Magicbase Alexander

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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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Beans wrote: ↑Nov 16, 2022 3:35 pm [VIP Quarters]

Carrie sighs, adjusting her dead anime mom hair. "Hearing it from me might help him keep at least a semblance of his cool, if only to avoid accidentally taking my head off... still, I'll probably tell my girls to get themselves and the other kids out of the Keep for a bit when it's time to break the news."

[VIP Quarters]


"When Kyne found out Dad had created a female clone of himself who had secretly started a family with a Reinclone, she tried to kill him." Soteira helpfully reminds Carrie. "Which was, like, bad. So it'd be hypocritical of him to get mad now, right?"

The other Goddess starts nodding her head in silent agreement, because that's obviously how it works. Nothing to worry about!
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[VIP Quarters]

Carrie clears her throat. "If I have to, I'll remind him of that. And I'll bring the spritzer bottle, failing that." She hopes she doesn't need either of those; while she herself hasn't often seen Tobias lose his cool, she knows enough to give the prospect of his agitation a degree of healthy respect---much in the same way a wise man regards unexploded ordinance. She keeps herself from sighing. "... I'll pop in on Agatha beforehand, y'know. Just in case the thing that won't happen... happens, which it won't."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[VIP Quarters]

Kyne starts to speak, then visibly hesitates. It might be a literal divine miracle, but the wild Goddess chooses her words carefully before saying them. "Please be careful. I'm not saying you can't trust her, just that you don't know yet if you can. She was Chosen by a," a brief pause as she carefully excises some unpleasant adjectives. "...Goddess. She regularly channels Ponera. That kind of influence changes people."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[VIP Quarters]

Carrie deeply appreciates Kyne's tact, and makes it clear with a soft smile and a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I know, hon. I understand. I think I can trust her, I really do. I know people can change---I spent the last handful of years making rather a point of it---but..." She waggles a hand, unsure how to word her feelings. She and Agatha hadn't known each other long, but the way they'd opened up to one another, on top of having saved Agatha's life...

On the other hand, well, look how things turned out with Eiko. They were vulnerable and genuine with each other, and Carrie thought they were in love, and thankfully she didn't finish picking out an engagement ring before it all fell apart.
"... I'll be careful." She will, truly. But she'll be hopeful.
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[VIP Quarters]

"Thank you. Go talk to Rhett, then. Even if he wasn't the one who brought her here, he spoke to her recently in the City of Demons." The Huntress pats the blightwalker's gloved hand.

The Savior stands up and gives her sister another hug. "And if you do get into trouble, remember I'm just a prayer away. I will always come for you."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[VIP Quarters]

Carrie squeezes Kyne's hand, then gives each of goddesses a sisterly kiss on the cheek---she is, at least, aiming for sisterly.

"If I'm in trouble, you'll know. And one way or another, I hope to see you two more often. Love you both---oh, and Queenie and Marel say hi." She smiles as she hugs Soteira. Then it's time to go see Rhett about her... friend.
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[VIP Quarters]

There are a lot of factors that affect whether an arrow hits its mark or misses by meters. The archer's posture, the movement of the target itself, the direction and force of the wind, et cetera. In this case, it's the women's personal history with each other that causes the vulture feathered arrows to hit a mere three fingers shy of sisterly. Kyne freezes up and blushes, withdrawing from both the intimacy and awkward reaction with embarrassed haste. So turns her face into the kiss ever so slightly and when she hugs Carrie back her smile is a bit mischievous.

Perhaps it is of note to Princess Caroline that when she opens the door into the hallway her Guard Trisula neither looks into the room where the pregnant Princesses are standing nor inquires how they are. Perhaps it would be a good idea to reflect on the nature of secrets--known and undiscussed, unknown and speculated upon--on her way to meet the Royal Clandestine Agency's Chief of Nexus Station.

[RCA Station]

Tris leads Carrie back outside the Magicbase's main tower and across the courtyard to a stone ramp declining to an underground lounge next to one of the fortified walls. She makes sure nobody's hiding underneath any armchairs or coffee tables, then points Carrie to a wooden door on the other end of the room. There's a crystal set in the door at eye level, with a white painted warning to knock when the light is red. But it's not lit up at all, so perhaps she should just walk in. Her elf officer unhelpfully leaves her alone to guard the top of the ramp. She seems to like spooks even less than human Goddesses.
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

On the way over, Carrie tries not to think about some of her history---rather unsisterly history---with either of the goddesses.

Carrie notes Tris's reticence, but just pats her arm and gives her a smile. "See you in a bit." Then she opens the door and heads on in. She knows Rhett---enough, at least. The RCA as a whole is a little worrying to her, especially knowing how some of the old-schoolers and hardliners feel about her history with Agatha.

History she's... intending to pick back up. That totally won't make those hardliners' view of her any less rosy, nope.

But Rhett's got her back, and some of the newer agents coming up under his wing, like that nice cat gal. She'd best keep them looped in if she's going to be an effective princess...

All this, she thinks about as she steps into the den of spies.
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

Chief Khan is a human male of average height and build. When he smuggled Carrie into Ponerapolis to rescue Agatha from the secret police, he had blond hair and blue eyes. When she worked with him at HALO later he had brown and brown. Natural dyes and contact lenses rather than any more detectable magic, but either way he's always looked normal to her. Just an average guy blending in with average guys wherever he was. She certainly didn't remember him glowing green. And yet here he is, his entire body outlined with a dark-green aura that moves with him as he turns towards her, a light that looks as dark as a cloak and dagger in the shadows. The astrological sign of Jupiter shines emerald upon his brow. She can see his irises glowing green as well, and little emerald stars sparkle in his dilated black pupils.

Rhett looks at Carrie and also sees a different appearance from the last time they met. But more than her physical growth and emotional maturity, he sees some secrets. He's always been an empath and his career progression in the RCA has trained his psychic potential into a formidable force of mind reading and mental defense. But this is something more, some new power he doesn't even understand. He only looks at the adopted Princess and he experiences a flash of insight into her character.
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

He looks at Carrie and sees...

"What?" Carrie stares at the shorter, slender girl with the soft grey eyes.

"I said I don't know if we're working out." The woman looks away, scratching her neck. "Not for the long haul. You're... you're great. You're wonderful, it's me, it's not you." She swallows, not wanting to see the impact of what she says.

Carrie looks blindsided. She's fighting, fighting like hell to keep her composure. "Oh, I see." She looks down, wings hunching behind her shoulders, hands at her sides. She pinches the leg of her jeans between a gloved thumb and forefinger. "I... I thought we could be together long-term. We hit two years a few months back, and... I mean, if you don't think so, that's fine." She's keeping her voice soft.

The other woman winces. She steps forward and starts to reach for Carrie's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I guess I didn't know how much the thought of... permanency scared me until... until someone stuck with me this long." She wilts as Carrie looks her in the eye, radiating hurt and disappointment. "... Oh.
Oh." She knew this would be painful for her winged girlfriend, but she had been pretending not to understand how much. She cannot pretend any more.

"Yeah." Carrie's voice is flat. "You should probably go, Eiko."

"... Yeah." Eiko withdraws her hand, looking down. "Carrie, I..." She tries to find something to say and comes up empty. She walks out of the cabin and gets in her car, running her hands over her face before she drives away. Carrie waits until she's out of sight before she starts to scream into her hands.

Hours, tears, and drinks pass. The next morning, Carrie's red-rimmed eyes glint with resolution. She starts to type an email that will be passed through secure channels. A request for information that came to his desk, and ultimately led up to her return to the Nexus.


He sees all of this in a moment, the hidden story behind something that had seemed small at the time.

And in that moment, Carrie looks at him. "... Is that a 4 or a 2 on your forehead?"
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

Rhett blinks away the vision and turns his head to look up two posts, reading his own description with a puzzled frown. "Something about a sign of Jupiter, whatever that is. Arcane bullshit I suppose. I think I've been cursed." But his aura starts to slowly fade into invisibility and if he doesn't stare too hard at people or in weird directions he stops seeing things he probably shouldn't see. Easy enough to ignore for the moment. The two have important business to discuss.

"Why's your girlfriend in the Nexus?"
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

Carrie shrugs, totally unaware of what Rhett just sensed. "Sure, I'll believe it. And---uh, I don't know?" She blinks, blushing. "I mean---she's not my girlfriend, just... uh." She inhales. Keep it together. "I don't know what she's doing in the Nexus, but as it happens, I'd like your assistance getting in contact with her."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

"Not your girlfriend?"
Rhett overtly examines Carrie's left hand for a ring. Not finding one he shrugs, a gesture of acquiescence to the eccentric orbits that keep bringing the two women close together for brief moments before spinning them apart for years at a time. And now the pericythe has come again.

"Please, take a seat. I'm not sure I understand what assistance I could provide."
The spymaster sits behind his desk and affects a confused countenance. "We're talking about a woman the Agency trained in tradecraft--reluctantly and at your personal insistence--who then defected to a hostile empire and learned even more clandestine skills from one of the oldest surviving espionage organizations on that world. Not to mention all the demon summoning and deals she's made for assistance and power. A woman who knows certain elements within the Kingdom want her dead or captured. Hiding somewhere within an infinitely vast crossroads of universes. And you want me to arrange a meet?"
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

Carrie listens to his spiel, nodding quietly throughout. "And you aren't taking my clear faith in you as a reaffirmation of your confidence?" She smirks. "I'm shocked, Rhett, shocked."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

It's not professional for a Chief of Station to roll their eyes at a member of the Royal Family, but Rhett does it anyway. "Then let us consider our options. The fastest way would be to send Kynegetis, or at least some of her priestesses, out to hunt down the Inquisitrix and rendition her to this base. There are, uh, risks to this. The safest way would be for me to go out and leave signs in my handwriting--that is to say, symbols she would recognize as my tradecraft--all over the city asking for a crash meet. First she would have to see them, then leave countersigns describing where and when to meet, then I would have to see those, and finally we'd have to get you there in time. This method takes a long time and I don't want to walk all over an infinitely large city.

"I think our best option is trusting in Destiny."
The newly Exalted Sidereal grins at the winged woman and puts a blank notecard on his desk blotter. Dipping a pen into a jar of dark green ink first, he starts to write an address and directions while he explains. "Give fate an opportunity to work with us rather than against us, you know? Go here. There are no sacred places to Ponera in the Nexus, but this location may resonate with her. Pray to the Goddess and ask her if she might be so good as to send her champion your way. But... politely and respectfully pray. If offended she could do something so melodramatically tragic as have Agatha on a nearby rooftop with a rifle, too far away to recognize you, but close enough to kill what Ponera suggests is a threat. I only mean as a worst case scenario."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]
Carrie winces at the first two options, then listens to his fateful suggestion. "That... that sounds good. Haven't done a lot of formal praying in... a long while, but I can do polite and respectful, if a little rusty." She smiles a little nervously. "Especially if it avoids Agatha, uh, unknowingly sniping me." She takes the card when he finishes, inspecting it carefully and making sure not to smudge the nice green ink. "Thanks for... a whole series of things, Rhett. Don't hesitate if there's ever anything I can help you out with for a change."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

"Serving the Royal Family is my duty, Carrie. And helping you directly is much preferable to taking orders from and being second guessed by an entire chain of command from the RCA Director on down to the regional Vice-provost of Operations."
Chief Khan waves off her gratitude and plants the seed of a future favor she could do for him in the same breath.

But then he stops her from getting up, remembering the vision he saw. "Ah, there's something she told me the last time I saw her in Ponerapolis that I never put in any written report. She's had some romantic misfortune, more recently and more traumatic than you and Eiko. A celebrity ballerina she was courting seriously was murdered by a demon summoner. A noblewoman who seduced her into dueling and killing her husband dumped her the day the will was read. She might shoot me for telling you, but I don't want you to walk unaware into a conversational minefield and rub lemon onto her fresh wounds."
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Re: Magicbase Alexander

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[RCA Station]

Carrie nods. "I'll keep that in mind..." And then Rhett goes on, and her heart twists in her chest. "Oh... oh gods. Oh, Agatha... thank you for telling me. Gods, that's... that's awful, even if it'd only been one of those." She stands. "I'll be getting cleaned up before I go, I can't be meeting her all ragamuffiny. Thanks again, Rhett." She smiles, stands, and it's not until she's out and closing the door that she has a thought.

How in the godsforsaken hell did he know about Eiko?
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