Vigil

[Rebonack]

[A Bridge Too Far]

The process here takes a few minutes.

Which, frankly, is pretty amazing that the Bifrost Chamber is able to even do such a thing.

Geneva zeroes the machine in on the given coordinates and cycles up the chamber. A loud hum begins to fill the room as the machine's exotic mass core begins burrowing a tunnel through reality itself, taking the form of a steadily growing point of deep violet light.

"I believe I have the precise location you departed from isolated. You're arrival was recent enough that the bridge between the Nexus and your home world hasn't completely collapsed yet. So this is a relatively simple matter of just propping it open again. Once the bridge has fully opened you can step into the inner chamber," Geneva says, opening the OUTER chamber fro Ardi to use.

Well this has been relatively easy, right?

Just needed to find someone who knows how to travel to other universes.

"So what was going on when you left? Were you, like, in the middle of a fight or something?" Khannie asks, squinting at the otherwordly glow from the Bifrost's growing bridge.

Meanwhile!

Interestingly, Lapis is growing steadily more concrete as reality does its darndest to make sense of her.

"I like it too, but I don't like it when my friends are scared so I only really unbind myself when I have good reasons like if someone wants to see me like you do!" Lapis replies with a voice which resonates like a glass harp. When she moves it is with a grace and perfect that's uncanny, as if the world itself where turning under her feet to place her exactly where she wishes to be. "And thank you for saying nice things about me! I think your colors are all so pretty, I love them!"

Lapis' display doesn't last very long. True to her word she's concerned about the well being of the people in VIGIL and she knows well enough that her unbound presence is at least a little bit hazardous. Not as hazardous as bigger celestials but still not the best! She folds back in on herself, once against presenting a little half-drow girl to the world around her.

[quillpleasant]

A Bridge Too Far

-that makes sense! mortals seem very delicate from what i've seen, so it's best to be cautious- says Octavia understandingly. Really, everyone should know that angels are always good, so there's never any reason to be scared of them. But mortals are silly and strangely suspicious in a way that doesn't really make sense to her.

She preens at Lapis' compliment, glowing brighter for a moment. -thank you! but i'm just a lesser choir member, really. you should see the soloists, now they're impressive!-

As Lapis transforms back, the galgal watches in fascination. -that's such a useful trick. if i want to interact a lot with the physical world i need to pilot my vessel. right now it's paralyzed because of something that ardi did, and he doesn't know how to fix it- It's a little worrisome. -if necessary i could create a new one with some help, but my vessel was specially made to infiltrate PREP and it's very high quality-

[[brackets lover]]

[A Bridge Too Far]

Ardi tilts his head at Khannie. "Didn't I just say that?" he asks, confused.

Without hesitation, Ardi proceeds to the outer chamber. He closes his eyes, bringing his hand close to his sword and taking a breath.

► SHOW SPOILER

The coordinates of Ardi's point of departure led to a hole on a mobile surface, which when viewed from beyond appeared to not lead back the same way, its internal contents appearing to be violet hued swirls of non-coherent space. Due to this and the fact that while one would have no trouble going out of the portal, it was a bit of a tight squeeze going in, so it could not be reliably used for a return trip.

To compound to this, the surface was some sort of body part, at least three times the size of a human hand. Dark purple and with blade-like claws, the monstrous hand had a black, studded wristband wrapped around it and ended in a translucent wisp past that. A central frame hovered in front of this hand with another hand slunk to the ground across. The central frame was eliptical and had face-like shapes carved in, resembling a jack-o-lantern, D-shaped eyes and all. They floated along quickly and were very pre-occupied, so something could slip out of their hand without them noticing entirely.

"heehee!Kee done it! I've lord will be so pleased. Oooh the"

Right now, they were headed towards an extravagent castle with a black and purple color scheme, floating over a bridge connected to a cliff overseeing an ocean of lava. When he got to the entrance of the castle, he found himself stopped by two guards who crossed their spears. One was a mere dark purple, bulbous suit of armor with nothing inhabiting it. The other was a wooden shaft that moved around on its own. Rather than carrying a separate weapon, it just held onto a spear blade with its arm.

"Urrr, hold it," says the purple armor, "This here be duhhh castle of the dread lorrrd. You don't look like a dread lord to uhhh me."

"Yeah, beat it, pal. We ain't lettin' just anyone in, so scram!" the walking weapon compounds.

"Yeahhh, scram!"

"fools! Insolent" shouts the floating being, raising its hands up into the air. A searing blaze pours out of the holes and scorches the guards, causing them to fall to the ground in pain as their bodies burnt black.

[Rebonack]

[A Bridge Too Far]

Depending on how cognoscente the creatures on the other side are, they may notice several small quad-copters zipping out of the rift and beaming back the scene. The machines are pretty simple, only meant to provide video and audio while ensuring the other side of the rift has needed things like air. Hopefully the little buzzing machines don't draw too much attention from the monsters.

He's probably too busy setting minions on fire.

"Oh, this is fascinating, the rift appears to be incorporated into that entity," Geneva says, watching the feed with interest. "Ingress should be possible without a great deal of difficulty, but I'll need to establish a more stable bridge if you wanted to return. Is that a concern on your part?"

If the hero is indeed ready to go now, the outer doors of the chamber will close followed by the inner chamber opening, leaving the portal standing before Adri ready for use.

Khannie, meanwhile, frowns at the minions getting torched. "Ugh. What a creep. I hate bad guys that do that stuff."

Meanwhile!

"Oh no you can't move!?" Lapis gaps at Octavia's terrible revelation. "Do you want me to help I know how to make things move I'm really good at it since it's one of my Spheres I can just tell things to move and they obey."

That's a pretty useful trick to have.

And it might provide Octavia with a more immediate solution than...

Waiting.

Which may or may not work eventually.

[[brackets lover]]

[A Bridge Too Far]

Ardi shoots an excited grin before suddenly looking impassive, crossing his arms and closing his eyes musingly. "Ooh, well, this isn't my world. I don't really need to be able to get back here, but... I promised Octavia I'd hold onto some photos for her, so... I guess I'll wait for you to work on that bridge."

[Ironsmith]

[The Battered Shield]

Mia widens her eyes at that number. "That many?" She says. "How can we miss so much."

"It is a different. Sure there are more preferable combat trained member, but I chose to be one as well. I even went through Wenomirs training. It s hard to find an example. It feels like reading an instruction but never build it. I am not sure where i can go from here."

[The Battered Shield]

"I'm... not sure what to make of that." Angela frowns. "You got training from Wenomir? As in, straight from the boss himself?" She rests her chin on her fist in thought. "No wonder your cortisol's so high. If you've gotten instruction from him and still feel inadequate, you've got to wonder exactly how you're supposed to go up from there."

[Cessie's Office]

"I must admit Doctor, I'm still not sure-" Cessie suddenly pauses and folds her hands.

"Actually, this could be an opportunity. See, I understand that the cogniform project is something you have put a lot of effort into but I simply don't think it should fall under VIGIL's purview. Given that Rein isn't the first person who have let themselves be influenced by the creatures and that the base has been under attack before I consider the entire thing something of a security risk. Indeed, the way you've described them they seem to be like a potential apocalypse in themselves."

The commander was expecting objections at this point but she wasn't quite done.

"So I would like you to hand over the project to HALO and give them all the necessary data about the cogniforms. So I want you to travel there and explain to both Rein and the rest of the organization what the projects goals and risks are. Furthermore, while you're at it, you could also introduce yourself and your abilities. In fact, you should probably do that first before getting into the project. I will accompany you and help out with the social details." Like explaining all of this to Rein without insulting him.

[Cessie's Office]

Khafir pauses, staring at Cessie blankly (well, more blankly) as she processes the commander's orders. There's a moist chk as she opens her mouth, as though intending to say something, before closing it again. And then again, twice more, before she manages to say something.

"Is it... wise, to let this project out of VIGIL's hands?" She asks, after a moment. "I see the logic in moving them away from this base. But in dropping them from VIGIL's custody entirely? That does not..." She frowns, holding a hand to her forehead. "...That does not compute."

[Zefir]

[The Battered Shield]

"I'm... not sure what to make of that." Angela frowns. "You got training from Wenomir? As in, straight from the boss himself?" She rests her chin on her fist in thought. "No wonder your cortisol's so high. If you've gotten instruction from him and still feel inadequate, you've got to wonder exactly how you're supposed to go up from there."

[The Battered Shield]

"Yes, He has a few students." Mia replies and then thinks a bit. "If I think about it, I only met two others and all are female." Not that this is helping much in the topic they talk about, but it is a general observation.
"I'm not sure I get what you mean. My problem isn't that he raises a high bar. It's rather the encounters I met are above me. As I said there was a stone golem who smashed the dummies into bits. A hit from him would be a death sentence to me. Or the event with the dragon. If I would have gone in, I wouldn't leave it unscratched like the others. Wenomir said that I should be able to hold myself in a fight, but from those experience I doubt myself."

[Ironsmith]

[The Battered Shield]

"Ah. Even with the training you feel like you're in a different weight class." Angela gives her chin a little stroke. "And I'm going to guess that this isn't one of those problems that can be solved with more training. There's only so much potential you can unlock, after all."

She props her elbows up on the table and continues. "I've seen a lot of people get like that before. Back in my time it's about when they start considering getting 'enhancements'. Things like this." She taps the side of her visor. "Not generally a good idea. It's really easy to fall down that rabbit hole, especially if you're going into it because you're feeling inadequate."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

Khafir pauses, staring at Cessie blankly (well, more blankly) as she processes the commander's orders. There's a moist chk as she opens her mouth, as though intending to say something, before closing it again. And then again, twice more, before she manages to say something.

"Is it... wise, to let this project out of VIGIL's hands?" She asks, after a moment. "I see the logic in moving them away from this base. But in dropping them from VIGIL's custody entirely? That does not..." She frowns, holding a hand to her forehead. "...That does not compute."

[Cessie's Office]

"And why is that, doctor? Since I do need you onboard with this or it won't happen. After all, this is more your project than it's vigil's. Therefore, you would need to keep overseeing it to make sure HALO understand what they're dealing with. If they feel like they would like to hand it back to you and VIGIL after seeing it then that's how we'll play it."

Cessie folds her hands together. "Of course, you being there comes with a few caveats but we can get into those after you answer my question."

[quillpleasant]

A Bridge Too Far

-well, i can move. i'm right here- clarifies Octavia, -but if you could help free my vessel, that would be so cool! i've been feeling a little naked without it- If one of your big things is fighting, then not having the means to do so always makes you a little tense.

-but it's all the way back in prep high school. i don't suppose you can teleport? i might be able to teleport us, but i've never tried without a vessel- she muses. That shouldn't affect it... right? It's not something she understands, just something she feels.

[Ironsmith]

[Cessie's Office]

"More to the point." Khafir shuffles and clears her throat. "To my knowledge, I do not have a counterpart at HALO who is in the position of being nonviable as a source of food. Without such a keeper available, the risk of a containment breach increases dramatically. If it is potentially dangerous for VIGIL to hold onto the project at a different site, it is much more so to hand it over to HALO." She gives a stiff little frown. "Oversight would be insufficient. If I, or someone like me, am not handling the creatures personally, the security of the project suffers."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

"So unless they're interacted with remotely you're the only person that can be close with these creatures without there being a reaction? I see."

There's a pause.

"Is there any way you can change that so they're easier to interact with? Like, it only triggering on eye contact or touch? Since frankly, that design seems impractical. Indeed, I'm starting to question the value of the entire project. Which is why I wanted to hand it over to HALO in the first place."

[Ironsmith]

[Cessie's Office]

"Before I answer that..." Khafir tilts her head quizzically at her superior. "...I am not always observant of subtext, but I find that to be a very intriguing choice of words on your part, commander. Were you under the impression that I created these entities? Because if so, then we have had a rather substantial error in communication."

Khafir pauses briefly, giving Cessie time to process that, before elaborating. "Finding a way to reduce the fertility of these entities has been the onus of this project, commander. It is clearly not so simple as a surgical procedure or regular medication. The purpose of that, in turn, was to make them safe for handling by the general population. If I were capable of doing such a thing to begin with, we would not be having this conversation now."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

"I didn't believe they were your creation considering their intended purpose." She couldn't see Khafir getting the idea to trying to help people emotionally. "But please do clarify as much as you can about the project. Since I might be missing crucial details. For instance, from the way you're talking I must assume that..."
Cessie clears her voice, glad she had turned away the Jillian photo. The kid loved animals. "...putting them all down wouldn't work?"

[Ironsmith]

[Cessie's Office]

"..."

Khafir doesn't answer right away. She just stares at Cessie, with an expression on her face as close to shock as the commander's ever seen on her.

"...Speaking purely in practical terms." She begins, folding her hands. "There is no reason that would not work. While their physical forms are not fixed, they do still have the limitations of said forms and do not have the ability to shift voluntarily. While surgically neutering them is not an option, as they do not rely on a conventional reproductive system and they would immediately regain use of it the next time they shift, the same does not apply to lethal trauma."

The corners of her lips twitch downward as she continues. "...Practically speaking." She reiterates. "But, all the same..." She sets her hands on Cessie's desk and leans forward. "No. Systematically exterminating the lifeforms in my care that have done nothing to harm anyone and whose intentions with humanity range from neutrality to active benevolence, simply because the matter of their care has become inconvenient, is not an option."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

The commander nods, finding Khafir seemingly strong opinions on the matter curious. In a way this felt like when she could understand the doctor much better then at nearly any other point during the conversations. It was strangely refreshing.

"The question had to be asked I'm afraid." She replies after a moment. "VIGIL has a history of having to 'make the tough choices' has it were and I suppose this is my way of honoring that legacy. Since we need to bring all the options on the table here, no matter how awful." Her predecessors would probably have made an order rather than a question. "That being said, it sounds like the project can't be terminated then. Yet at the same time you've also not made much progress either, yes?"

She meets the doctors gaze. "So consider this less handing it over to HALO and more of seeing if they can help you out with it. Giving you some new perspectives to go on."

[Ironsmith]

[Cessie's Office]

Khafir straightens, regaining a more respectful distance from the commander. "...If I am understanding you correctly, then," she begins again, "we will be turning the project over to them, but I will be going with it. Not as a permanent transfer of personnel, but as s necessary component of collaboration. Is that correct?"

[Zefir]

[The Battered Shield]

"Ah. Even with the training you feel like you're in a different weight class." Angela gives her chin a little stroke. "And I'm going to guess that this isn't one of those problems that can be solved with more training. There's only so much potential you can unlock, after all."

She props her elbows up on the table and continues. "I've seen a lot of people get like that before. Back in my time it's about when they start considering getting 'enhancements'. Things like this." She taps the side of her visor. "Not generally a good idea. It's really easy to fall down that rabbit hole, especially if you're going into it because you're feeling inadequate."

[The Battered Shield]

"I'm not sure if more training can solve it." she says and it's obviouse that she clueless. After all there mostly is a limit what a body can do. Her expression changes to a seriouse one when Angela mentions the 'enchantments'

"Indeed it is a rabbit hole. My people have experienced the Danger of this. It went so far that most of the peopulation were unable to have children. You might imagine, as a culture who prays to a god of machines it might seem to be a blessing to get as close to a machine yourself. In the end we had to make the "Law of purity". Basicly it forbids any kind of replaceing or 'enchantments' with some exceptions. Like if you lost your arm in an accident or a person is born blind. It is more compley but the general law had the plan to stop the random replacing of limbs. So in short it is not possible for me unless i loose a limb." Then she points at the device she got in front of her. "I do however got some external enchantments, but those are rather tricky. They aren't efficent enougth yet to make a good use in a real fight."

[Ironsmith]

[The Battered Shield]

"Seems like a reasonable guide to me." Angela agrees, tapping her visor. "Don't replace the hardware until it stops working. Then you get the cutting-edge stuff." She smiles briefly, before she seems to realize something and frowns again. "...You're not one of those people who would, you know, deliberately break something so you can replace it, right? I've seen too many of those, too. Worst of both worlds, really."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

Khafir straightens, regaining a more respectful distance from the commander. "...If I am understanding you correctly, then," she begins again, "we will be turning the project over to them, but I will be going with it. Not as a permanent transfer of personnel, but as s necessary component of collaboration. Is that correct?"

[Cessie's Office]

"With a caveat, if you wouldn't find halo's help useful the project can be returned here should you wish it to. But considering the efforts in moving all the equipment that's completely up to you." Cessie gestures to the doctor. "Is that acceptable? Since again, without your cooperation this wouldn't be possible. Thus I'm not just asking you as a empy gesture, Khafir. I want to know what you think."

[Ironsmith]

[Cessie's Office]

Khafir, once again, folds her arms behind her back. "...I see subtext there, as well." She begins. "This is not purely for the advancement of the project. A collaboration with HALO was always possible before today. If that were the true issue on the proverbial table, we could have resolved to do it at any time within the past several months." She tilts her chin up. "This is not a practical question. This is an attempt at diplomacy. And for that, I am among the least qualified members of staff to consult. I will therefore defer to your judgment, commander."

[Zefir]

[The Battered Shield]

"Seems like a reasonable guide to me." Angela agrees, tapping her visor. "Don't replace the hardware until it stops working. Then you get the cutting-edge stuff." She smiles briefly, before she seems to realize something and frowns again. "...You're not one of those people who would, you know, deliberately break something so you can replace it, right? I've seen too many of those, too. Worst of both worlds, really."

[The Battered Shield]

Mia shakes her head. "No, no. Don't worry." she ensures her. "The rules are rather strict in that matter and such a behaviour gets punished. I can only work on things like armor adn other stuff and in case I break a leg or something alike I still got magical healing. Since Deus Mechanicus is a god of machines his healing is not as effektiv for living things. Otherwise the whole replacement thing wouldn't be a problem. I heared there are healers who can even regrow bones and all."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

Khafir, once again, folds her arms behind her back. "...I see subtext there, as well." She begins. "This is not purely for the advancement of the project. A collaboration with HALO was always possible before today. If that were the true issue on the proverbial table, we could have resolved to do it at any time within the past several months." She tilts her chin up. "This is not a practical question. This is an attempt at diplomacy. And for that, I am among the least qualified members of staff to consult. I will therefore defer to your judgment, commander."

[Cessie's Office]

"It's decided then." She gestures to the doctor. "Thank you for working with me on this one. Genuinely, Khafir. I do appreciate it. Even if we don't always see eye to eye there seem to be some things we can agree on at least."

[Morty]

[A Regenerating Predicament]

Wenomir and Kothar return to Vigil, having taken along Cea, currently regenerating from being vertically bisected, and Vyzan, who needs aid due to being unable to see without his undead. Vyzan will be put in a guest room and fed, with at least one member close at hand to let him get around. Cea will be put in a high-security cell until she regenerates.

[quillpleasant]

A Regenerating Predicament

Vyzan has been extremely cooperative the entire journey, whether out of fear or genuine good nature is hard to say. He's spent the trip alternating between long periods of silence and short periods of rapid fire questions about a variety of fairly meaningless topics. Upon being led to a room with food, he consumes it ravenously before sitting in the corner in some kind of meditative trance.

Meanwhile, Cea has been a bit of a handful, literally. It's a bit awkward to transport a corpse, especially one in two loosely connected halves. But she's slowly being drawn back together, and by the time she's securely in her cell her wound is starting to seal shut, the vertical line glowing golden as it heals. Less than an hour later, she's able to sit up with a groan, the glow fading but still visible.

She stiffly massages her neck, looking around at the room she's in with narrowed eyes. With some effort, she gets to her feet and pads over to the cell door, banging against it with one arm.

"You can't keep me in here forever, bastards! I've escaped once, I'll do it again. And you'll be..." Cea's righteous anger is cut short by a fit of dry coughs, and she bends double with a grimace.

[bc56]

A Regenerating Predicament
"Quiet." Kothar glares at Cea but doesn't make a move. "Do not make me kill you again." He's taken it upon himself to stand guard, seated across from the cell door on a simple wooden chair. His axe and shield rest against his seat, while his hands are occupied with a knife and a half-whittled wooden statuette of an elk.

[Morty]

[A Regenerating Predicament]

Wenomir is standing in front of the door to the cell, arms crossed over his chest. Cea probably could escape from their cell. She seems very difficult to slow down, much less stop. Which is why he hopes their offer will work. But she might be too far gone to take it.

"You escaped one prison only to end up in another one. There's a lesson in that. But your former prison is a place we also wish to destroy. For you, it's chance to regain your freedom."

[quillpleasant]

A Regenerating Predicament

Cea stares at Kothar through the door slot incredulously, then gives a bark of laughter. "Again? I didn't die in the first place. Not to mention, it was your friend who put me out of commission, not you. You're a fool if you think your threats have any value here." She shakes her head dismissively, safe in the belief of her own superiority.

But her attention is soon occupied by Wenomir. The elf narrows her eyes at him, her expression wary but intrigued. "So you're not with the iii? Or you say you're not, at any rate..." She runs a hand through her tangled black hair as she thinks.

"If you want to deal, I'll deal. But first, tell me what you did with my brother. If I find out that he's been harmed, then the violet hell won't keep me from eating your heart." Her lips curl back to reveal her sharp white teeth for emphasis.