Fizgig answers, "Interesting deduction. I'll be keeping an eye on you." He swings one of his knives, slicing a hole through the air, and steps in before it closes. Mark hasn't been here for a while, but you already know he has some trick up his sleeve to make you think that; your question regarding versers goes unanswered. It's just you and Jewel now.
*looks to her*
"So time to fess up totally, I want to know what you are about, and what all this craziness is that you are involved with."
*waits for an answer*
She struggles to find a way out. "Well, we don't really know each other that well yet, shouldn't we wait until we do?" You shake your head, and she tries, "Well, it's really a long story; where should I start?"
*smiles*
"Best stories start from the beginning, it is not like we don't have the time. Wait till we get to know each other better, that was a good one."
*hunkers down and waits for the story*
J
She finally gives up. "My older brother and younger sister and I lived in this world before the Warriors of Dusk came. Things were so beautiful then..." she has a wistful look in her eyes. "It wasn't a perfect existence here, but we were pacifistic and we all loved one another. When the Warriors came, they destroyed everything... our parents, our friends... only my brother and sister and I stood up to them... as punishment to us, they spared our lives. They cursed us to never grow old, and to be watched over and tortured by people in power for all time; the All-Rulers. In order for them to be sure the All-Rulers were powerful, they created a system by which once a year, the All-Ruler could select three power guardians; if they were all defeated, the All-Ruler's throne could be taken by the next person other than the All-Ruler and other than Nic, Eri, or me. The first All-Ruler, Zero, was draconian; he beat us for not living up to his expectations. The second All-Ruler, Bloodfang, was a wolfkin; he raped my sister and me frequently; he liked us a bit too much. The third was Snow, who hated us with a passion because we were different; she thought humiliating us publicly would build character for us and teach us to stay in linel apparently it didn't work in her childhood, so I don't know why she thought it would work for us. Celeste was disappointed in Eri and me because she felt we were too masculine, and she felt Nic was too feminine; she had a lot of things backwards, and really messed Eri up psychologically; I don't know if she'll ever be the same. It's roughest for her because she's so young. Anyway, Claude took over after Celeste; in comparison to the others, he isn't bad; he mostly only neglects us instead of actively hurting us. That's how I managed to escape; but he'll have people looking for me by now, of course. They won't find me if I'm with Sefyr's army; they think that's the last place I'd go, which is why I was going to meet up with them."
*nods*
"Well you are under my protection now, and it's actually a relief to know your not a little kid really, just trapped in the body of one. If you wanted I could try to use psionics to age you. I had to reverse aging on Val so I would assume it would be about just as hard. Anyway thank you for the truth, it makes how we met a little less creepy on both sides."
*smiles*
"So I see you've been thinking about the problem, and if I am right, you might have a solution. What happens if someone kills the power guardians, and the current and next All Ruler? Does the next in line get the job or does it through the system out of whack? So how old are you really now?"
J
"The way it works is, when all three power guardians are dead, whoever next sits on the throne of the All-Ruler becomes the next All-Ruler, other than the current All-Ruler, Nic, Eri, or me. If the All-Ruler can defend his throne until either one of his power guardians is resurrected -- which can be done only under a full moon or by a necromancer -- he's safe, but as soon as someone sits on his throne other than that while the three power guardians are dead, that's that, we have a new All-Ruler.
*Nods*
"You specifically said not you Nic or Eri, twice, and that there is a curse. What would happen if I killed the power guardians, and put you on the throne anyway? Would that break this universe?"
J
"I've tried that before, to sit on the throne when the power guardians were dead. Snow laughed at me and got ready to defend herself, since I had given away that her power guardians were dead. In other words, nothing happened."
*considers*
"Well I'm convinced it's this transition of power is the key, whether the current ruler needs to disband the system, or whatnot, but I will find out the secret."
J
Jewel takes a deep, shaky breath, steeling herself. "So, what now? Are we still going to meet Alex?"
*shakes his head no*
"It doesn't matter how old you are, or how old you look, not going to let you get raped and used on my watch, so looks like back to square one. So if I am starting again, the right thing to do it do some research on your curse, and how to break it. Any ideas for a starting point?"
J
She looks thoughtful. "No.. David might know something. He lives on the peak of that mountain." She points; you're still in the mountains, pretty high up, but this mountain off in the distance rises up out of sight.
*nods*
"It's a start, and since I have no money, might we well get it done sooner rather than later"
*starts the Cyclone up, waiting for Jewel to get a good hold, and heading off in that direction*
J
You drive for quite a while; the sun is setting when you arrive at the foot of the mountain. There is no footpath.
*looks around and doesn't see a footpath*
"Well you can hop off, I can flip the Cyclone into Battleoid mode and fly up carrying you, a short burst won't hurt fuel much."
J
It's a long way up; from the distance you were before, you couldn't see the peak. You would expect climbing it to take at least a week; you may be able to fly up and find a place to rest if that is your intention. Jewel does climb off the bike, and finally answers your question, "In this body I've been alive eight and a half years; my soul has been alive at least four draconian rotations, though. That's how long it took planet Draco to orbit their sun; it's about one billion Earth years; that's how Draconians measure their age. The oldest one is 127 Draconian rotations."
*looks at Jewel*
"4 billion and 8 and a half? *sighs*, I suppose I can't fault you for testing me and watching me before giving me the whole truth. The first thing we are going to do is get you or make you some new clothes, the last thing I need is a half nakid 8 year old looking girl hanging off my back. Anyway, I'm thinking about this way too technical, I could give us both the ability to fly, or I can just fly us up and create more protoculture with my psionics, so really without the fear of really dying, there is no limit, choice is yours fly or be carried while I fly?"
*thinks about it*
"You singled me out in a market, what did you see that wanted you to come up to me?"
((Will do either option, which one she wants, in fact now that I got free from the normal guy syndrome, I could make her clothes psionically))
She answers, "I would really rather not try flying myself; there are so many things I don't know about it that it seems like an unnecessary risk. I'd feel much safer if you carried me; in fact, the closer I am to you, the safer I feel.////"You had yourself singled out, Jhiaxus; you didn't exactly blend in with the crowd. I was just hoping for some money so that I could buy something to eat; I wasn't expecting it to turn out how it did, and wouldn't have gone with you if you offered.. but something about you reminds me of David; your poise, your confidence. I'm glad you aren't completely like him; he holds himself to a higher standard of non-involvement than anyone else I've ever met." //// I'm assuming you're going to try to fly to the top; psionically? That's a P4@10 skill, if memory serves correctly; (the roll is 52 and I don't even have to crunch for that, you're flying at a nominal speed of 8mph, add 1@2 Fly P4@10 to your sheet.) Of course, if I'm wrong and you're using one of your magic spells, I'll need the ritual. //// As for clothing for Jewel, the dirty rags she's wearing appear to have once been a t-shirt and knee-length skirt; she expresses an aversion to pants, commenting that Celeste used to make her and her sister wear pants because Celeste felt it was "more feminine"; "She also thought full-contact sports and keeping your hair cut short were appropriate for proper young women." There are several things you could try to do about her clothes; you could try to create some, try to repair what she's wearing now; what exactly will you be doing?
((Yes wanted to do the Psionic Flight, just seems more natural))
*nods and laughs*
"Perhaps your right, I doubt I would blend in anywhere other then a Robotech world, and that's how I like it. I don't think myself better than anyone else just different. As for non involvement, I dislike being trapped, and I have someone looking for me out there, so my course was set. You may look like a girl, but your a woman, and women always look better with long hair, skirts are also good too, but there is something to be said for a tight fitting pair of jeans on a woman that's feminine. Either way, Celeste sounds backward."
*looks at her clothes and tries to repair them, hopefully cleaning them in the process, I do have 2@5 Transmute Solids 9@9, I think that should do the trick, once that is done, fly up to a ledge and go ledge to ledge since I don't know how long it will last, I will be in Battleoid mode with the Cyclone, but not using it's power systems much, but with my transmute abilities, I really shouldn't be worried about through*
J
OK... (roll 45) done. You transmute her rags and the dinge on them into less threadbare clothing (she's still very unclean under them). You fly, little by little, making more time than climbing but not enough to make it to the top today unless you don't stop to rest; perhaps tomorrow, unless you want to fly through the night.
*smiles*
"Clothes are repaired and cleaner, just need to clean the woman under them."
*finds a good solid ledge to stop for tonight, and puts the cyclone back into motercycle mode, and pull out the sleeping bag*
"Lucky for us, I got this sleeping bag when I was much bigger, so two of us can sleep in it if it gets cold, and it probably will being higher up. I won't go into how wrong this looks to other people, but being alone here in the mountain, not too worried."
*taking off the CVR-3 armor and stretching out and relaxing, pulling out two cups of noodles, trying a little pyrokenesis to warm up some of the water he has to make hot cup of noodles for them both*
J
(ge roll 7) you find what looks to be an often used campsite with a very clear looking stream running to form a crystal clear pool of water with a rocky bottom, and plenty of large fish, to boot. There's also a portapotty here with a sign on it, "We don't swim in your toilet, please don't pee in our pool - D & S". Assuming you decide this is a good place to hunker down, Jewel bathes herself in the water, then puts her clothes back on. Your actions?
*giving Jewel her privacy, tossing her a soap, washcloth, shampoo, and whatever she would need that I have. I have no fishing pole, but will select a fish TK it out of the pool, and sear/cook it with pyrokenesis, and serve the food, and prepare a meal for us, sitting down and taking off his armor*
"So do you age or are you stuck as you are? I don't but that's the nature of what I am now. You also stated you and your siblings opposed what was happening, were you special before the curse? I'm still trying to get some incite into this place."
J
She sits with you and begins eating heartily. "I age to about 15, then stop." "We are special, because we were the children of the rulers of this world before; we're also special because we have powers when we get angry; mine is that I can make things heat up at least until the point that they spontaneously combust. It would be nice to be able to do it all the time, but I could only ever do it if I was angry."
*nods*
"On my first world I could do none of the abilities I can do now, it took me becoming a verser to do that, I would assume it would be the same way here. 15 isn't a bad age to stop at, your pretty much done all the growing you would ever do as a woman. Remind me not to make you angry, an angry woman without powers is dangerous enough."
*smiles*
"I'm glad for the company, I spent 500 years alone, before it got to be too much, then I created Valera, I spent 250 years working on her, giving her what would take a god in a moment of thought, but I think I did alright. I know she can handle whatever the verse throws at her, and she's out there somewhere waiting for me."
J
Jewel looks sympathetic. "Rarely someone should have to lose another they care about. I'm happy for your company, too; it's been a long time since I met someone who takes me seriously." Night falls, and, as you anticipated, the cold sets in, but the two of you spend the night together as comfortable as possible and warm, at least. You're a little taken aback to actually feel her; she feels more emaciated than she looks, and you can feel her bones through her skin. She feels warmer than an average person, though, possibly due to the power she was telling you about. Sleeping with another person is... an interesting experience, after 1000 years of not sleeping at all. She barely moves at all, however, and does an excellent job at keeping you warm; as you drift off, you worry a bit about being stiff in the morning from the hard ground (in your muscles, not anywhere else...)... Jewel is running from something. It looks like a shadow, large and dark. You stand between her and it, and it passes you by. "You can't save her" you hear in your mind and reflexively use your psionic eject skill. You wake up. Jewel is sleeping peacefully, snuggled against your chest with her hair covering half her face, warm and happy. The sun is just beginning to rise; a beautiful sight from up here.
*letting her sleep in thinking about how to get her up to a normal weight, other than constant food, that looks like it will be hard to provide, other than transmuting solids into food, which is probably what I'm going to have to do*
*when she wakes up*
"What do you want for breakfast, I decided you need some good food and a lot of it, and as long as I have a solid to use, I can make what our hearts desire. I also had a visitor in my mind last night, I had to forcibly eject it, it was a shadow."
J
She thinks about it. "So it doesn't have to be fish? Bacon and potatoes sound good to me." Her eyes are lit up like she hasn't had a choice in what to eat in a very long time. "If you can do that." She looks a little taken off-guard about you saying someone was in your dream. "That would have Reim. Maztum Reim..." her eyes glaze as she is lost in a surge of memory, then she snaps back to reality, "... houses the warped soul of my father. Vize tried to recreate Fizgig's soul in a new body and failed; he warped my original father's spirit and body and included them in the making to make up for the slack. He's got my father's ability to enter people's dreams, and uses it as a way to torment Eri and me. He's the pedophile commander in Sefyr's army that Fizgig mentioned yesterday."
*I take a big rock, use my lightsabre to cut it into three pieces, one piece into a large potatoe, another into a slab of bacon, and the last into a large egg, I am interested myself to see if it works, still working out of my shell in terms of my skills*
*If the above works, make a big egg, chopped potatoe and bacon breakfast and left overs for the rest of the day, happy to use the bacon grease to cook with pyrokenesis*
"I don't know if I can enter people's dreams, I could always learn, but I do think, some of these people need to be introduced to my Cause Insanity, and render them impotent. I am loathe to do that to someone, but there are a lot of people here that need some reinforcement that there are consequences to actions. Dream entering pedophiles are at the top of that list."
J
(rolls: 57, 30, 29) You have no trouble making rocks into food; the bacon is delicious, and the eggs and potatoes aren't bad. Jewel doesn't eat much, and responds, "A dream entering pedophile is probably already insane." Breakfast is over, and you pack up and (roll 59) begin your flight at a modest pace. After a few hours, the peak is in sight; you arrive to find a small plateau that seems to have been carved out of the rock unnaturally with a modest log cabin complete with a garden with a strange herb growing in it (the soil doesn't look like it's from this area) and smoke coming from the chimney.
*smiles and winks, and keeping my my mental protections*
"True, but I have a plan, I think you will like the results, or at least approve of it."
*The plan is when I'm sleeping to "let down" my protections, let him in and not eject him, letting him think he is doing whatever he is that he is doing, using that time to get my 15 minute professional Cause Insanity mental attack to cause him to avoid all people at all costs, that they are out to get and torture him for what he knows.*
*heads to the door with Jewel in tow and knocks on it*
J
(the baseline for the Cause Insanity has me roll against a chart to determine what insanity and temporary or permanent; to do a specific insanity will require a new skill, same bias) You knock on the door, and there's no answer.
((Sounds like a plan, I figure that's a pretty good insanity to give anyone who is a problem :) ))
*I am going to do a 3@1 Clairvoyance P3@6 to see what is beyond the door to see if he is home before taking another action*
J
You see four people sitting in a large room, two in easy chair before the fire, one slightly resembles Thor in build, wearing a light blue muscle shirt and dark blue sweatpants, paddling furiously with a paddleball; one who seems to be a fire elemental of some sort; one in green armor that seems to mark him as a dragoon by the shape, seated in a corner, taking a break from sharpening his extremely sharp spear, and a little boy, seven or so, with light blue hair, wearing a cloak. All eyes are on the man with the paddleball, and it seems everyone is holding their breath in anticipation.
*rolls his eyes*
"Paddle ball, are you kidding me? We are going to wait for someone to answer the door till whomever is doing Paddle ball trips up."
*puts the cyclone back into motercycle mode and watches through the Clairvoyance till he trips up and knock again*
J
Everyone is watching intently, and suddenly, the large man misses the ball. Everyone in the room lets out an audible "Aww" and looks disappointed. The little boy walks over and opens the door, then walks away, no one else in the room moves. The man in the muscle shirt is leaning his head on one hand, looking dejected and bored and starts to paddle the ball again with his other hand.
*Watches this happen almost in shock but letting Jewel go in first so she can introduce me to them and them to me, walking in behind*
J
The man with the paddleball glances over, sees Jewel, and, still paddling, reaches his hand over to the fire elemental: "Here, Shane, take this." Shane does, and the toy bursts into flames and falls into ashes. The large man walks over and says, "Hey, awesome! You climbed my mountain? It's a big one, right? Tallest in the world." He's about your height, with blue eyes that are sparkling with amusement and short blonde hair; a massive build, however, even more so than yours. "I'm David, over there is the chair is Flame, and on the floor over there in the corner is Jonny." As an afterthought, he adds, "Hi, Jewel. So, what brings you this far off the beaten path?"
*looks at the paddleball going up in flames in slight amusement*
"I'm Jhiaxus, a recent arrival here, and no I flew, Jewel was carried, but it did take two days of flying so that is an accomplishment in and of itself. I don't like being trapped, and I have someone waiting for me outside of here, so I am in a hurry to get out of here, and I think it centers around the curse affecting Jewel and her siblings, and the Rulers here. I asked for a library to research the curse, and she suggested to ask you about it, and how to break it. That's why we are here, I'm sure Jewel will add what she wants to that. Good to meet you everyone"
J