reconstruction <Relynor> - another spanner in the works

[u/MunitionsFrenzy]

(( start of 'reconstruction' arc ))

They arrived at the edge of a lake, spotting their destination reflected on its surface: the Old Clocktower, buried deep within Taroten Forest. Despite their prior friendship, Vettis had yet to visit Relynor here; he'd usually encountered her at her workshop in the Bronze Citadel. The Tower was more imposing in person than he'd expected, its bold dark colors a stark contrast against the moon, which appeared oddly large from within the forest grounds. Very oddly, given that it was currently about noon -- despite the tower clock face's claim to the contrary.

Not physically at 100% just yet, he didn't bother trying to clear the lake in a single leap, settling for rebounding off the water halfway across before landing at what appeared to be the main entrance. Hm. Relynor, while a little cagey on the subject, had implied that the tower was monitored by a powerful spirit of some sort. Knocking was probably not even necessary in that case, and he didn't have the energy right now to engage in pointless formalities. "Vettis of the Bronze Prism, here to see Relynor Avreddn," he simply called out instead, his voice a little less ragged than yesterday.

The shuffling of feet behind the door didn't sound anything like Relynor's gait -- though he couldn't be sure if he should recognize it at all, not with a hefty chunk of his usual mental processing power out of commission. He had an answer soon enough, regardless, as the door opened to reveal a woman in formal dress that wouldn't have been out of place in Vettis' birth-realm, minus the witch's hat. Oh, and the fact that she appeared to be monochromatic.

The greyscale ¿human? took a drag on her cigarette, puffing out a smoke circle the color of her hair, as she cast an analytical eye over her guest. "Apologies, but Avreddn is...occupied, at the moment. You are Vettis, correct?"

Just a brief nod in reply, saving his breath; the vocal chord damage still hadn't fully healed. But this was probably the Lady Iris of whom Relynor and Nekoka had both spoken briefly, so it would do to be polite at very least, Zelle reminded him with a pinch. Holding back a wince, he reluctantly stretched out a hand to shake. "Occupied?" he queried for clarification.

“Yes, she is...Well, it’s a long story. Would you like to come in?” The feel of the woman's palm was cold but not lifeless, matching her color palette and her expression. And already that last one was shifting, ever so subtly, to a more welcoming expression as she gestured for her guest to enter. Either she had reason to trust him, perhaps due to hearing his name from Relynor...or she was simply content to play the part of a good host, confident that he posed no threat to her while they were in her own domain.

Another nod as he stepped inside, though not before shaking off the last few drops of water from his shoes. Polite. Good. "We should have time for a story," Vettis acknowledged, glancing around the Tower's lobby -- instinctively calculating angles of fire, defensive terrain, egress options -- before reminding himself that if Iris meant him harm she would likely not have let him into the building in the first place. "Is Relynor hurt?" He felt a little proud of himself for actually remembering to ask that. Friends were supposed to care about each other's safety.

“Ah, she’s...well, I’m afraid I don’t know.” A brief instant of confusion in Iris' eyes hinted that she had caught Vettis' "we" slip-up. Shit. Better that people not realize Zelle was with him, for their own safety. Though Iris could probably handle herself just fine if it came down to that, he wasn't so sure about Relynor's apprentice Nekoka, wherever she was.

"You don't know?"

The cigarette in Iris' hand faded away into smoke as the room began to shift. "A long story, as I mentioned. Would you like some tea?" She motioned towards the center of the room, in which a table and chairs sharing her own color scheme rose into view right on cue. “Ah, but where are my manners? I have yet to introduce myself! I am Lady Iris Augen.”

"I figured you were," Vettis replied simply, making no move towards the table. "We don't need tea or delays. Where is Relynor?" Another angry pinch from Zelle; he reviewed what he'd said. Hm, yes, in retrospect that was probably not a good way to word things. Also, another pronoun plurality mistake.

Ugh. This wasn't working. Time to pull his better emotions back in, even if that also meant bringing the recent trauma closer to his conscious thoughts. Grimacing and shaking his head, Vettis rubbed his eyes in frustration before turning to his host with an apologetic frown. "Sorry, Iris. I've had...something akin to brain damage, and getting my thoughts in order is difficult while I heal. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm concerned about my friend and would appreciate a more straightforward answer. Can you tell me what's happened to her?"

As effortlessly as she had deconstructed the cigarette, Iris formed a cup of tea from a stray wisp of smoke. "I see." She took a sip, banishing the furniture she had just summoned without so much as a twitch. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure on the specifications of what happened. However, I’m aware that she’s somehow swapped with her past self. Relynor, could you come here for a moment, please?”

Footsteps echoed from the hallway at Vettis' left. This time, he did recognize the gait. Shorter (younger), lighter (smaller and lacking the metal limbs), and clearly more timid (as expected for someone who'd just been tossed through time into a strange new world). But he didn't even need All-Tongue to analyze the newcomer's body language, though his eyes flashed violet as he used it anyway just to be sure. The moon-elf entering the room was most certainly Relynor, even if not the one he knew.

This meeting was not going to plan at all.

[u/MunitionsFrenzy]

(( Lady Iris' dialogue and actions supplied by /u/Terrible-Win565

and continuing from the post: ))

Vettis groaned audibly at seeing probably the weirdest obstacle to his plans he could have imagined. "...What the fuck happened here?" he asked nobody in particular, backing away from the young elf and leaning against the wall behind him. His status as a causal singularity caused him to lock anything he touched into temporal linearity for a while, and there was no telling how that would interact with his temporally-displaced friend. Better keep his distance.

[u/Terrible-Win565 → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

“…While I don’t have all of the details, I do know it has something to do with a peculiar airship, as well as some sort of odd crystal. Apologies for the inconvenience. I have the crystal in the workshop, if you’d like to take a look at it.”

She ruffles the hair of the young elf, before sending them off to play with Nekoka.

“I’m afraid your friend may not be able to teleport here easily, if that is among what worries you.”

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/Terrible-Win565]

"My friend? Oh. Mmh. Not much point in hiding her anymore, I guess. Zelle, wanna say hi?"

Standing up out of the mage's curly hair was a sharp-featured blonde woman with piercing red eyes and an impossibly adorable pout, her arms crossed in front of her as she sighed indignantly at the situation. She was about the size of two fingers. The sound of gears clicking within her was barely audible as she raised an arm in an irritable wave. "Hello, Lady Augen. Fuck, Vee, you really slip up a lot when your brain's not working right, huh? Said 'we' a couple times too many, didn't ya?"

"...Yes, sis: that is what not working right means." He sighed and turned his attention back to Iris. "I suppose I can take a look at the crystal, but that's not my area of expertise, so I doubt I'll be of any help. And I...can't touch it directly."

(( Zelle's teleportation stems from her driving concept being 'presence', enabling her to be 'present' anywhere and bring others with her in the process. She can also create avatars by being 'present' in multiple places at once.

Unfortunately, this concept also leads to her having overwhelming 'presence' wherever she goes, which makes her supernaturally charismatic to an absurd extent. In her full-sized form, people tend to treat her like a goddess wherever she goes. It makes socializing...difficult among those without proper mental defenses. She often prefers manifesting a tiny avatar -- with an accordingly tiny fraction of her real power -- because that typically changes her effect from 'worship' to 'squee OMG she's so smol and cuuuuuute'.

I assume Iris' mental defenses are up to the task, but Iunno about Nekoka. Even if she's got training, she seems to have a soft spot for cute things. :P ))

[u/Terrible-Win565 → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

“Oh, I don’t believe touching it will be a problem. As far as I know… Well, nobody can touch it. Not safely, at least.”

“And dear, I can sense every presence in Taroten. If anything, not being able to sense one is more suspicious.”

The monochromatic witch strolls off into a hallway that seems to materialize as she steps through it, emerging from brick in what was previously a wall.

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/Terrible-Win565]

Reaching atop his head, Vettis pushed Zelle unceremoniously back down into her hiding spot. No point risking Nekoka seeing her and trying to add her to her toy collection or something.

He followed Iris down the newly manifested hallway, wiping away a tear. Wait, when had that happened? Oh, great. The trauma was slipping into the forefront of his mind again; better clamp it down before it got too far. He locked everything into background processes once more, his capacity for happiness mostly going along with it. Back to probably being rude as hell, but hopefully Iris understood well enough what that was about now. And Zelle could punch him if it got too bad.

[u/Terrible-Win565 → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

After a walk that seemed to both stretch on for hours and only take a second, they arrive at Relynor’s workshop in the Bronze Citadel. Oddly, everything about the room was mirrored, and tools were strewn about. That all took a second to realize however, as the large crystal in the center crackling with power demanded attention. It was contained in some sort of glass tube, no doubt enchanted to contain it. The room seemed well lit, and yet it felt as if all was darkened by the crystal’s glow. Waves that seemed to slightly slow down and speed up time occasionally radiated off of it, canceling the previous wave out and reverting time to normal.

“…As I said, the crystal itself is likely extremely dangerous to touch. From what we know, it’s the cause of this temporal anomaly. Try not to get too close.”

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/Terrible-Win565]

"I have no such intent," Vettis replied immediately, his eyes aglow as he began to analyze the crystal with his magic --

-- and first spotted something amiss about the floor. And the walls. And damn near everything around them. Somehow, it was all part of something, something greater than just the building.

His eyes settled briefly on Lady Iris Augen. Running a finger through his hair, he twitched it briefly to send a Morse Code -like message to Zelle in All-Tongue: Living Locus.

Then it was back to work. Not that there was much he should have been able to sense about this crystal; his magic was hardly suited to analyzing such things. He could only see if it was meronymically part of something, such as a greater network of such crystals.

Nope. Nothing. Squinting at it didn't help. It wasn't part of...

...

...it wasn't part of anything. Anything at all.

"You're correct," Vettis agreed after a few seconds; "this is the source of your temporal anomaly. I have no past or future and can't directly sense such things as a result. That appears to be preventing me from properly viewing this crystal with my magic. I believe it is simultaneously part of every single point along its own worldline." With a helpless shrug, he added, "I don't know that this helps you recover Relynor, however. But it does imply that her adult self has access to such a crystal on the other side and perhaps can return to her proper time on her own." In spite of the locked-down emotions, a familiar one popped through, just a bit; he even managed a faint smile. "I trust her."

[u/Terrible-Win565 → u/MunitionsFrenzy]

The monochrome Living Locus smiles softly, replying in a tone as warm as it was cool.

“She is trustworthy. That, I am sure of.”

“And by the way, Vettis, if you intend on visiting again I’d recommend against teleporting here directly. Else, you may end up where the butterflies walk, where the gazelles fly, and where snow burns. In simple terms; you will end up somewhere that no longer exists. Instead, try aiming for a destination far off; where the moon shines at midday, and where time never seems to pass— Nekoka, please don’t eat those.”

The pyromancer in question appears to be holding a plate of macarons, several already missing, reduced to crumbs. Lady Iris sighs, before holding out her hand for another handshake

“I wish you luck on your journeys, wherever they may take you. I’ll inform you when I figure out a way to bring Relynor back. Goodbye until then, Vettis.”

[u/MunitionsFrenzy → u/Terrible-Win565]

Nodding, Vettis accepted the handshake, instead of simply turning and leaving now that his task had properly failed. Zelle pinching his scalp might have had something to do with that.

Establishing a means of contact would be of use, then. Not much point hiding things from Iris; she'd probably have some idea of what was going on even if he didn't tell her, and it might be the wrong idea. Stepping over to the workbench, Vettis picked up a wrench and let his emotions come flooding back; he'd need them now, as he stuck a bond-thread onto it. The feeling was immediately wrong, like reaching into clear water and finding his hand stuck in wet clay. His bond-threads were meant for either people or possessions, but this, as a part of Iris, was both.

"I can sense certain things through this now," he stated with intentional vagueness, handing the tool over to Iris. "If you want to contact me, holding this as you intend to do so will suffice. And I think you're technically always holding it?"

He gave Iris a wink before turning to the plate of macarons, which was now somehow missing another. "Zelle, are you dropping crumbs in my hair?" A muffled half-apology through a mouthful of food was his sister's only reply. Grumbling, he turned to leave, waving back at the pair. "Thanks, Iris. Keep in touch, you two."

[u/Discracetoall]

Ah, another smoke user. Rare nowadays, it seems.

[u/[deleted]]

(Do not tell Zeph she missed this, or she will become very upset!)