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distortionist_s_utopia [2021/10/20 09:14] – bluedistortionist_s_utopia [2021/10/20 09:42] (current) – blue
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 **TO BE CONCLUDED** **TO BE CONCLUDED**
 +
 +----
 +
 +=====Mother=====
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +||The three reappear sometime later in a dimly lit room. It was not terribly unlike the dining room that the previous Eligor died in scale wise, but was devoid of any of the gallant and extravagant decorations. The entirety of the room seemed to be made entirely of some black metal, and aether could be felt flowing and filtering through the very floor and walls to an almost overwhelming degree.||
 +
 +Ilia moved away from the group quickly, clearly already familiar with the layout of the building.
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine takes in her surroundings, the newness of the room, but faint familiarity. Like her shadow, Novine makes her way after Ilia. "So now what?" she asks in her curious way.
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +She does not answer for some time, walking through the wide hallways and making her way to what appeared to be some hallway while Eligor followed in silence. The bulk of the aether running through the largely featureless castle was being focused into this room, and into a large pod nestled at the back of the room. Ilia made her way to the pod without a word and placed her hand on it's smooth black surface before resting her head on it. 
 +
 +"I'm back mom..." 
 +
 +With that brief moment over, she turned around, addressing Eligor now. 
 +
 +"We need to move this castle somewhere no one else can get to. We cannot simply go higher, they will find ways to get there. Do either of you have suggestions?"
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine watches the display quietly, her features softening only slightly, not able to empathize as much with the actions as she didn't have anyone she personally identified as much of a mother, but she folds her arms and thinks on Ilia's question.
 +
 +"Well.... I dunno about what this place is like really, but can they go underwater? Or underground? Or can the castle do those things?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +"...Is that the only idea you have?"
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"No," she says with brat-like defensiveness and annoyance. "Apparently you don't have any better ones though if you're just asking other people. Give a girl a minute to think. Who's 'they' anyway? You've got too many weird wars and stuff happening here, I can't keep it all straight."
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +Ilia seems reluctant to explain, but Eligor cuts in.
 +
 +"I'm pretty sure she isn't saying your idea is bad, she just knows what moving underwater would mean for this place."
 +
 +"It's a long story, but they refers to the people after me. Rurumi was abducted when she was young, and out of spite her kidnapper raised her to believe I'd taken her parents from her. He sent her to kill me. But even without her, I more or less declared war on....everyone, so finding allies is not really an option."
 +
 +"The facility can go underwater, but that would require...rerouting the power. Currently, seventy percent of the power is being supplied to this room."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine looks to the pod, her grumpy expression trying to hang on, faltering a bit. She makes to chew on her lip for a moment as she mulls over the problem, only letting out a little his as she, again, forgets that these ones are sharp. She puts a hand to her little cut.
 +
 +"Well... That's my idea. But... maybe..." she says, tilting her head as she gazes at it. "What happened to her?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"I created a grimoire to make up for my shortcomings, but I kept the core in her body on her request. It was meant to help curb some....impulsive side effects. When our child was taken however...I could not stop myself. During the rampage she tried to seize control through the core but could not handle the recoil. It left her comatose, and the core cannot be retrieved. It constantly consumes aether in increasing amounts, but has fused to her heart, replacing it in a sense."
 +
 +"It keeps her alive but it is also killing her. And due to the coma, we cannot even hope to gain control of the problem either."
 +
 +Eligor looks the pod over, clearly still trying to think over solutions even as he tells the story.
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"What if she could handle the recoil? Would anything bad have happened?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"She likely would still be conscious, but the fusion still would have occurred."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"Would she be at all anything like the person you'd still want around? Like... would that way of living be something you'd want for her over this?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"I...what? Why does this matter?"
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +She looks a little sheepish as she looks back to him. "Well, I could make it be that way instead. Well, probably. It sometimes ends out weird but... I could change it, n' then the castle could go underwater and she'd be okay."
 +
 +"I just don't know her so... I don't wanna decide it for you two."
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +"That won't work," Ilia chimed in, sighing. "I already tried that. Something else kills her if you stop the core from fusing with her. So many times...no matter what you do, death finds her like it was meant for her."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"No, I wasn't gonna stop the core from fusing, 'cause then Father wouldn't stop but... and if something else happens, I can change that too! Koro died, but then I changed it, and then he didn't!" she seemed adamant, that spirit of wanting to help, of wanting to keep her family safe and whole, it was coming out more and more. When did she start seeing these strangers as family anyway? It hadn't even been that long...
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +"....Well you won't listen unless you fail. By all means, prove me wrong."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine looks back to Eligor, tilting her head, eyes wider with that eager confidence, wanting to try. "Do you want me to try?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"The alternative is we watch her die anyway. She's not a guinea pig, but it's not like we have room to properly test."
 +
 +"If you think it will work, I'll at least bet on you."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine uncrosses her arms and nods. "I... I can only guess. I wish I knew more about the way things were here with you all 'cause... 'cause then I might do better but, I dunno, I'll try my best." 
 +
 +She looks at the pod, and that power that itched and hummed underneath her skin is called forth.
 +
 +**D̴̓̈́i̸̾̕s̷͋͛t̷̽͊o̶͒͠r̷̉̓t̶̏̂i̶̿̀o̷͒̚n̷̽̾**
 +
 +She attempts to do as she says, to change the effect of the recoil - to allow the fusion, but to give Ilia's mother the ability to withstand it, to remain with them.
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +||Time begins to unravel and unfold itself, and the moment in question is righted. The woman in the pod never falls comatose to the recoil, but as time began to resolidify something began to go wrong. At some point life was replaced with death, and like a glitch in the distortion itself, the death seemed to play out multiple times over and over, each time with Ilia present. The woman looked very much like her--almost identical in fact save for hair of a far less intense hue, and a crystal in her forehead that seemed much smaller. Each time the woman died, a new scene and a new death played out--over and over again in sequence seemingly hundreds of times. Each time Ilia's eyes seemed more and more crazed and desperate to stop the coming doom. Eventually, with the final death Ilia seemed to have lost hope entirely, looking on at the scene with a cold indifference before turning away. Time continued forward as normal again until the group found themselves in the room once again from the moment they entered, with Ilia moving to the back of the room and placing her hands on the tube that had quite suddenly turned into an elaborate coffin. ||
 +
 +||The aether was no longer filtering through the castle into this one room, but instead seemed to be focusing on some room above it. Eligor was no longer dressed as some strange jester either, but was clad in black armor now, his eyes even more devoid of life than they were previously.||
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine looked at the coffin, shaking her head, her expression screwing up into one of confusion. She took a chance to glance at the both of them, trying to gauge what they understood of the moment.
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +Ilia turned around after having placed her hand on the grave, her face tightened up.
 +
 +"We need to get the castle away from them, and flying higher won't help. I think our best bet would be to go underwater for now, but even then we will need some kind of way to cloak this place. Failing that....we need a barrier. Soon enough the heaven piercer will be ready to fire, and if that thing hits us directly everything within a hundred malms will be dust."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine looks into their eyes and sees how much worse off they were, how dead they seemed. It wasn't right. This wasn't right. She told them she could change it. She would try her best. This wasn't her best.
 +
 +**D̴̓̈́i̸̾̕s̷͋͛t̷̽͊o̶͒͠r̷̉̓t̶̏̂i̶̿̀o̷͒̚n̷̽̾**
 +
 +She would change the cause. If her dying was related to the core, perhaps.... perhaps the nature of the core needed to change. What if it didn't need to fuse? Eligor said it did, but she decided things now. She was in control. She would make it so that the core didn't need to do that. She would harbor it inside herself, but it would not consume her in the way it needed to.
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +||Once again time unraveled, but somewhere along the way something went ever so slightly wrong. The core did not fuse with Ilia's mother, but instead she ripped the grimoire straight from Eligor during that incident years ago. The resulting accident caused her to go mad, and she began to terrorize the populace in far more brutal fashion. After much trial and error, Eligor finally managed to imprison her within this room, where a series of red nails kept her pinned to the wall. During Ilia's visit, the woman began to snap wildly at her with her teeth but her simply being alive seemed to have changed things considerably. Ilia's right eye was no longer red and damaged, and Eligor no longer had a tired and depleted visage about his person.||
 +
 +"Alright," she said finally, taking a deep breath, "We need to get this place away from them. Very soon, the heaven piercer will be ready to fire. We don't have any chance of blocking the thing if it goes off, but perhaps if we disappear somehow we can make it out the weapon's range. I'm....thinking I'll act as the distraction as you three get away. Thoughts?"
 +
 +**M̵̐̓a̴͒͆d̵̾̊n̴͑͠ê̷̕s̷͌̽s̴̋̀ ̴̛̾i̵̯͠n̶͗́c̸͒̉r̴͋͐e̶̓̀a̸̐̔s̷̉͠e̴̿̎d̵̽͆**
 +
 +**T̶͓͌h̷̽̾e̸͂̏ ̸̐͊w̸̚͠ȍ̴̈́r̶̈͐ĺ̷̓d̷̅͂ ̴͒͝h̵̆̒ä̶́́s̸͆͝ ̴̆͠b̶͍̓e̸͗̌c̶͆̾ò̴̃m̵͋͗é̴̄ ̶̍͋s̷͆͗o̷͆̆ ̴̿̈́m̴̈́̓ù̸̿c̵̈́͝h̴̒̄ ̸̔͝l̶̾͒e̸̊͑s̶̎̉s̵̐͆ ̷̂͐ẗ̵̐ḧ̴́̌a̵̐̊n̶͛͠ ̵͑͒i̸͑̊t̸̍̅ ̵͆͗o̸̊̚n̵͌͗c̶̛̈ë̶͙ ̷̄̔w̵͋̕á̸͋s̶͘**
 +
 +**C̶̀̿a̸̾͘ǹ̷̚ ̶̛̑y̸̆͊o̸͆͊ư̸̆ ̶͆̄f̶̏̕e̶͋͒é̶̾ĺ̵̈́ ̵͋̊m̸͌́ẻ̵͘?̸̛̑**
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine freezes as she experiences the hitch in her distortion, the feeling of it different. She blinks and shakes her head running a hand through her messed up hair as she takes in the new reality she had wrought. Ilia's mother is alive, and everyone seemed... not necessarily happier, but certainly less tortured. After everything Ilia had said, this seemed preferable.
 +
 +"I... No, wait, what? Why would you do that? That's stupid. Just go underwater? Can that thing get us there?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"It can," Eligor said, "but they can still find us."
 +
 +Ilia nodded. 
 +
 +"I'm the only one strong enough to fight them off long enough for everyone to get away."
 +
 +"They'll have no choice but to pay attention to me."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine - "....Okay. If you're so sure, I guess we'll do that. But where're we gonna go to?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +"Well--" 
 +
 +||Suddenly, a white light burst through the walls, quickly melting everything in a torrent of white. In that moment, the true consequence of Novine's distortion came to light. Her rampaging mother caused the heaven piercer to be developed even faster than before, and having arrived too late in this new timeline, the group ran out of time and were fired upon. Ilia's words seemingly echoed throughout the melting surface as the beam quickly closed in on Novine. " Something else kills her if you stop the core from fusing with her. So many times...no matter what you do, death finds her like it was meant for her."||
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine widened her eyes and activated the power yet again. This wasn't good enough. Nothing was. Ilia was right, she couldn't do it. She should have listened. She panicked as she distorted things yet again, undoing it all. She would take what she had and go from there again.
 +
 +**D̴̓̈́i̸̾̕s̷͋͛t̷̽͊o̶͒͠r̷̉̓t̶̏̂i̶̿̀o̷͒̚n̷̽̾**
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +**I̷̍͆s̵͂̏ ̷̄̒s̵̆̂å̵̛v̴̓͘i̷̿̚ǹ̸̉g̵͋̈́ ̶̌͂ḧ̷́͠ě̸̑r̵̈́̉ ̴̙͌t̴̿͛ḧ̷́̌e̷̓̇ ̸͛͝r̷̍̽e̴͂̽ȁ̶̚l̸̃̍ ̶̛͌ä̵̏n̴̽̋s̸̋͂ẁ̴̈́ê̸̿r̴̊͗?̶͂̒**
 +
 +||The world unravels again, reforming into what it once was, replacing Novine again into herself moments before starting her first distortion in this new world. Eligor stared at her, nodding for her to continue.||
 +
 +"Do you...need help?"
 +
 +**T̸̈͘ḧ̷́͗ě̷̈́r̵̈̽e̶͐̂ ̸̏͛a̷̽̎r̵̀̄e̷̒̇ ̸̋́b̴͗͠ű̷̕g̷͂̌s̵̆̚ ̷̛̽ĩ̸̔n̵͊̓ ̶̃͐m̵͋̇y̵̓̋ ̴̔̚ḧ̷́̊à̸̄i̷͛͘r̸̃̃**
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"I... tried." She shook her head again as the thoughts came to her unbidden, trying to focus through them. "I tried twice and... it was like Ilia said..."
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"...I see."
 +
 +"How did you try? I do not understand how you do what you do."
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine looked to him, a little cautious, greedy of her power, remembering Alia's prior warning not to tell him. But... she called her a traitor and sent her here with the same power. And this version of her Father seemed reasonable. The Father she knew was an intelligent man. Surely this one might be able to help her direct it toward a use she had not thought of.
 +
 +"....I can change stuff. Distort moments so that they happen differently. Cause or effect of anything, I can change it. I haven't had it very long, so like I said, it's weird sometimes."
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"....Anything?"
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"Yeah, anything. At least, I haven't found anything I can't change. Sometimes the events lead to inevitabilities, but the conditions  at least change."
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Ilia]''</fc>
 +
 +Ilia turned around, while Eligor continued his questioning.
 +
 +"So, what exactly did you do?"
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"I just... there's this extra kinda... power. I just use it," she explains pointlessly. "It's a feeling thing. I've always been bad at explaining how I do things, I just do it. Time stopped and then there was this light, and then Alia came and talked to me - not me, Alia, but a different one but... kinda the same and after we talked, I could do it. My brother died before it happened, and then she told me I could use it to save him, so I did."
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"Not what I mean."
 +
 +"You said you tried and failed already."
 +
 +"But you are here, and I have no memory of this. So what exactly did you try to do with your power? How did you try to save her?"
 +
 +"Actually...no."
 +
 +"This would be better understood with a test."
 +
 +He raises a hand and promptly jabs it knifehand style directly into his abdomen, causing blood to immediately spurt from the large wound.
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine looks at him with irritation as he maims himself, but she concentrates, changing the nature of his blow from the start. It wouldn't have the force behind it to pierce him.
 +
 +**D̴̓̈́i̸̾̕s̷͋͛t̷̽͊o̶͒͠r̷̉̓t̶̏̂i̶̿̀o̷͒̚n̷̽̾**
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +He stares down at himself as his hand fails to pierce his body, confused but clearly comprehending. After a moment, he begins to rub at his chin thoughtfully before finally speaking up again.
 +
 +"If this power truly works as you say it does, then the problem is solved."
 +
 +**S̸̈̀h̷̐͠ơ̸͒ư̶͝l̶̇̿d̴̓̚ ̵͋̓h̶͂͐ả̶͑v̶̆͌e̴͛̇ ̶̾͛m̶̛̒ǎ̶͐d̵́̒ê̵͘ ̷̈̏i̵̛̊t̶̎̓ ̴͌̂f̸̃͗o̵̚͝ŕ̶̆c̷͂̃e̷̓͌ ̵͐͋h̶͌̌i̶̽͝ḿ̵͛ ̴́͑ṫ̴̔ö̷́̔ ̶̛͝c̸͊̽r̸̽͘y̵̛̑**
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine takes a deep breath and releases it as the thought comes to her unbidden again. 
 +
 +"There's lots I could do just... with it being unpredictable... I could just make it so that the materials of the castle are transparent or... or are enchanted with something that acts like a cloak, or... I dunno, I could make it so that the core doesn't need so much aether maybe and we can go underwater anyway. There's so many options that I get a bit stuck trying to decide. Do any of those sound good?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"They are not bad, but they are....overly complicated in a sense. Especially if we account for failure."
 +
 +"Normally I'd say that you should simply make it so that the weapon does not affect the facility at all. But if we take the potential for error into account....we need to make it even more simplified."
 +
 +"Perhaps you can simply make the weapon malfunction when fired? Perhaps self destruct?"
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"...Oh!" She manages to laugh a little. "I get so caught up in the one thing... I guess I thought it wasn't just a weapon though. That maybe the people would try different ways of coming after us if the weapon didn't work. Is the weapon all we're worried about then?"
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"I would assume so." He turned towards Ilia. "Is there anything else to worry about Rurumi?" 
 +
 +Ilia was eerily silent throughout this exchange of ideas, but upon Eligor's questioning, she perked up a bit, seemingly more than a little upset about something. "My former comrades. They cannot really stop us but they can certainly mess everything up if we do not flee after. But we could probably just move the castle out of range entirely. If she can change whatever she wants, facing the enemy is not necessary at all. Just have her change the effect of the movement of this building."
 +
 +Eligor turned back to Novine, a hint of confusion on his features. 
 +
 +"Can you do that....wait, did you tell me your name?"
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +"Oh, it's..." she looks at Ilia, who she remembers knocking her out for saying she was Novine. "...it's Novine. And yeah, I can do all that stuff."
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Eligor]''</fc>
 +
 +"Then let's try that." 
 +
 +||Without any ceremony, a tendril pops out of his sleeve and digs into the black metallic floor. With a groan, the entire begins to shake and after a moment more begins to slowly move. ||
 +
 +"We should head south east," Ilia noted.
 +
 +<fc #9400d3>''[Novine]''</fc>
 +
 +Novine would change the the way the building moved through space, increasing the distance that the building's current efficiency was able to produce. She tapped into that distortion, bracing herself for the thoughts that might come. 
 +
 +**D̴̓̈́i̸̾̕s̷͋͛t̷̽͊o̶͒͠r̷̉̓t̶̏̂i̶̿̀o̷͒̚n̷̽̾**
 +
 +<fc #cd5c5c>''[Alia]''</fc>
 +
 +**Ü̶͝H̴̑͘ ̶͆͐Ǒ̷͗H̴͗̂**
 +
 +**M̶͐̈́Ä̷́͂D̴́͘N̷̎̎E̴͋̀S̶̈́S̴̊͝ ̷̄̍Ỉ̸̍N̷̓̚C̶͂͑R̷͗̊E̷̋̈́Ä̸́͘S̶͛̕Ê̷͛D̶͂̚**
 +
 +||The world suddenly goes still, and all color drains from it. From the crystal in Novine's forehead, a yellow entity slowly and with great effort squeezes its way out, birthing onto the ground in a wet and slimy mess before struggling to turn it's glowing head towards Novine's time-frozen body, seemingly quite exhausted.||
 +
 +||**`Ẇ̶̕i̴̓͝l̸͌̆l̷͋̉ ̸́̆y̴͐̄ȯ̶̀ǔ̶̈́ ̸̄͑ä̷́̐n̶͌̐s̵̀̑w̸̍̆e̴͑̚r̶̔̿ ̵̄͝ẗ̵́͊h̴̽͝e̴̓͒ ̸̔̔c̶̽͌a̴͋͊l̴̀̍l̴̊̿?̶̀̒`**||
  
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