Vigil

[Magtok]

[Far Too Early]

"Might be a tough ask," Blanche points out. "I don't think we're going to be flushing Prime out so much as following the bait to his lair. And we'll want to be careful about information control - everything could fall apart if the plan leaks beyond us."

For Magtok's benefit, she adds, "I'd suggest we aim for a week or two, keep it under three if possible. We need time to prepare resources and train those taking part, but the longer we let this plan marinate, the higher the risk intel leaks and Prime or the clone get tipped off indirectly." And the higher the risk Magtok himself gets antsy and acts alone.

"Mhm, what Blanche said. If I were to guess where he is now, I'd imagine somewhere in Skyside or Inside. A place full of innocents where he can blend in and quietly force a small community or two to feed, shelter, and hide him from outside threats. Maybe not a church, since that's where you guys fought him already, but something like that. Again, we won't know for sure until we send out the clone, but bringing some means of harmlessly rendering a whole bunch of innocent people temporarily deaf might not be a bad idea," Magtok muses, still a little antsy about this whole Magbot revival idea he had. Godsdammit, what's the point of swearing an oath to the memory of a friend you lost if you're just going to break it as soon as it's convenient for you, and in such a cruel and callous fashion, too?

"Obviously you don't have to bother me with every little bit of minutiae, but I'd like to be kept in the loop regarding any big changes in tactics made before the plan is put into motion. I don't want to be the only one not wearing earplugs or casting the right deafness spell when Geneva goes into battle with an electric guitar wired to a dozen amps each tuned all the way up to eleven," the ex-villain asks. Now, I don't know if Geneva is even capable of playing a guitar, or if she'll even get involved in this fight, so it's probably not the most plausible scenario to worry about.

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

Having recovered from her initial surprise, Thariza's old instincts come back to her. She ducks down, goes on all fours for a moment to slip under Emily's guard and then straightens upwards, trying to knock her sword aside with both her weapons.

[Superhero Training]

Thariza manages it! Despite her size and strength, Emily doesn't have the best handle on swordplay, and a competent opponent like Thariza manages to parry it aside relatively easily. Of course, Thariza may realize a second too late that it was probably too easy, as Emily lets the momentum from the parry turn her body and bring her elbow alongside into Thariza's head, possibly knocking her silly with that trap.

[Ironsmith]

[Deciphering Cylinders]

Eun can tell even from here that LB-2 is operating at maximum power. Not because of any complex readout of the status of her shell, but from the simple fact that the air around her would be shimmering with visible heat. As tends to happen with severely-overtaxed computing systems.

But that won't hold her attention for long, compared to the reality-defying interdimensional bridge taking shape in front of her. Not just in the sense that it was accessing another dimension (she'd long since embraced that as not only a possibility, but a whole field of science with its own well-defined formulas and theories), but rather, apparently acutalizing what should be the combined product of neural impulses in Geneva's brain. Which she'd somehow managed to physically duplicate through psychic powers. In order to run a virtual machine.

Really, this whole experiment hasn't stopped being a huge mind-screw since she got here. It's saying something that the polydimensional seraph giving her bells for her cats (who are themselves mental symbiotes) is the more explanable item in the room.

At this point, she should probably just sit there and watch. She's going to go insane if she thinks too hard about what she's seeing.

[Morty]

[Superhero Training]

Thariza indeed realizes what's going on too late and is elbow-bonked in the head. She staggers back, swinging her weapons about without much grace.

"Ow. Okay, that was clever."

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

Emily steps back away from the wild swinging, avoiding it entirely as the pair get some distance from one another, "Thanks, though admittedly that wasn't strictly swordplay," she's mixing in brawling maneuvers because she can't win on swordplay alone, which everyone present should be able to tell.

[Shadowcaller]

[Superhero Training]

"We're looking at how you use it right now, Emily. So don't mind that." Ambrosia briefly remarks.
Of course, they can be done at any point once they feel satisfied with the exchange of blows.

[Morty]

[Superhero Training]

"That would have been perfectly acceptable in Iron Legion training," Thariza comments. "Maybe we should take a break and see how you're doing, though."

[Far Too Early]

By the Riddle, would it kill Magtok to get to the point without meandering for once? It probably would.

"We'll keep you updated," Wenomir says curtly, if only to cut off Magtok's stream of dubious eloquence. "Now I believe you had something to discuss in private, Cessie."

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

Emily nods and turns towards her prospective teacher, "What do you think, Ambrosia? Got what you need?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Superhero Training]

"I more than did." The scholar remarks as she starts to walk towards them, the tome floating after her with the pen desperately trying to write and move at the same time without much success. Something which seems to frustrate it considering how irregular its movements were becoming. Nearly stabbing the pages of the book which just refused to be still.

She gives them both a respectful nod. Being absolutely dwarfed by both of them it's strange just seeing them all interact, especially when she's supposed to be the teacher. "Good work, both of you."

She then turns to Emily, just as the tome catches up with her and starts taking notes properly again. "So you said you had some experience with swordplay, are there any other weapons that you've picked up? Since I get this feeling that most weapons you've encountered haven't been made for your size. Meaning that you're considered unusual even where you're from. Is that correct?"

[Rebonack]

[Deciphering Cylinders]

Come on, Eun. This isn't too hard. If a simulation of a mind is a mind, then why wouldn't a simulation of a pocket universe generator be a pocket universe generator? It's all totally reasonable.

"Why is the robot getting really hot Miss Eun?" Lapis asks curiously. That is, apparently, the only thing going on that is immediately concerning to her. What if the robot gets so hot it breaks? That would be terrible!

Meanwhile!

"That means any actual or simulated version of the flywheel technology should be creating pocket universes, or at least have that capability. This technology could actually have some very practical applications for storage if nothing else. It might be worth calculating what would happen to the pocket universe when the mechanism is shut down. Would it be self-sustaining or simply collapse in a pop of quantum foam?" Geneva muses aloud. "Either way, I'll have the drone back out now that I have the readings I'll need for analysis. I think it might be best to have everything not 'native' to this brane vacate it before I wake up."

No idea what would happen, still.

There's just so much to learn!

Once the drone comes buzzing back into the Bifrost disembarking chamber the sleeping mew will awaken!

Who knows what sort of nonsense that will result in.

[Morty]

[Superhero Training]

"It sue has been ages since I picked up a sword," Thariza observes. "I gravitated towards this mace pretty early in my training."

[Hraithre]

[Deciphering Cylinders]

Don't worry, Lapis. Without some sudden hardware defect, the tiny robot won't cook in room temperature.

"Does an object illuminated by light of a lantern vanish when the light is turned off?", LB2 comments Geneva's musings.

"No, but the shadows it is casting will", LB-M answers, "I don't know if 'quantum foam' is the right thing, but this space will definitely collapse if my wheel is halted."

Their discussion is cut short when Geneva recalls her probe. LB-M is left alone in the imaginary atrium once Geneva's substitute awakens. Geneva can still see the machine spinning in her mind and feel it request psychic energy to keep itself running while she is awake. The machine has expanded itself quite a bit to contain all the new information Geneva supplied to it. A quick analysis of her probe data suggests that while the space created by the machine would collapse if she halted, information of everything within it would remain in the machine's memory, capable of being exactly replicated later on. A deeper analysis suggests something about it would remain even if her substitute is destroyed and the memory lost, but it would be beyond recovery.

It may be the "darkness" of the (mostly) empty brane hides a number of such lost constructs, but finding them would require extensive scanning. LB2 could find Geneva's probe because it passed reasonably close to her and she knew what to look for. Her method does not even hint to where to look for anything else.

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

"I'm only trained with swords at all right now because a friend of mine was learning them and needed a sparring partner that was large enough to properly duel her exo-suit," Emily explains, "I've always been an unarmed fighter and grappler. There's enough intricacies to linking Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and my dad's kinetic manipulation techniques to my weird body structure that I never really had to go into weapon systems. Breaking out of that..." she searches for a word for a moment, "paradigm, I suppose, is why I'm looking into armed arts right now. Expanding your horizons is an important part of becoming a well-rounded fighter."

[Shadowcaller]

[Superhero Training]

Ambrosia nods to that. "Understandable." She makes a circular motion with her hand. "Then you don't mind if I make some observations, do you?" Without waiting for a reply, the scholar starts to circle around Emily. This time with her tome staying put, one has to imagine to the pen's unfathomable relief.

"So you're saying that you're expertise is unarmed fighting? I don't know any of the martial schools that you're talking about but my own mentor put a lot of emphasize on learning to use one's body before learning the extensions of it. One has to learn to crawl before they can walk he called it." By now she has walked half a lap around Emily and seems to be studying her. She can practically feel the scholar's gaze upon her which might not be the most comfortable feeling. "Now, you can obviously already crawl according to this analogue but you must understand that walking is going to be quite different. Perhaps even antithetical to your current style."

She stops once she has walked a full circle around Emily. "Since there was two things I noticed. First, you like to get up close." Ambrosia reaches up and nearly have to stand on her toes just to tap Emily's sword. "Notice the size of this thing? It's not a weapon made for close combat. It's intended to be used almost like a spear at times. Giving you the reach to punish your opponent before they can get in close." Then she steps back and gestures to Emily's arms. "Given your already impressive reach, this is probably not a unfamiliar concept to you and this weapon is supposed to be an extension of that idea. Reaching your opponent before they can reach you is everything in combat. That's why ranged weapons are so effective, no? So in a way this sword is a bit like the gun you're carrying around." She points out the holster Emily is wearing.

"But the second thing I noticed was that despite being a self-described unarmed fighter, you never actually employed your tail during the fight. So is it so that you don't have much control over it or that you've never trained to use it in combat?"

Once she posed this question, the scholar turns to Thariza. "So what were the observations you made of Emily when you fought? I know it's hard to observe and fight at the same time but it's actually the key for my own style of fighting."

[Shadowcaller]

"Mhm, what Blanche said. If I were to guess where he is now, I'd imagine somewhere in Skyside or Inside. A place full of innocents where he can blend in and quietly force a small community or two to feed, shelter, and hide him from outside threats. Maybe not a church, since that's where you guys fought him already, but something like that. Again, we won't know for sure until we send out the clone, but bringing some means of harmlessly rendering a whole bunch of innocent people temporarily deaf might not be a bad idea," Magtok muses, still a little antsy about this whole Magbot revival idea he had. Godsdammit, what's the point of swearing an oath to the memory of a friend you lost if you're just going to break it as soon as it's convenient for you, and in such a cruel and callous fashion, too?

"Obviously you don't have to bother me with every little bit of minutiae, but I'd like to be kept in the loop regarding any big changes in tactics made before the plan is put into motion. I don't want to be the only one not wearing earplugs or casting the right deafness spell when Geneva goes into battle with an electric guitar wired to a dozen amps each tuned all the way up to eleven," the ex-villain asks. Now, I don't know if Geneva is even capable of playing a guitar, or if she'll even get involved in this fight, so it's probably not the most plausible scenario to worry about.

"I don't think we could possibly prepare for all the potential scenarios, no. Especially that if Prime is anything like you, Magtok, we should expected the unexpected." Then again, part of why Magtok was creative was probably that he couldn't lean on mind controlling everyone around him all the time. It was quite the crutch, why use anything else?

"But yes, it's better if we start acting at this point. We can have a debrief regarding the progress we've made in a week from now." She then turns to Wenomir. "Yes, let's meet in my office a half-hour from now. I think we need a short break after this discussion."

[Morty]

[Superhero Training]

Thariza scratches her snout in thought.

"She's bigger and has more reach than I do. Which isn't something I'm used to. And when she charged on all fours, it looked a lot like what Charr warriors do with two-handed swords. But I haven't fought against or trained with other Charr for so long that it took me by surprise."

[Far Too Early]

"I think I could use a break too." And check in on Anika and Cass. "See you in half an hour, then."

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

Emily holds still as Ambrosia circles around her. She's been the subject of researchers before, and she was polite enough
to remain still back then. No reason not to do so now, though she does curl her tail around her legs so that the circuit Ambrosia has to make around her isn't either extended by its length or forced to have the smaller woman step over it.

The comments about reach and range are interesting. Admittedly, she's very rarely actually needed an increase in range - against enemies larger than her, she could always get inside their reach, and against those smaller she already had a reach advantage, barring weapons; she's only ever encountered one person of a size with her, and that wasn't a fight.

She's is quiet during the discussion, thinking things over, before, she finally responds, "For my tail, I've only been trained by people with normal human body structures - they didn't really have tails to train me with, but I do have a fair amount of control with it. It's not prehensile or anything like that, but the only times I've actually used it in a fight have been when someone was trying to get behind me and I had a chance to slap them silly."

[Shadowcaller]

[Far Too Early]

As they are leaving the meeting room the door they're exiting through makes a strange sound.

"Ow!"

Wait, that was just the door getting opened into Anika's face.
Since she was standing right outside of it. Almost suspiciously close to it.
She is wearing a ill-fitting shirt that must be Wenomir's (hint, it's not too big for her) and the obvious lack of pants. Blocking most of the doorway.
"I'm alright, I'm alright- oh hey Magtok." She smiles and waves at the cyborg before making finger-guns and winking at the catgirl next to him. "Blanche."

Then she looks over their shoulders to spot Wenomir. "Sorry, I got a bit bored of waiting soooo...."

[Ironsmith]

[Deciphering Cylinders]

Eun opens her mouth to explain to Lapis how the computer inside the tiny robot is made up of millions of tiny transistors, which heat up when electricity pass through them and which collectively produce a large shift in temperature, but decides against it as thing start to happen again. She can explain it all to Lapis later, in a saner environment.

"...How can a simulated use of the flywheel technology produce anything?" Eun asks, crossing her arms. "That just doesn't make any sense. More so than is typical of the 'mad science' around here."

[Shadowcaller]

[Superhero Training]

Emily holds still as Ambrosia circles around her. She's been the subject of researchers before, and she was polite enough
to remain still back then. No reason not to do so now, though she does curl her tail around her legs so that the circuit Ambrosia has to make around her isn't either extended by its length or forced to have the smaller woman step over it.

The comments about reach and range are interesting. Admittedly, she's very rarely actually needed an increase in range - against enemies larger than her, she could always get inside their reach, and against those smaller she already had a reach advantage, barring weapons; she's only ever encountered one person of a size with her, and that wasn't a fight.

She's is quiet during the discussion, thinking things over, before, she finally responds, "For my tail, I've only been trained by people with normal human body structures - they didn't really have tails to train me with, but I do have a fair amount of control with it. It's not prehensile or anything like that, but the only times I've actually used it in a fight have been when someone was trying to get behind me and I had a chance to slap them silly."

[Superhero Training]

"Then that's an area for improvement." Ambrosia concludes as Emily mentions her lack of tail training. "In fact, I would argue its more important than you might think, but I'll get to that in a minute." She gestures towards Emily's training sword.
"Since I think that now you're starting to see why I was hesitant teaching you this art. One of the main benefits of the ssangsudo is that it gives you great reach, something which I myself lack. Since what good is strength if you can't reach your opponent before they reach you?" Her fingers now comes to point at Emily herself.
"However, you've never had that problem, have you? Which is why you've chosen a different path. This is the issue when trying to master a new style. You often come to realize why you hadn't picked it in the first place. I know that Wenomir have tried to master a lot of different arts yet he always come back to the style he's the most known for. Not that I'm saying there are no benefits to learning this but it can take out some of the enthusiasms of learning something new once you know that you might never actually use it."

The scholar pauses for a moment, letting Emily consider what she's just been told before moving on.

"That being said, Thariza said you fought much like a charr. Quite the compliment from her. But what were your own observations of her style? Did it influence how you approached this duel?"

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

Emily considers for the moment as Ambrosia goes over why she might not appreciate the Ssandao, clawed fingers going over the length of the blade while she gives it due consideration. She hadn't even really tried to make use of its length, instead relying on the fact that she could take hits that Thariza likely couldn't to close in, as she always does.

Hmm.

"Well, as far as Thariza goes, she's clearly ambidexterous, at least with weaponry - needing to keep both weapons in mind was a hassle, and she clearly had tricks I hadn't seen before. It's why I spent time disrupting her ability to get in and cause problems; your weapons aren't terribly useful if you can't bring them to bear."

Emily is quiet for a short moment before she says, "I think if we were both going all-out, I could probably win. It'd be rough, and I'd basically have to swap to grappling, but doable."

[Morty]

[Far Too Early]

...by all the dead gods. Or are the dead gods playing a joke on him for all his blasphemies? And where is Cassandra?

"The meeting is over, but I need to talk to Cessie soon. We've got something important coming up." Best just pretend nothing is out of the ordinary here. "You should put on some trousers, though."

[Superhero Training]

"I know I had to switch up my fighting style, when I got... new magic. What you saw me use. I had a different sort before." She won't elaborate on the reasons, though. "It's not easy to shift gears like this. But as far as your fighting style goes, you're the first person I've met in a while who has similar proportions to a Charr. With long arms."

[Shadowcaller]

[Superhero Training]

"If you both went all out, I suspect you both would also have surprises in store for one another." Ambrosia points out. "Wenomir could probably tell you that there's a big difference when you know your life isn't on the line. I have dueled him twice and in both cases I'm fairly sure he would have beaten me if he truly went all out."

She makes a dismissive gesture.

"But that's speculation. I think you should try to consider the big difference between sparring and fighting all out though. Some people might actually fight better when they're sparring- but I'm digressing." The scholar shakes her head.

"So let me get back to your tail, Emily. Since I would argue that if you can't use it properly it can actually become a liability in a fight. Just like say a cloak or long hair it can be something that can get stuck or an enemy can grab onto. Not training it is akin to someone skipping training any appendage, such as your legs or arms, it creates an imbalance." Ambrosia gestures to Thariza. "Charr's use theirs to help keep balance as I understand it. They're not really used in any other way. Though I think yours is capable more than just that, Emily."

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

"Mmm, makes sense. I imagine we both would have a lot more we could do if we were fighting seriously," she says, scratching at her chin. But then...

Emily regards Ambrosia curiously for a moment, "You seem pretty focused on the tail, and while I agree... the way you're talking says you do know how to use a tail in a fight."

[Thursday Violist]

[Labs]

She has luck as Mia blocks the dangerous light of the welding torch with her body which means she is also not able to face the entrance, but don't worry. Mia won't react immediately as some of the sentence won't be heard over the torch.
When Mia makes a pause she looks up as if she heard something from above, but there are only some machines haning who need repair. She then shuts the welding torch off before turning around.

"There is no need to come back. I just work on some repairs and non of it is urgent. So what do you mean by 'acting up'?"

She takes of the protection and her view focus on the arm, trying to listen to the mechanical arms voice.

[Labs]

"Um, w-well, basically...." the witch Awen says, to think of how to explain it.

With the welding torch off, she goes in more and gets closer.

Awen moves the mechanical arm's fingers, curling them in and flexing them over and over.

"Well, you see. It's. Um." Awen closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, to keep herself from stumbling over her words and rambling on about nothing. She then tries to get straight to the point: "It isn't really responding very well. I mean, sometimes it feels really stiff and hard to move. And other times it seems to be moving on its own, jerking around and moving very suddenly."

The mechanical arm, itself, is actually in fairly decent condition. Definitely has a lot of signs of excessive fatigue. Like it's been working far longer and harder than expected.
But that wouldn't explain what Awen's describing.
Rather, more importantly, it seems to have black shadowy tentacle things that are possessing it. Not currently at the moment. But it happens, as if a dark spiritual energy fills it and tries controlling it.

[Morty]

[Superhero Training]

"I think I've said before that Commander Wenomir reminds me of Rytlock Brimstone. They both have this... 'I eat nails for breakfast and practice my scowling in front of a mirror' look." After this brief aside, Thariza gets back to the topic. "Yeah, our tails aren't really good for much other than keeping balance. They're too soft and we don't control them too well."

And now she's curious what Ambrosia will say. She is familiar with having a tail, for sure, but she'd rather most people didn't know that.

[Shadowcaller]

[Superhero Training]

"Do I?" Ambrosia inquires with a smile. "Well, I do in theory actually. See, there is a people back where I'm from that do have tails. They're not known for their fighting prowess but the few who are, those are masters of their craft. They've even written books on the subject and I've read a few of them. Figured I could share that knowledge with someone that can actually use it."

[Halae]

[Superhero Training]

"I see," Emily eyes Ambrosia curiously, "Well, I won't say no to it if you've got ways to train me how to use it. Wouldn't mind seeing one of those books myself if you have them on hand."

[Rebonack]

[Deciphering Cylinders]

"That is an important question. And one that possibly touches upon the simulated universe model," Geneva replies thoughtfully. "But I don't think we have enough data to make any definitive claims just yet. Right now we have a number of very unexpected observations. Simulations of the flywheel technology DO produce real spaces. These spaces can be accessed like any other brane via hyper-dimensional bridges. I've been gathering data on the actual flywheel device we encountered on our expedition, I think it would be interesting to compare its functionality with the simulated version. Or, potentially, with a physical replica of the device that we construct here and operate under controlled conditions."

Then?

She offers Eun a sympathetic smile.

"I know this is difficult to explain. I agree, it doesn't make much sense. But I think we can MAKE sense of it. We just need a working model to begin testing. My suspicion is that there's some other hyper-dimensional component that we're unaware of that interacts with the flywheel technology and helps it to manifest its effects. Like a cloud-computing system. The flywheels are merely terminals the rest of the system interfaces with. If it can't distinguish between a physical flywheel and a simulated one that might explain why a simulation can appear to have real world effects," Geneva reasons.

It's a reasonable hypothesis, Geneva thinks. And certainly more sensible than some of the alternatives. Now they just need to figure out how to test said hypothesis.

"I'm going to re-integrate my subs. It's a bit taxing to keep them active for prolonged periods of time and thus far mentally partitioning the simulation has been working well. If anything unexpected happens I think I'm well equipped to deal with it at this point."

And then?

Geneva and also Geneva de-rez and dissipate, leaving only the Geneva who was previously snoozing inside of the Bifrost Chamber left. She wasn't sure exactly how ending the sub would impact the active flywheel simulation, so it was most sensible to use THAT Geneva as the re-integration anchor. The mew takes a deeeeep breath and then makes and adorable little noise as she breaths out.

[Hraithre]

[Deciphering Cylinders]

There's a slight beep from the tiny robot. "Well, a physical simulation is still a physical system", LB2 offers, rejoining the conversation. "Apologies for lack of a hologram. I need to wait for myself to cool down a bit. Ummm... where was I? Oh, right. A physical system obviously has effects on the physical world. For example, Dr. Bu, you aren't confused when the program running inside this shell produces heat. In the case under study, the flow of energy necessary to process certain kinds of information sends a signal. It has a dimension to it that I could not measure from my vantage point before seeing Dr. Richards do what she did. I was only aware of it as a mathematical expression and could not tell if it had any physical meaning. Sort of like negative mass or imaginary numbers. Or... some applications of the quadratic equation? Like, when you use it to calculate the height of a cone, it gives you two heights, but only the positive result appears physically meaningful."

"Now imagine the negative result is physical as well. The negative cone is there, just... in a very weird way that you cannot touch. But something else might. Dr. Richards is probably right that there is a significant amount of hyper-dimensional machinery just lying out there somewhere, waiting for something to connect to. Just like the modem genes we found."