she's sure of it. After a bit of thinking and deciding in her mind on a decision she knows she'll make (rationalization isn't always a bad thing), she nods and says, "I'll see it through to the end. No point starting something if you don't intend to finish it, and that's more true with this than most things. You don't get any kind of reward until the very end."
"Alright then, we'll start with the switching, and I'll do it as many times as you think is necessary before we move on to the unpleasant part. You can tell me, during this part at least, if you need to take a break and reflect on things. Once you're sure you have a hold on the feeling, you can tell me to start on the next."
Julie raises a hand towards Kate as she takes one last bite of her cake chewing slowly, swallowing, and breathing out before going to work.
Kate will feel herself slide without moving, back into a form that by now is more familiar. It starts with her legs losing all sensation from the shins down, and her wings are suddenly against the back of the couch she's flopped on, as if they were always there. It seems to fold in on her from all of her extremities at once, like a soap bubble that she was floating in popping, and covering her in liquid weird.
And then Julie works in reverse, and it's just as odd. No pressure on her back from wings and tail, no HUD going haywire for moments as it adjusts to no longer being in stasis, and no more subtle air currents making her antennae twitch.
And then again, back and forth, slowly back and forth, until Kate signals her to stop for whatever reason.
The wings, the tail, the antennae, the HUD... ignore them. Is it so hard? After the first few times, it just becomes repetitive. Background noise. From here, it's like daydreaming. Ignoring the world to look into your mind. There is something else to this, there has to be. A light switch, a binary, or perhaps some trigger or catalyst, something that makes the change.
Suddenly, Kate switches an extra time, so that instead of switching with a pause in between she switches once immediately after the other in a rather disorienting effect. If Julie doesn't catch it, she may very well switch three times in a row.
Julie stops immediately after the double-switch, frowning a bit, "I think you just had a brain fart there. Either you were doing something right, or slipped up and stumbled across the right feel accidentally."
Hooray! The mission was a complete success! Valaira's magic amplification system wasn't obliterated or modified or reconfigured! If the condition that the magical circuitry remains == 1 then casting magic in this warded room will be infinitely easier than casting it elsewhere. More often than not...
"Okay!"
Clarissa yips, tapping a finger against her chin thoughtfully, her unoccupied hand cupping the elbow of the tapper. Hmm! Where should they go to consume breakfast?
"Let's go to a restaurant! And then I'll spend the rest of the day buying clothes and furniture while you take care of whatever it is you want to take care of!"
That or they could just stop by the Main Cabin.
And do we want to rp them nomming breakfast or no?
Oh, looks like they're going right through then. Kitty gives Justin and the halflings a little wave before she heads into the kitchen behind Copi. Time to get some food.
((Sorry!))
Copi will lead her into the kitchen, and open the pantry. It's well-stocked, and there is also a fridge nearbye which is probably what the meat is in.
Rowan Cabin
"I don't know. There was so much going on, and I was trying to look for a pattern in the patterns or something? I knew that one of them had to be it, but not which one. I'm not sure what I did."
Kate takes several deep breaths. She hadn't noticed that her heart was beating faster...
"Want to keep going, take a break, or move on to the next step? You obviously did something right, even if it was a fluke, which is more than happens with most on their first experience with psionics. I wouldn't even have stayed on this step for this long with anyone else, but since I'm trying to teach someone with no background how to do one very specific thing, I'm willing to be patient." In fact with Eric, who had some prior experience on his own, she only switched him twice before launching into the rest of it, as foolhardy as that was.
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