anarqrists anonymous

[rebells]

Who: salty anarchists club
Where: an undisclosed location near the mountains
When: Day 93
Open/Closed: closed to invitees and invitees of invitees!

[So Jay may have pulled you discreetly aside some time over the last week or so and invited you to a particular location near the mountains, or you may have been dragged along by a friend. Either way, there's a small group of people forming in this forest clearing, Jay at the center, pacing back and forth as has become his tendency.

Let the Qri shittalking begin.]

Comments

[oneandmikleonly]

It may be. Still, it doesn't hurt to pick them up if they come our way.

[he frowns, a little.]

I don't think we can reach back to anyone back on our world, no. Sorey has a -- connection to several people back home, and while that hasn't exactly been cut, we haven't been getting through to anyone through it either. But what do you mean by checking memories?

[spaceforged]

[Like he'd thought no way to reach out. They're completely cut off.]

I remember right up until I was headed back to base. From there to here, is a gap. I imagine it's the same for everyone else. Usually is a memory is suppressed or blocked there are hints. Feelings or instincts.

...this there's just nothing. There's way to check how she has taken us. I bet even Genette and Brie have that gap. Maybe if someone else from our universes shows up we can ask if they remember anything. But...

[If she can take away memories. Couldn't she create them? It's paranoid as hell, but that possibility exists.]

[oneandmikleonly]

. . . I suppose, theoretically, we could check that. But it would require some means -- technological or magical -- to actually look into another person's memory and see if there's anything underneath that gap, wouldn't it? I don't know if anyone has that power naturally, and if she has any control over what powers we receive it's unlikely she'd give someone the means.

[spaceforged]

Probably not, as random as what we get feels...it might not be. Sorry, I wanted to run through it to see if I missed anything.

I've been thinking about it since I was combined with what was keeping my universe defended.

[oneandmikleonly]

...my sympathies. I don't exactly have that pressure on my shoulders, but my friend was keeping something in our world in check as well. It's worrying all around.

Honestly -- perhaps it's not an available avenue at this time, but we seem to keep getting new people pulled into the coven at intervals, and who knows what we'll find on the worlds we visit...? So it may still be a possibility for later.

[spaceforged]

Not one I really like thinking about, but it's still something that needs at least checked.

[They've said all they could on the previous topic. Time to move on and he taps the question about magic types.]

I'd still like to know exactly what causes the differences between the two types of magic we've encountered so far. Are there frequencies between the two that form other kinds?

If we can get the Qri to talk to us, I'd like to know that answer. We'd better be able to track when we can use everything we have or just have to rely on what she gave us. ...but we might find this answer on worlds we visit.

[oneandmikleonly]

Well, the 'talking to Qri' part seems to be the hard part.

[a tiny, rueful smile]

The bones we picked up from Aimintas still seem to work, so perhaps the specific energy she needs -- and from which all our new powers derive -- is specifically characterized by its working no matter where it's taken in the universe? The problem is we have a sample size of one thing to test that theory, so far. There won't be a way to confirm it until we've gone through a few more worlds and found a few more energy sources.

[spaceforged]

And that means following her orders, as much we're comfortable with, for a little while.

[He sighs, his shoulders relaxing. No way around that. They have to play along for now.]

I did notice the Eltos bones, when they weren't zapping me, let me change shape with a lot less drain on my body. And it also boosted my other ability that belongs to my universe completely out of control. ...Guess we'll just have to see what happens with the next one.

[oneandmikleonly]

[he perks up, a little like a startled bird]

Wait, that last one. The bones caused a power you naturally had to go out of control? May I ask for more details? I didn't know they could do that.

[his own use of them has also been very cautious -- it feels weird to be using something that was once part of a living, sentient being as a battery.]

[spaceforged]

[He nods, and points to his right robotic arm.]

When a bone fell on my hand, the energy that turns my hand into a weapon went completely out of control. It melted a hand-sized spot of ground before I could pull away.

Until that moment, I didn't know that could happen either.

[From now on he'll be handling any energy sources very carefully. Either only in lion form or with his arm covered to keep it from direct contact.]

It's possible it was just a residual effect from using the bone itself. But, be careful anyway.

[oneandmikleonly]

Mm, I will. Thank you for letting us know -- hopefully people here will spread the word and prevent any further accidents of the sort.

[spaceforged]

We also noticed the shock was a little less with two people using the same bone. That might lessen the feedback whenever we locate and secure another source. If...it has any kind of backlash.

[oneandmikleonly]

The amulet casing the Elto gave some of the bones lessened the raw effect, as well. All right. It should be manageable, then, as long as no one goes on a spree of sticking them together as the Uvi did.

[spaceforged]

[He winces. What happened to the Uvi is something straight out of a nightmare.]

I think anyone who saw what happened won’t take that risk. For everyone else, we might want to suggest a limit. Five bones?

[oneandmikleonly]

It can go a little higher than that without getting horribly dangerous, but...maybe no higher than ten. The shock from that was enormous, I can tell you

At least they're easy enough to store separately.

[spaceforged]

Having felt the shock from just one. I don't want to imagine what ten will be like. Ten it is. We don't want the shock being so great it knocks people out.

[oneandmikleonly]

That's...about what ten does, yes, or close enough.

[he's lucky he had company at the time.]

At least it means everyone will be more cautious about future power sources, whether we choose to pass them on to our hostess or not.

[spaceforged]

Even if we keep some of each back, everyone will hopefully continue to tread carefully.

But, maybe back it off to connecting only nine bones together. Just to be safe.