Dave, still feeling inexplicably confident in his ability to cast spells, tries to call upon some prophetic vinegar to light his way to the truth.
[Dave's affinity roll: 1-->1-1]
Outstretching his arms and calling upon powers beyond his current understanding, Dave wishes for vinegar to appear unto him, and to bless him with a vision of a solution for all of his problems, of which there are assuredly many. Closing his eyes to prevent anything at all from distracting him, he invokes the sacred vinegar! And the vinegar responds, screaming across the dimensions and spurting out of the ether through a portal somewhat inconveniently placed inside Dave's skull. This is most unfortunate, since Dave is nothing if not an appreciator of unpolluted cerebrospinal fluid. But moments later, that doesn't seem to be a problem, as said fluid seems to be handily drained by yet another portal, making sure that his brain is cushioned by nothing other than vinegar.
[Dave's body roll: 6-->6-1]
Boy, Dave sure is glad that he doesn't have any sensory nerves in that area. Or that they at least seem to not be functioning presently. The burning visions in his mind of past, present and future, of places familiar and never seen, of creatures the mind can only begin to comprehend and of other things even he can't begin to explain, all of those are quite problematic enough.
[Dave's mind roll: 6-->2+2]
Lucky this happened to him of all people, really. Lesser minds would probably snap without as much as a second passing. Dave, though, seems to be filtering out a lot of the images. At least right now, while he's focused on it. He wonders what would happen if he were otherwise occupied. Probably nothing too good. Definitely nothing too good. But then again, he's pretty sure his projected lifespan has decreased at least twenty times from this bit of magic gone awry, so maybe the visions are the least of his worries. He's pretty sure he needed cerebrospinal fluid for long-term brain function, anyway. He might be undergoing a bit of cerebral degeneration right now. He's not sure.
* * * * *
Halesey leaves Sherry to her own devices - or at least Larry - and goes out looking for Frankie near the bathrooms.
Larry, meanwhile, isn't so sure he wants to pay for the girl's beer (she seems like a risky investment, is all), but then realizes that another lady might be coming along soon, and that he had better be a gentleman if he wants to explore the deeper meanings of baseball metaphors sometime in the near future.
"Yeah, sure; and what about one for your friend, too?" he says, trying to look both
rico and
suave at the same time even as he orders two more beers.
"Yeah, I guess that sounds good," she says, moving to a stool closer to Larry and grabbing the pint when it arrives.
"So, you're Larry, huh? You were Larry, right?" she says, sipping the beer and leaning in toward him a little.
"What do you, like, do, Larry?" she asks, still smiling at him.
While they speak, Halesey has found his way to the bathrooms. He notices a girl standing there and approaches her.
"Hi, Frankie? Your friend Sherry there says I should buy you a drink - you want a beer? Or how about a Toffee Ladybird? I hear they do good ones here. You want to come over and join Sherry and Larry? We don't have to, you know."The girl, medium-height, blonde and somewhat pretty, if dressed fairly modestly, looks at him confusedly.
"I think you've got the wrong person, man," she says after a moment.
"I don't know any of those people. Who's Sherry?"Since she was the only one at the bathrooms, Halesey had approached her with an absolute certainty that this was who he was looking for.
* * * * *
Eta is quite impressed that somebody who has existed for a grand total of less than an hour can manage a feat of magic such as that. She also begins to feel somewhat competitive.
"Wow, that's... that's great! You're very good at this. Anyway, I am sorry, but I don't really know if that's normal. Perhaps it's because our minds are different? So we understand and experience things differently? Or maybe the matches are a means of communication and they link each person to different yet similar things? I can only guess. But the man who gave me the matches told me to contact him when I have more knowledge. Perhaps he can tell us more. But I'll need more spells before I can meet him again," she says, suppressing petty jealousy with a bit of effort.
"Here. I think you'll be needing these. Though I don't have an extra magic matchbox to give you and I don't know where to find one. Sorry," she says, handing Lois some of her matches.
"I guess I'll just have to use your matchbox, then," her friend says, examining the match.
"So, what else did you get?""What else? 'Perfect knight', 'commune with wig', 'envenom roundworm', 'cheer up paracetamol'. As I've said, I really have no idea what those might be. I suppose I could try them, though."Eta shrugs and strikes a match, and allows Lois to do the same (it takes her quite a few tries to get it right). Staring into their respective flames, they allow the magic to seep into their brains once more.
[Eta's mind roll: 2+1]
This time when the darkness descends, it's a bit different than before. For one, she feels quite weightless. She
is quite weightless, as a matter of fact. Gravity does not seem to be present in the area at all. This... complicates things somewhat. Eta whirls around in the air a few moments, trying to get a feel for the surroundings - she actually requires her umbrella to properly reach anything and give herself a push in the opposite direction. She has to say, the spinning in the air does not help orientation at all - she bounces off several things, slightly panicking each time and giving herself more of a spin and a push each time, and in five minutes she is even more lost than she was in the beginning. Every time she starts to work out where she might need to be or go, a piece of furniture seems to be in the way to disorient her again. This continues for what feels like forever until she accidentally bumps into a flat surface and, by sheer luck, seemingly pushing a large button. And the effect of the button press is immediately obvious - Eta feels an intense taste of metal in her mouth for a moment, and then finds herself back with Lois, encircled by mugs, feeling very disoriented as a new thought swims inside her head.
1. Highly Explosive Thylacine Pillar
Valemificent! But unfasticious! Onlimous maginanny!
Lois, for her part, looks to have fared much better, judging from the faint look of satisfaction on her face while she examines the burnt remains of her match. As she notices Eta snap out of it, she smiles at her.
* * * * *
John finds this leyline most delectable and enjoyable, and looks to Trey in order to check if he shares his enthusiasm.
"This, is some good shit. How are you feeling, Trey?" he asks, but Trey appears to be looking in the direction of the leyline and shaking. Must be still accessing it. Ah well. Now that he's got the time and the mental capacity, he should probably research spells. Luz seems to have had the same idea a little while ago, too. So he sits down and checks the mag.
[John's mind roll: 1-->2+1]
Moving into his mindscape and getting to work catching some spheres, John has an idea while he examines the tiny little things. They seem pretty shiny, and they smell kind of like a new car. And they have this soft, velvety texture. John pauses for a moment to regard them fondly, when he is struck by an impulse. The spheres look... tasty, he thinks. He kind of got a little hungry thinking about the leyline. He recalls he hasn't really eaten in a while. Surely it couldn't hurt to have one of these, right? It's magic, after all. He's got it inside of him already. What harm could it do?
With this in mind, he pops one of the spheres in his mouth, and finds that it tastes like what would happen if MSG and condensed milk decided to have a lovechild together, then bathe it in honey and dopamine every day of its strange childhood. Despite the slight hydrocarbon aftertaste, John can't resist another sphere, and then another. And then one more for that nice feeling of magical warmth in his stomach. Minutes pass as he floats through the void, having found himself in gastronomically astronomical heaven. The feeling of warmth and comfort increases until John becomes aware of the fact that his skin seems to be melting off. He suspects this is not good.
~Hey, what are you doing here, man, you were supposed to be done by-aw, jeez! Why does this keep happening! Dammit, John, now I have to clean you up,~ his benefactor's voice suddenly arrives in his mind, and John disappears in a flash of light, finding himself back on the roof. He feels like something's amiss in his head all of a sudden.
1. Energize Blanket
2. Vase Boomerang
3. Inspire Kitten
4. Shatter Russian
'Kay, had to wipe a bit of your mind. Most of the important stuff should be there. Don't mess around next time! Take these spells and leave me alone a bit, okay?
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 256202 times)