Messages

61

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: February 13, 2021, 07:09:39 PM »

Longirsu

He snatched the precious vial out of the air to rest on his palm, and his widened eyes swirled at the contents. The words slid around the workings of the instruments of knowledge in his skull, which set an addictive tingle rushing through his nerves like a conflagration.

"No, no," he said, rolling the object over his fingers. Inflection rose in his voice at William, but he didn't raise his head to address him. "That's buffonish. You can store all the potential energy, but you lose all the identifying traits that way, letting the idiosyncratic qualities of a soul and the attributes that reflect their identity go to waste."

This one was, as far as Longirsu could tell, of lower density, overall unremarkable. But it was still a contained soul, independent of a body, and much could be extracted from it, or perhaps repurposed.

62

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: February 08, 2021, 04:50:06 PM »

Longirsu

The things she mentioned were extremely promising, if they were true. Longirsu could be seduced into thinking this trip wasn't a huge pain, and the social burden neglegible, compared to a hint at something as overwhelming as a collection of all knowledge! He couldn't just take her words for it, he told himself. If he was to have his due, he needed to curb any excessive enthusiasm. Manipulation of life and death was not something familiar either to magicians of his ruined world, or indeed any better than dubious and worrying theories, so how could she call it simple? The Terrortech Orchestrator would not be led on, but it wasn't impossible in the face of it that this was another divergence in the logic of the Nexus.

When she had that vial brought out, his eyes widened, with naked fascination painting over the doubt. Was that a soul? She wouldn't have had to say anything else to get him to finally lean forward, and he might not have even given her question to her suspicious partner careful thought if not for what followed. Unfortunately, William's complete flip soiled his mood.

"If you've lost your wits," he said, scoffing icily at the man, "Then take it somewhere we won't be bothered."

What was this... lunatic of unclear age meant to know about Longirsu? He had no right to say these things. Most aggravating of all, he didn't even seem to be looking at Longirsu. As if he was merely a reminder of, what, trauma, a joke? Maybe this meeting was a mistake.

63

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: February 07, 2021, 01:11:37 AM »

Longirsu

He looked clinically upon her. His enhanced eyes seemed to hold a searching shine, as though she was not an ancient sorcereress whose frame contained unimaginable adventures and undeterminable power, but rather a repository of knowledge and learning, a fountain of secrets to unveil. The things he could gleam from her history, if she was willing to tell it in detail...

Longirsu held his breath before becoming lost in fanciful ideas.

"And you have never held such desires?" He asked. His fingers drummed on the table, forgetting the elegantly prepared tea, and a sigh underlined his next words. "To be plain, I want to move the axioms of life and death. Perhaps temporal progression, if those are an inadequate approach. And now, space and correspondence, I suppose. To allow individuals that ought have died to resume their lives uninterrupted. And to... return whence I came. To fix things there."

That was not all, but it would have to do. How would Ib have answered? Not the one who served him, but his sister? Longirsu did not care for a world without her regardless; but if she were here, if she willingly shared in his undertakings, she would want him to use the results for the same reason that they set out from their home, all those years ago.

64

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: February 04, 2021, 09:42:34 PM »

Longirsu

His attention fell easily on the sigils she called upon, adding them to the threads of information that his eyes began to dissassemble. But his expression curled with dim displeasure to the man's question. He was sharp, and not to be underlooked. It pulled at something ugly inside that this was the kind of inquiry that Longirsu himself would have posed, in his place.

He was not naive. He did not expect this elf sorceress to tell him everything she had ever planned, or the dreams that she wove in the loom of her power, and he had no intentions to tip his entire hand. Weapons? Yes, after a certain fashion, that wasn't wrong. What would this William think if he knew of the artifacts he kept? Too soon for that. He did not relish revealing any weakness, yet Longirsu sensed that neither could he get away with a bold lie. Not underneath Eruraviel's gaze. Not yet.

"They are useful for that," Longirsu said, and lowered the teacup back to its place with a faint clack. "But it is the means to manipulate physical laws which I care for. There are... errors I must correct. I want to find the method to restore something that has been indelibly broken, and I believe in such power sources lies the key."

65

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: February 03, 2021, 12:36:29 PM »

Longirsu

"I meant it only in the context of my research data, nothing more." Crossing William's gaze with an unfond look, he secured the cup meant for him solidly in his right hand and raised it to his mouth. A calm sip was taken before he lowered it again, breathing steam against the surface of the tea. Longirsu fixed his expression on his host, then.

"I came here seeking information, and an asset. I do not yet know you, but if your being and goals are amenable to me, then I am willing to be an asset to you as well."

66

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: February 01, 2021, 07:14:27 PM »

Longirsu

Longirsu's fingers ached to wrap around a weapon that obviously he hadn't brought, or at least a wrench or welder, wanting for familiar grounding. Something he couldn't hear was passing between the two seated before him, and he didn't like that. It had been a long time since the inventor had spoken at length with anyone who wasn't Ib, but he was certain that polite conversation was not supposed to include a second secret stream of conversation right in front of everyone else.

And nothing that ever smugly spoke of watching over the world for an Age was trustworthy. But the information yielded was curious, and those who smugly spoke of watching over the world for an Age, hinting at plans just as old, did not in his experience tend to lie about such basic information. It would be easy to verify later, at any rate.

Longirsu coughed into his hand. "My research concerns the potential of functionally endless sources of energy, and their correlation to physical laws." Staring directly at Eruraviel, he paused for a shallow breath, before resuming his response. "You yourself appear to be one such source, albeit autonomous and free-willed, and I wish to inquire."

67

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: January 29, 2021, 04:00:23 PM »

Longirsu

His eye twitched. Harem? Was that a peculiarity of these Wood Elves? Was she just wanton and greedy in her relationships to warrant that? Did that make her superior to this man, if she had the leading role in this... arrangement? Some part of him bristled at the thought of how one would organize such a relationship, but no, that wasn't any of his business.

Longirsu scowled back at William. "An astute observation. Are you?" He said. "I am aware there are many vagrants in the Nexus, especially as of late."

Thrown by circumstance or some incomprehensible destiny into a realm entirely unlike their own, foiling anything that awaited them there or that they themselves had planned, for the forseeable future.

68

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: January 27, 2021, 02:49:37 PM »

Longirsu

He was archiving his thoughts before retrieving the right words to respond, while engaged in beaming analytically at the craftsmanship and magic that shaped the building, when the yell suddenly interrupted them. Contemplation snapping to a halt, Longirsu cringed at the attention-drawing entrance that followed.

But an instant of seeing him was all it took to set sharp strings on edge inside the inventor. He furrowed his eyebrows in confused unease and looked at Eruraviel for help. "And this is...?"

69

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: January 26, 2021, 02:41:08 PM »

Longirsu

Elf wasn't a denomination he was completely unfamiliar with. But "wood elf" implied there were other kinds, and likely that they identified by their choice of habitat. He doubted that was their chosen native name, but the elves he was familiar with had only a slightly less hazy and eroded personal history than most of the people who lived in the world Longirsu knew. Perhaps he was projecting his expectations of the things that weren't allowed to make sense back then.

He nodded cooly to the woman - he wondered if the objects in her body were regulators, or power containers, but decided he could verify such later - and picked himself up, grabbing the large suitcase from the ground.

"Very well. Please lead the way."

70

Areas / Re: Great Dojo

« on: January 25, 2021, 02:25:59 PM »

Orcus

If this is a stage and the whole world around them naught but Yuzu's instruments, cast and lighting, then it seems as if Orcus is happy to indulge. He crosses his legs and hovers to the floor, folding them in the lotus position. The abyssal blade rests across his lap like a book, and his shoulders straightened as a storyteller in the midst of his home audience.

"The craving of a lout might ruin a few lives. The craving of a king might consume nations. But the craving of a hero can swallow worlds, and endure beyond death." His expression relaxes, but his lips curl opaquely and the crescents of his eyes do not seem to contain the sight of Yuzu at all. "He is the latter. Do you understand?"

A black nail grinds at the surface of Chaosbringer with a foul screech. "Eternity is sought by countless people, but few can justify it. Fewer will fight for something that they have already known in its worst aspect, when that state has deprived them of everything but pain. But strip away all visions of the future but suffering, and nothing remains to dissuade a soul from exploding. Power ceases to be a chain, for in the tools of bondage one recognizes only the means of their retaliation. The targets, the price, they don't matter, and their meaning is erased the instant this rampage has concluded."

Orcus chuckles as if contemplating a funny little secret.

"And if one understands all this, then he realizes, what comes next can be anything he desires."

71

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: January 24, 2021, 07:12:25 PM »

Longirsu

There was no sorcery like hers contained in the cage of his physical body. But ancient mechanisms turned and sparked beneath his ribs, processing arcane calculus and paradigms as old as a world, and they were no less capable.

"I would not want to impose," he said, looking her up and down in cool appraisal. "Tea will do."

Longirsu was certain now. She and the mobile power source identified by Ib were one and the same. Interesting.

72

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: January 22, 2021, 03:24:13 AM »

Longirsu

His eyes lazily met that piercing glow, and a multitude of sensors recalibrated themselves, sending synapses racing and cognition enhancements blaring in his skull. As she peeked underneath the metal and flesh, peeling the physical and chemical away for the abstract and spiritual underneath, a kaleidoscopic confluence of calculations and measurements flowed into him, unpuzzling and classifying whatever waves and forces that he could gleam from that magical glare.

Longirsu straightened his back and addressed her. "Are you the master of this domain? My name is Longirsu, and I've come here in hopes of discussing my research with an individual I believe to be of great value to it."

He did not make any special effort to hide his intentions, but Eru could see his ambition and calculated desire. A sharpened willingness and preparation to defend himself, but the intention to speak and listen, and learn.

73

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: January 20, 2021, 10:48:17 PM »

Longirsu

The quiet was unnatural. Aside from the darkness, it was simple to tell that his sounds, as well of those of an unknown number of bodies he had indistinctly picked up by the traces of their passage in other ways, were being muffled. He seemed to be within the radius of multiple magical effects - which was not ideal, but confirmed his course. The looming tree ahead looked promising.

And so, once he had walked close enough to fall under the shade of the great structure itself, Longirsu stopped. With a muted grunt he heaved his large case onto the ground, before sweeping up his overcoat and sitting upon it.

Crossing his arms and resting his left ankle on his right knee, he waited. After all, it would be rude to simply stride into someone else's yard without permission.

74

Areas / Re: The Great Northern Forest

« on: January 20, 2021, 02:30:53 AM »

Longirsu
Early Morning

Longirsu, designer and sole master of terrortech in the Nexus, walked alone at the edge of the civilized world. His machines, and then his feet, had taken him across meadows, flowery fields, the barely traveled roads that winded outwards from the cities of this world, to where bashful streams curled around ever-older and taller trees, and grand canopies obscured the sunlight like tattered curtains. If he had any pleasure in being here he did not show it, easily swinging a large steel case from his right hand as he walked. The smallest part of his sensorial processing aids was filtering out the endless, harmless distractions the environment provided, such as the chirping of birds and the flutter of the breeze, lest he remember places and times that no longer had the ability to comfort him; but the rest had important things to do.

The atmosphere here was charged with potential energy of the sort harnessed for what was commonly designated "magic" in multiple systems predominant in these lands. The premises that made this possible held at least partially true to experience from his original world... but the bounty the surroundings could yield meant very little compared to the subject he sought.

Instruments calibrated to the signature that Ib had mapped and projected as resting with frequency in the radius of these woods, Longirsu could tell he was growing closer. With stealth drones surveying the forest from above, and other machines silently accompanying his trail, the characteristic lack of clarity that plagued navigation in this biome was less a danger and more a slight setback to paint over. What concerned him was the temperament of this particular subject. If they were a so-called magician, and if he was approaching what passed for a base or stronghold for them, then defenses would be coming up soon.

Fortunately, Longirsu had no intention to deal with such things. He had come to have a chat.

75

Areas / Re: The Slums

« on: January 12, 2021, 01:44:34 AM »

Lubei

She calls him kind, but the only request she makes of him is to kill her. It would be funny, in a morbid sense, but there is little that remains morbid for those such as the two of them, he understands. Strangely, he understands. There can be honor in death, there can be dignity in vanquishment, face and merit can be bought with sacrifice, and one life can be exchanged for another. But this is none of that. Her end at his hands would be a relief, compared to perishing for all intents and purposes to whatever haunts her breast, yet being dragged unwittingly into horror.

It would go against his wishes, but he would do it. It's a slightly mean jest, that she asked like this. But he watches her go, empty and worn out, like a vessel filled with only dust, without offering even a token retort.

As he is, he can't muster the words to reach out to the young woman. But he knows. If she had anyone or anything else in her life, after the way she spoke, she wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere, waiting for passing pity on her own, with no intention to do anything for herself.

As she disappears through the door, an unforgettable feeling takes root in his heart. One day, he may be the one meant to pull the curtain on her damnation. Not by saving, but bringing the eternal rotation of carnage to a halt, where its meaningless momentum can hurt no one else. And she would thank him for it.