THE DUNKER, feeling as if fate was throwing him a bone, decides to turn back. Well, not really turn back as such - more like crawl in reverse until a suitable junction is reached. Speaking of, the junction is indeed reached momentarily, whereupon it becomes apparent that it is clogged by a set of highly impatient dentists. THE DUNKER attempts to kick them out of the way, but the three dentist aggregation is stuck fast, and only curses and squeals back at him as he attempts to find the way back.
He is starting to run out of air.
* * * * *
Halesey, quite annoyed by this whole mafioso and potato business, decides to call for Nigel's help.
"Nigel! I would appreciate it if you undid this here spell of yours!"Nigel, however, does not reply, and indeed does not seem to be around anymore. Halesey realizes that there is but one thing to do, and that is to make a vortex. Rather, many vortexes. As many as he can, on top of his own face. Why, yes. That seems acceptable.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 1-->6+1]
However, the inability to move hampers him, and does so quite terribly - he can't do the potato dance, most unfortunately! How can he do the potato when he can't do the potato? With that in mind, he considers his alternatives. He could just not do the potato, though that seems blasphemous, and is rejected out of hand as a consequence. Perhaps consider a less active form of the potato, as strange as it may seem to contain his fervor? No!
Instead, he shall wiggle furiously against his restraints like any good prophet, and viciously believe that he
is doing the potato. That, and only that, he thinks, can possibly be an acceptable substitute. And so, after a long period of silence followed by preparatory humming and shivering, he begins!
[Halesey's affinity roll: 5+1+3]
And his head spontaneously becomes a potato vortex most incredibly massive, more radiant in its reality than any the mafioso before him has ever has the ability to observe! The potatoes blow forth, and wash over the mafioso like a tidal wave!
[Mafioso's body roll: 4-1]
"Ah, goddamn it, that hurts!" the mafioso yells as the potatoes rush over him, pushing him into the boundaries of his tubery cage, the restraints digging into his flesh. Halesey feels that whatever he is doing, it's probably working. Best to intensify it!
[Halesey's affinity roll: 4+1]
The vortex grows larger still, pushing the mafioso even further back as Halesey's mind is fully committed to the vortex process. He groans rather loudly as the flow of air pushes him.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 3+1]
The vortex is now twice as large as Halesey himself, completely engulfing his body - there's just a thin outline of skin, hair and clothing around it to indicate that anything human was even there to begin with. Halesey feels the potato encroaching on him.
[Halesey's mind roll: 6-->1+1]
But he doesn't really mind, he guesses. In most ways, he would say he is the potato already, and most of the wishes of the vortex coincide with his wishes. This is heartening, he supposes!
[Mafioso's body roll: 3-1]
The mafioso, meanwhile, is starting to get bloodily pushed through the immobile potatoes as if they were a strainer of some sort. It looks and sounds very painful.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 3+1+
1]
Halesey grows larger still, and larger still - a mere halo of flesh around a most wonderful vortex, he realizes. How wonderful it is to be a hole in reality, a gateway to the One True God. His eyes, dislocated to near-opposite sides of the vortex, look in opposing directions as he attempts to get his bearings.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 3+1+1]
The flesh around the edges grows thinner until a point where it may very well not be there at all. There are only his eyes that remain still roughly unchanged. He tries to sing from happiness, but only potatoes come out, which is something he is probably okay with.
Despite all this, though, he can't seem to move at all. In fact, he can move even less than he could before, which is strange. Halesey briefly entertains a thought that maybe this is a problem a potato vortex cannot solve, but then realizes that he is a potato vortex and that to think negatively of his abilities at this juncture would help no one.
The mafioso, though, seems pretty dead and gone right now, which Halesey's cool with.
* * * * *
Dave is, indeed, very disappointed at this turn of events. Surely he can do better.
"Well, shit. I can try again later if you want, but damn, my head hurts.""I'd really like you to try again, since it does kind of suck how that happened. But take it easy, dude. You're my main man, after all. Can't mistreat my main man."With this reassurance, Dave focuses on willing away all of his abnormalities. He already has no pants and a pig for a leg. He can't afford to be more freakish! He focuses on himself, and the abnormalities begin to recede, though they do not immediately disappear. Across the next few minutes, he looks exponentially more normal! Insofar as he can appear normal, anyway.
* * * * *
Outside the manhole, the body of Menkau stirs a moment, and out steps
Eta, looking a little confused as well as dressed entirely differently than before. And, as she realizes as she steps out on the street, very much barefoot. She looks around, and finds that there are less people around, and most of them are looking at her with varying degrees of curiosity and interest. Ivette's here, as is
John, James and Joanie. And Menkau, naturally.
Joanie is particularly interesting, as she seems to be doing something highly unusual. Eta's not quite sure how to characterize it. It looks a bit like reverse drug use, with a steady stream of white powder coming out of her nostrils, filling up the ground around her. She seems to have her eyes closed, and is concentrating. Ivette seems indecisive on whether to look at Eta or Joanie, sparing both some rather shocked glances. Within moments, Joanie seems to forming a small mound of what is probably cocaine all around herself.
"Hm, so, now that that's done, what now?" Menkau wonders aloud.
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 256176 times)