[center][h2]An Overdue Visit[/h2]

[i]An Expository Encounter of the Three Engineers, and Others

Antarctic Termite, BBeast, and Muttonhawk[/i][/center]




Inside the bio-metallic walls of Father Dominus, Teknall and Dabbles returned to the entry chamber after their tour through the ship.




[colour=Peru]"It was good talking with someone who has an interest in this technology,"[/colour] Teknall said.




Dabbles bowed deeply, almost toppling forwards. "It was my honour, Great Artisan."




Teknall motioned for Dabbles to stand. [colour=Peru]"I'll let myself out. Thank you for the tour."[/colour]




Dabbles bowed again. "No, thank you, and may every Blessing, and High Virtue, accompany you for as long as your Journey may be of..." Dabbles was still speaking, but by then he had drifted back towards the cockpits.




Teknall turned to face the valve-like door which led outside. It was here that he was confronted by one last being.




With a buzz across the room, a flesh-grey bird swooped and perched on a small ridge above the door, its colours shifting to its true texture of glinting porcelain and metal. It jumped in place, flicking and tilting its head side to side, up and down. It did not chirp or even so much as open its mouth. Instead, the dark pits that were its eyes began to glow a bright blue.




[b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]You flatter the demigod more than you need to, brother.[/colour][/b]




The familiar, quivering voice rang gently in Teknall’s mind. Toun was rarely one for trading niceties.




[b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]Though, I failed to send my eyes out as early as ideal, given what I overheard between you two.[/colour][/b]




Teknall looked up at the bird. [colour=Peru][i]I think my level of flattery was entirely appropriate, given the occasion,[/i][/colour] Teknall retorted telepathically, with the mental equivalent of a smirk. He then belayed some of his humour as he continued. [colour=Peru][i]Although, I take it that our conversation raised some more specific concerns beyond my mannerisms.[/i][/colour]




The bird bounced in place to turn to its other side. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]A few details, yes. I will not dwell on the more philisophical objections I may have with you for the sake of patience. That can be done when there are less pressing matters. I will instead focus on what we can both agree upon the nature of. Events, mostly.[/colour][/b]




[colour=Peru][i]Sounds reasonable. Carry on,[/i][/colour] Teknall replied.




[b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]You took a side against Logos. My Majus observed you and  your...machine's actions. He will not soon forget such a response, and not just for ruffling his feathered pride. Are you certain what you did was appropriate?[/colour][/b]




Teknall shuddered. Although he did not put words to it, it was clear that he still feared Logos. [colour=Peru][i]I could not allow him to burn the planet to the ground. It is dangerous, yes, but my conscience demands that I protect this world.[/i][/colour]




A sigh from Toun sounded in Teknall's mind. The bird continued its twitchy surveillance uninterrupted. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]I fear that what fate decreed of you has exposed you to sentimentality. I understand it as a flaw in you, brother, but beyond my personal preference is the speculation that Logos will use that against you. It is inevitable.[/colour][/b] Toun's tone shifted. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]You are aware that he has not signed the Oath of Stilldeath, yes?[/colour][/b]




[colour=Peru][i]I am aware,[/i][/colour] Teknall replied.




[b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]Then I will trust you to exercise caution.[/colour][/b] Toun projected a stern mind's eye. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]I gave Vulamera that same trust when she took guardianship of the Codex. I do not desire it misplaced again. Speaking of which...it has been fashioned into something else, hasn't it?[/colour][/b]




[colour=Peru][i]It has. I take it you overheard that part as well.[/i][/colour]




The bird, finally having found a position comfortable enough, lowered itself to roost on the ridge, only twitching its head occasionally. It was joined by Toun's quivering getting worse, in spite of his volume remaining at a mental murmur. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]I heard all that was said. It does not matter to the little prince that you did not keep it in confidence as you promised, for this concerns us all in our family. I had been searching for the Codex for some time, trying to find hints and leads through various means. Mentions of its new form were unreliable. Now, it presents such a danger that I have begun taking measures to contain it, among other things.[/colour][/b] The worry in Toun's tone brought about a rare humility that Teknall was privileged to even notice. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]When I do contain it, brother, I will require your help to render it innocuous. The two of us are of the dwindling few who are familiar with most of its contents and my knowledge will not be sufficient. What say you?[/colour][/b]




Teknall paused for a moment to consider, then responded, [colour=Peru][i]Sounds like a good plan. Being able to negate that threat is important. You have my assistance.[/i][/colour]




[b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]Thank you.[/colour][/b] The bird's head leaned back into its body and its twitching abated for the moment. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]That only leaves one matter I wished to discuss with you. Our...[/colour][/b] The word was hissed out. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]...[i]sister.[/i] I have seen few lashings of her influence, but I found her physical form on Galbar wounded and insular after what Logos did to her. There was the stench of the Other everywhere. I would have words with her to hear of previous events, and...I must check for her health. You spoke a desire to speak with her as well.[/colour][/b]




[colour=Peru][i]I indeed have many, long-overdue things to speak with Jvan about.[/i][/colour]




[b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]Are you aware of a means to revive her?[/colour][/b]




[colour=Peru][i]Well, through Goliath, I have found that she has a space-station of sorts in orbit, amongst the rings. I am not sure exactly what powers it holds, but it is probably our best bet,[/i][/colour] Teknall said.




[b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]A construct away from the surface?[/colour][/b] Toun paused as if mulling in his thoughts. [b][colour=PaleGoldenrod]I will come with you. If there is something of the Gap about it, we should not find it as dangerous in mutual company. We can resolve our business with her at the same time. I will meet you in the thin air above Alefpria. I do not wish to acquaint myself with anyone else in the prince's city today.[/colour][/b]




[colour=Peru][i]We shall rendezvous in an hour, then. I have something I need to prepare first,[/i][/colour] Teknall replied.




At that, Toun's presence in Teknall's mind faded as the blue light in the eyes of the droningbird reduced to a deep jet once more.




At Teknall's touch, the valve-like door opened, a rush of high-altitude wind whistling through the opening. The bird jumped to its feet as if realising a task previously forgotten, leapt into the air and flittered ahead of Teknall through the door. Teknall followed, and the door closed behind them.




[center][h3]* * * * *[/h3][/center]




When the world was in turmoil, when white fire spilled from the sky and the clouds bled, there was yet peace to be found beyond its borders.




Blips and chirrups of radiation thrummed in the vacuum. Voices in the cold. Quiet frequencies from the noctus fronds as they fed, mating lights of imagen that jetted in swirling courtship dances through fertile clouds of microbial bubbles. Others, too, that hummed and zipped, the thrilling tongue of the Diaphanes.




The forest was a rich ecosystem. Much of the matter generated by the nocti wound up as organic ices, many exotic. Light, fragile atoms, plentiful water for the tongue of Mother Suprema. Flows of colour darted and tussled around the branching tubes that vaporised chunks of ice, inhaling them to be consumed by fusion in the gut of the Ark.




Soft pink things darted over the fuel lines, latching on and inspecting the huge structure for damages. Winged entropites pursued them lazily as the sweethearts performed their instinctive duties. Their adoptive mother was a haven, and yet a responsibility; and wild though it was, the Diaphane sisterhood never left behind one of their own. And so, they supervised the same crew they teased and consumed, and were as diligent as they had to be. And there was harmony in Lex.




Into this strange environment came two figures, alien to the aesthetic of all around them. Both were shaped from white porcelain gleaming in the unfiltered sunlight. One was a tall, lanky and spotless human shape, dressed in a loose robe that flexed like fabric despite its material being the same clay as his skin. The other was shorter, beaked, somewhat dirty compared to the first, and dressed in sturdy fabric and leather clothing. They drifted through the vacuum with purpose.




The latter gazed around at the ecosystem in wonder. The sight of the Ark seemed to make him particularly excited. The former scanned the environment with tempered judgement. It was a cloud of mould to him, but there were features that gave him pause, not least of which the largest living shapes of the floating heap. The colossal serpents moved by, the repeating patterns on their flanks whizzed, one segment after the other, until their bodies tapered to its end before the interlopers' visions.




Toun huffed in disgust. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"It never ceases to vex me that any part of Jvan's creations could just as likely function by design as by their undirected iteration."[/b][/colour] Toun wrinkled his missing nose. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"It is not whether there is purpose that is in question, but if such purposes were even intended."[/b][/colour]




Teknall shrugged. [colour=Peru]"I actually consider it a sign of robust design if a creation is capable of fulfilling purposes beyond the original plans,"[/colour] he commented, [colour=Peru]"but such opinions aren't too important right now. We are almost there."[/colour]




Blue eye turned forward, Toun squinted. He did not retort.




The shape that had long bulged in the distance was increasingly distinct. Tilted to one side and quiet since the violence of its last activity, Ovaedis revolved slowly. It was a mountain between the dust of the meteoroids that drifted along -- a thin film by comparison. Its surface was mottled with dark mauve, a reef that had grown lush in the years since its creation. One of its horns arched over the ring, leaning to listen to a faint hum of telepathy echoing from Galbar below.




Jvan's brilliant glass eyes traced eccentric orbits around it. Whether anything was on the receiving end of their signals was a mystery all its own. A mystery that neither approaching god admitted to with more than silence. Jvan, while being something of a creator and designer herself, diverged her designs so far from the already divergent approaches of Teknall and Toun that the brother gods slowed to a stop near the surface of Ovaedis, at first, at a mutual loss. Seconds passed where the possibilities ran through their calculating minds.




Toun extended one splayed hand forward, stretching it to the surface of the reef crust. A faint probe for what was beyond was not something he would allow Teknall to remind him to do again. In constrast to the dormant imprisoned demigod they had found in the Cube, what Toun detected burned in his senses.




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"She is here. Amongst this body."[/b][/colour] Toun retracted his hand and flicked his eye to Teknall's double hain eyes. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"There are Gap energies lacing within. Thick and wretched. Feel them for yourself."[/b][/colour] Teknall nodded in confirmation, his eyes scanning the structure.




Two calm movements of Toun's head went left and right. His eye then lingered on one end of the mass of bone and life. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"There, I spy an opening. If we are to proceed inside, I would prefer to use a [i]designed[/i] ingress rather than one iterated ourselves."[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Use of the existing entries would be wise, but before we intrude, there is an easier option to try."[/colour] Teknall gestured to the horns and the eyes. [colour=Peru]"This place contains a sensitive telepathic sensory array. We shall start by simply asking Jvan if she's awake."[/colour]




By his reckoning, there were no risks great enough with Teknall's suggestion for Toun to object. He straightened and the pair drifted towards the opening of one of the horns.




At such close proximity, the thrum of telepathic communications made their minds itch and prickle. Teknall cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted through the telepathic aether, [colour=Peru][b]"OI, JVAN, ARE YOU THERE!? WAKE UP!"[/b][/colour]




After that outburst, Teknall went silent and listened intently. He hoped for a reply from Jvan.




They both waited.




Arms folded, Toun flicked his eye sideways to Teknall again. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"That was very sensitive of you,"[/b][/colour] he murmured.




[colour=Peru]"Well, a whisper wasn't exactly going to wake her, now was it?"[/colour] Teknall muttered in retort.




[colour=LavenderBlush][i]"I've tried. Don't bother."[/i][/colour]




The brothers turned their heads at the same time.




It was a fresh voice of the First Tongue. It sounded low, almost hushed, even though it, too, had been shouted. A change-eater's voice. The sizable newcomer slipped towards the two brothers in an oddly amoeboid fashion, bubbling her way across space, filling and contracting. Something dark, jagged and heavy hung in her core. [colour=AliceBlue][i]"Our Grandmother's been silent for weeks now. I don't know where she's gone."[/i][/colour]




If anything, the greeting was abnormally quiet for an entropite. She had neither broken into a sprint, nor yelled some tease. In fact, her antenna flexed in something that was almost a curt bow. [colour=ivory][i]"Diaphane Whisper, pilot of the Mother Suprema. I don't think I can help you, but I'll try if I can."[/i][/colour]




Toun's reaction, or at least what could be read from his few facial movements, was a narrow-eyed suspicion. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Capable of our language. Wisdom to approach cautiously. Evidence of intelligence."[/b][/colour] Toun's eye darted to the shifting shapes of Whisper's body. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"[i]Very[/i] particular method of sustenance. Adaptable, but limited. And, as usual, vexing."[/b][/colour] Toun finally turned his body to face the Change eater. His following directness was comparably respectful, though not by much for the way he talked down to Whisper. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Mortal. Have you been within this construct?"[/b][/colour]




A faint note of disgust tinted the silence. Whatever the thoughts, and there must have been several, for her pause was long, Whisper didn't show what she felt. [colour=honeydew][i]"Not inside the manufactory. The amplifiers are hollow, though, and sometimes children hide there. Not too deep. Nobody knows how far in the tubes really go."[/i][/colour]




Toun tilted his head back from Teknall, eyeing him.




Teknall shrugged. [colour=Peru]"Sounds like the easiest method of ingress. Let's go."[/colour] Teknall paused to address Whisper. [colour=Peru]"We'll see if we can wake your Grandmother."[/colour]




The big sister waved a dubious farewell.




Teknall then flew headlong into the cavernous maw of the listening horn. Toun stayed for a moment longer, looking back at Whisper. He paused as if about to say something else, but instead unfolded his arms and followed after Teknall.




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"At least, of the creations we have seen so far, Jvan gave that one a clear purpose,"[/b][/colour] Toun remarked. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Tell me, brother. Does your sentimentality extend to creatures such as that mortal behind us?"[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Hmm?"[/colour] Teknall was contemplative for a moment. [colour=Peru]"Hard to say. On one hand, they're sentient and fly spaceships. On the other hand, their capacity for civilisation and independent technological development is miniscule."[/colour]




Toun looked ahead. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Interesting."[/b][/colour]




Ahead was darkness. Darkness and warmth.




Living tissue composed the inner wall of the tube, calcareous, gnarled webs of gill and vein. A faint atmosphere lingered as if sulking, and yet nothing grew. Here the reef ended, and equipment began. At some point function had eclipsed art. Life flourished regardless.




[i]You could ford the river at Fursiph,[/i] pulsed a voice on its way past the wanderers, a clear thought among hundreds of fragments of [i]Whyso?[/i] and [i]heh-heh[/i] and [i]Try![/i]. [i]Songlines untouched/By Ancient hands/Since the Hiltmounts were young,[/i] hummed another, swirling its way into a node embedded in the structure, glowing faintly. [i](Who's yelling?)[/i] Pockets of babbling rhythm were distributed whimsically between the vast silence, spun around floating focal points like unseen motes of dust. [i]Flourished esotery! -by the flow of time, or its raw grind on the nothingness forever?[/i] demanded someone as an asymmetrical monitor-drone picked its lanky way around, all legspan and flowery earlike apparatus without a front end. [i]Go, then, sweet child.[/i] it whispered. [i](~oh ~some Spirit ~looking for Her)[/i]




Teknall drifted in silence. He dared not speak carelessly in this place of whispers and messages, lest he intrude once more upon the fragmented conversations of a thousand beings.




Toun's eye followed the monitor with a similar silence to his brother as they passed by. His mild disgust had been temporarily replaced with his own quiet contemplation, as evidenced by the relaxed peering of his eye.




He eventually broke the silence, albeit speaking with a dim volume. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"She has been listening. Listening to everything of her inhabited mortals' minds, it seems. Little enough purpose to most of it. Such a needless cacophony."[/b][/colour] Toun looked ahead again, this time speeding up to reach whatever the tube might have lead to. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I see no reason to linger."[/b][/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]do.[/i][/colour]




The brothers halted. It was just one voice, fading astray from the multitude. Impossibly faint and only here concentrated enough, propped up, and amplified to be heard.




Somewhere in the monitor-drone's endless pickings and jerks of movement, it found a node. It pressed its spindly paw into the node's hollows, illuminated by the haunting glow. It pulsed once, extinguished, and the pattern of ambient chatter changed, suppressed to a murmur around the brothers. Another node, more distant, ignited. [colour=9e0b0f][i]stay.[/i][/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]why this[/i][/colour]




The voice was familiar, despite its faintness. Teknall's hain beak flicked back and forth, searching, although there was no physical object towards which he could address his speech. Teknall settled on speaking into the aether around him. [colour=Peru]"Jvan, is that you? We're here to check on your wellbeing."[/colour]




Toun remained silent. The glowing nodes drew his eye.




[colour=9e0b0f][i]oh[/i][/colour]




Nothing. After a fashion the voice returned. [colour=9e0b0f][i]empathy. um.[/i][/colour] More loneliness. [colour=9e0b0f][i]regeneration sequence scheduled for when Logos' lieutenant falls. all current resources pre-emptively allocated to executing my. ah. return.[/i][/colour] Thoughtless technical babble. Even that much came out sounding like an exertion.




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"She is a mess of trauma, brother,"[/b][/colour] Toun commented. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"She is in no shape to speak without help."[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Then we should find a way to help her,"[/colour] Teknall replied to Toun. [colour=Peru]"I have put off talking with Jvan for too long, sometimes with disastrous consequences, and I'm not going to let this setback delay me again."[/colour] Teknall then spoke to the faint voice. [colour=Peru]"What can we do to accelerate your regeneration to the point where we can talk properly?"[/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]h-[/i][/colour]




A caught breath. Jvan's presence, such as it was, receded- Redirected. Lambent energy accumulated in the depths of the tunnel and flowed out through its veins, passing the brothers in a wave that, for a moment, cast the hallucinatory architecture into relief. [colour=9e0b0f][i]handle this.[/i][/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]make yourself useful i don't have the energy[/i][/colour]




In the wake of the pulse, the convalescent deity quietened. Another, firmer thrum filtered through the aether. Closer. [colour=cornflowerblue][i]Hold that thought, Teknall- Our honourable lump of charcoal has a voice, and can hear. You'll see me in person within a few seconds. How I love sublight travel.[/i][/colour] Giggling, as of one who evidently did.




In the vacuum of the tube, a psychic wind blew by way of a sigh of recognition from Toun. His shoulders hunched as if what was coming would only hinder them. Then again, Toun's mannerisms were rarely optimistic towards anything.




[colour=cornflowerblue][i]Remember me, Toun?[/i][/colour]




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"You..."[/b][/colour] Something in Toun's tone was held back, in spite of the mood the newcomer put him in. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"You felt the need to get an answer to your natterings this direly, did you?"[/b][/colour]




Pure, clean laughter flowed like water. [colour=cornflowerblue][i]Truth be, I started running the moment I heard your brother shout. Jvan just doesn't like my meddling with her machinery. Her approval now is precious. But would you prefer if I shut up again?[/i][/colour]




Toun had his head bowed forward and his eye looking up at an indistinct wall of the tube. He spoke to Teknall in a low monotone as a way to ignore the question, or perhaps any notion of engaging the voice further. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Brother, you are a gentler sort than I. However you act, do not damage it."[/b][/colour]




Teknall rolled his eyes and waited for Jvan's representative to arrive.




[colour=cornflowerblue][i]Check, Toun,[/i][/colour] commented the voice airily. [colour=cornflowerblue][i]He hasn't even cared to ask who I am. I think I'm in safe enough hands with you.[/i][/colour] Then, [colour=cornflowerblue][i]Estimated arrival in ten.[/i][/colour]




A tangled flash of azure split the darkness, sending the monitor-drone into a panic. However slow she was in relative terms, the new voice's arrival still blitzed her down the hollow structure more or less instantly in a coil of bright, rippling sheets and helices. In the shadows and the flesh, she was the truly alien thing. Not dark enough. Not [i]living[/i] enough.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Evening, dear cousins. I believe you're my first gods. An honour."[/colour] The way the newcomer said it left a nagging ambiguity as to who, exactly, she felt was being honoured.




Teknall was the first to speak. [colour=Peru]"You implied you had a name of your own. Would you care sharing it?"[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Of course."[/colour] The spirit swirled in on itself playfully. [colour=cornflowerblue]"I am Chiral Phi, the Painter, Composer of the Light. On the one hand, I am a psychic projection from an Avatar imprisoned in a spacial rift on the surface of Galbar- That's true, but tells you nothing. On the other, I am a great liar- That's false, but tells you all you need to know."[/colour] It was the first time she had introduced herself to anything with some degree of honesty. The experience was an almost illicit thrill.




Teknall glanced over to Toun, then back to Phi. [colour=Peru]"How much of Jvan's knowledge do you have access to?"[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"All of it and then some- At least to the point where we were separated by Logos. There are many things Jvan keeps from herself, but I am observant. Knowledge is, after all, my only source of power."[/colour] Phi flicked herself teasingly in Toun's direction. [colour=cornflowerblue]"For example, I know this- Jvan's apparent weakness now is deliberate, and for her sake, shouldn't be accelerated. Vowzra and Logos have burned her to the ground, and this time, she does not intend to let herself regenerate slowly or spontaneously. There is a design in mind that must be implemented from the ground up, rather than through gradual sprawl. When that happens, it will be violent enough. Until then, she pupates."[/colour]




Rather than follow from Phi's choice of opening facts, Toun unfolded his arms and chose a different, direct, approach. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"What has she to say, Chiral Phi?"[/b][/colour] Toun spoke. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"In justification of destroying Vowzra?"[/b][/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Start hard, don't you? Fair enough, Toun. I can, how did she say, [i]'handle this.'[/i]"[/colour] Phi would have grinned, if anyone could see, before her voice hardened and her light slowed.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"A confrontation between Vowzra and Jvan has been inevitable since the birth of this universe. That it was left for so long only allowed fuel to accumulate. When the time finally came, the decision to kill had already been made."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Vowzra always operated on an unknown scheme and schedule. His inability to answer for his actions only aggravated their nature, which was fundamentally violent. I'll list the most critical."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"You know the nature of the Other; I needn't explain it. That ecosystem is not, and never was, what Jvan authored into the Codex. The Other was initially only unsafe due only to how foreign it was to this world- Jvan's intent was to nurture it, craft it to her artistic desires, and introduce it where incompatibility would not prove destructive, at least by her admittedly unique standards. Before she had the chance, Vowzra impregnated the Gap with living entities of his own. They were aggressive. Their power, their [i]hunger,[/i] was amplified by the Other- And its ability to evolve. Since then, Jvan has had to fight for dominion over what has always been rightfully hers. The suffering she's experienced in dealing with the aftermath of Vowzra's aggression since the first day has been immeasurable. [i]And yet, Vowzra never gained anything from this, nor made any further addition to the Codex.[/i] For an entity that values creative diversity above all things, this offence was grievous. Jvan forgave."[/colour]




Teknall, who had been listening silently and intently, began to rummage around in his apron pocket, looking for something. He still kept an ear on Phi's words.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Time passed. Vowzra's inexplicably fruitless aggression continued. A heroic mortal was created and sent to attack her in futile, petty spite. Mortal minds were forcibly altered to revile what was strange, restricting the spread of the Sculptors. Hazards were pulled from the Gap and scattered through realspace. The turning point, however, came with Vowzra's behaviour towards Slough Rottenbone, who is Jvan's dearest sister. The Life Deer's death did not disturb Jvan unduly- Through it, she had created a new ecosystem, and continued on her ever-changing development. Vowzra expended... Exuberant amounts of energy in [i]reversing[/i] that change. To see her old enemy go to such lengths to impose his will on a being she nearly worshipped was... Damaging. As it happens, she was quite wrong- Vowzra's intent had been to allow Slough to take charge of his power, and she did recover, albeit altered. But by then his death warrant was signed."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Vowzra was a paradox to Jvan- a Riddler. He had tremendous creative potential, and yet chose to destroy without producing anything of value in the process. Vestec at least has stimulated change with his antics. When Jvan unclipped Chronos from its plane, she believed she was separating the art from the mad artist, keeping the valuable and destroying the unsalvagable. Whether she succeeded is, I suppose, for you to judge."[/colour]




An exhalation from Phi. She seemed to bask in the wake of her own words, satisfied at how the challenge had worked out.




Toun, on the other hand, only evidenced a notion of a 'wake' in the soft flowing waves in his robe as it curled in the vacuum. He had otherwise been exactly still from the start of Phi's testimony to the end, boring his eye into her. If he had any other reactions -- any disparaging remarks or judgements -- he omitted them for the way of the next, direct question. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Does she intend to behave similarly should other...territorial disputes arise?"[/b][/colour]




Phi collapsed into a speck of white, then exploded, laughing. [colour=cornflowerblue]"She can't! I wrote a name we share on the Oath of Stilldeath. She's neutered. Any god can protect themselves from her violence now."[/colour]




The pupil of Toun's eye twitched. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"That is not what I asked."[/b][/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Very well, Toun."[/colour] Phi sighed off some of her mirth. Some. [colour=cornflowerblue]"The answer depends on whether any such 'dispute' [i]can[/i] arise. There was only ever one Codex, only one Slough Rottenbone, only one Riddler. The former is complete, the latter has proven herself resilient, the third is dead. Vowzra was unique, and Jvan learned from him. The precedent he raised for aggression is beyond anything the rest of our family is capable of, even Logos, bless his genocidal heart, whose motives are obvious. In that, you could almost say his death is self-sacrificial- There was a time when Jvan's reckless angst was willing to pledge violence for the pettiest slight. No more."[/colour]




Toun's voice took a turn for the scathing. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"The sacrifice of a god is not worth learning self-control."[/b][/colour] His head stretched forward from his neck. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"No matter Vowzra's crimes, atrocious as they are."[/b][/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Few sacrifices are ever worth it,"[/colour] purred the spirit, very softly. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Just ask the Exiled Hain."[/colour]




His head returning back, Toun lifted his chin and droned. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"You condemn Jvan further, Chiral Phi. Not by presuming more than you know, but by ignoring what you should: Vowzra was not Jvan's to have sacrificed."[/b][/colour] With that, Toun shifted to a direct quivering once more. His arms recrossed. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"My only other business here is Jvan's health, that I shall assess with or without your or her permission."[/b][/colour] His eye flicked to Teknall. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"But you are not done answering us, Chiral Phi."[/b][/colour]




Teknall seemed to find what he had been looking for and stopped rummaging. While he could have found the item immediately, he had let Phi finish speaking first. [colour=Peru]"You mentioned the Codex. That Jvan's Other had been relatively benign. That Vowzra impregnated the Gap with hostile entities. This disconnect between the original design and what presently exists is something I had recently been made aware of, although had no clue as to its cause. But- how about I just show you?"[/colour]




From the pouch in his apron, Teknall withdrew a two-meter long roll of parchment and unrolled it in the space in front of him. The parchment was scorched, tattered and soiled. Teknall looked to Toun and said, [colour=Peru]"This is familiar, yes?"[/colour]




[img]http://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/38ca3b6b-ce69-4e36-a375-571266717c25.png[/img]




Toun tilted his head to it. Phi inflated like a balloon. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Oh, you could say that,"[/colour] murmured that spirit, leaning in. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Is this really..?"[/colour]




[colour=Peru]"The real Codex is inaccessible. This is merely a replica, reproduced from my memory, back before it was the Codex. As such, it lacks any contributions which Vowzra may have made."[/colour] Teknall pointed to the Gaps, filled with the Other of Jvan's design. [colour=Peru]"These are the designs of the Other as Jvan wrote them. Extrapolate as I may, but they simply would not result in the more..."[/colour] Teknall shuddered. [colour=Peru]"...nasty characteristics of the Other as we see it. Which left me to conclude that the design of the Other had been tampered with. What Vowzra had to gain from doing so, assuming it was indeed him, I don't know either, but he's always been enigmatic."[/colour]




Toun chimed in. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Following from my previous desire to defer disagreements of philosophy, I would only dare to ask, Teknall, that you refer to this not as a replica, but an approximation. If you wish to understand the codex via such an instrument, that descriptor is an important one. Regardless..."[/b][/colour] Toun took a breath for thought. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"As sickening as it is to see this again, your interpretation is the same as mine from this approximation. Vowzra added to the Gap. A worthless guess at his motive is in hindering Jvan for some purpose."[/b][/colour] Toun's head still faced the parchment, but his eye flicked to Phi. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"That purpose may relate to what the projection here was alluding to earlier."[/b][/colour]




Teknall nodded. [colour=Peru]"Perhaps."[/colour] He turned his head to look over the parchment again. [colour=Peru]"While I have it out, Toun, did I forget anything when making this approximation, or does it match your memory of the Codex too?"[/colour]




Toun's half-closed eye drifted up to express derision at Teknall.




[colour=Peru]"Well?"[/colour] Teknall asked impatiently.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"I think he was a little preoccupied at the time,"[/colour] chipped Phi knowingly.




The blue eye flicked to Phi, then back to Teknall. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"It will serve...your [i]practical[/i] purposes. I dare not make this project my own, brother."[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Hmph. Alright,"[/colour] Teknall said. He rolled the parchment back up and slipped it back into his apron pocket. [colour=Peru]"That's enough with that for now. Time for my other questions."[/colour]




Teknall looked to Phi. [colour=Peru]"Although some of the matters I had wanted to discuss are only worth discussing with Jvan directly, I still have some things to talk about. Let's talk a bit more about the Other first. Although the Other is not entirely in Jvan's control, she still has the most power within the entire pantheon to control the Gap, be it to keep the Other sealed away or to unleash it upon the Universe. That power has been raised as a...concern. What is the likelihood of Jvan allowing a full incursion of the Other into the Universe?"[/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]zero.[/i][/colour]




Whether or not she had been irked by the idea that Phi was intruding on her brother's ability to talk freely, this was evidently not something Jvan was eager to see the giggling spirit pass off for her. [colour=9e0b0f][i]the Painter submind only exists to hold in the tesseract rift. all who'd play in my garden must pass through me. i am gatekeeper there.[/i][/colour] Her voice faded in and out of audibility, strung on steel cords of will. [colour=9e0b0f][i]i will not see my domain stolen for bloodlust again. while i breathe, this world is safe.[/i][/colour]




Although mildly surprised to hear Jvan speak directly, Teknall seemed content with Jvan's answer. He could sense that such an answer strained Jvan's limited resources, so he did not try to press too much further. [colour=Peru]"Fair enough,"[/colour] Teknall replied. [colour=Peru]"While you're there, I'd like to say that I am fairly impressed by your spaceships. That was a phenomenal feat of bioengineering. You've set the standard quite high for when I build my own."[/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]...![/i][/colour] The prospect seemed to swell Jvan audibly. Static crackled over her words. [colour=9e0b0f][i]then we shall have a race, one day. thank yo- oh- Oh- Teknall- the realta- i still haven't- i owe you so much- you shot them down. my students, i- did- Thank-[/i][/colour] Too much sound, too fast; The voice was overwhelmed by its own distortion, leaving only a hum.




One of the nodes sizzled in the near-dark and wilted suddenly, drawing a dutiful monitor. Phi had been making an odd ticking motion. [colour=cornflowerblue]"And she's gone. Rest assured, Teknall, Jvan is still listening. And she [i]is[/i] tremendously grateful for your work with Goliath."[/colour] This time her tone, while still abnormally content, was more friendly than smug. [colour=cornflowerblue]"As am I- Sculptor populations take centuries to recover, and the Urtelem narrowly avoided a societal collapse. Thousands of adolescent hain and Rovaick owe you their lives, too. It's a serious debt."[/colour]




Despite the heaping of gratitude, Teknall expressed only subdued acknowledgement. [colour=Peru]"It is good that some people appreciate the risk I undertook to protect Galbar. I shall remember that."[/colour]




Teknall paused for a moment before speaking again. [colour=Peru]"There is another more serious matter I have to discuss, though. The beings which call themselves Diaphanes. I have studied their movements and forays to the surface, and identified that they are your soldiers in your conflict against the elementals. This I have no particular objection to. What I am more concerned about is the danger they pose to everything else on Galbar. The only natural beings strong enough to resist the Diaphanes are the elementals, but if you 'win' your conflict then you would have more Diaphanes than the elementals can stop. Is there anything preventing the Diaphanes from eating the rest of Galbar?"[/colour]




It took Phi a few moments to get back to the question. She seemed to be savouring it.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"[/colour][colour=peru]'...Win,'[/colour][colour=cornflowerblue]"[/colour]

 mimicked the spirit. Her ability to reproduce Teknall's voice was uncanny. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Winning. [i]Victory.[/i] Curious idea, isn't it? Sometimes, even the casualties succumb to it."[/colour] Chuckles. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Even you don't seem too concerned that Jvan is enacting a plan not all that different to Logos'. Genocide from space."[/colour]




The buzz of Jvan's broken voice spiked into a piercing bark over which only Phi's unceasing laughter was audible.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Oh, she hates that. In any case, the comparison doesn't hold. If you want your question answered, Teknall, know first: Who and [i]what[/i] is Jvan moving to destroy?"[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"When the ashlings first spread, fiberlings were one of the forces that repelled them. Later, more efficiently, lenslings. Vowzra's curse of the hain was followed by the invention of the Second Hatching. Even Lex was once nothing but ruins left by Vestec's whimsy. When Jvan is pressured, she will not, often, destroy. She integrates."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"The stubbornness of Djinni cannot be overstated. Zephyrion's legacy runs deep. Jvan could not send that species into extinction if she tried. The Diaphanes will come, and they will kill, and they will die. On Galbar, their numbers will be in constant flux. Lex is a population reservoir from which fresh entropites will descend only according to ecological dynamics that are written deep into their design. They are predators, not plague. And the Djinni, like any prey without fear, are overpopulated. Until now."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"In the face of a constant and unpredictable threat, the elementals will never again be able to seize full control of the biosphere. Their average size will fall as the largest and most active are targeted, and the endless internal conflict that pits Djinni against one another and empowers the victor will stutter for lack of rivals and fear of division. Robbed of their supremacy, elemental control over natural processes will become more sporadic. Galbar's ecosystems will fluctuate between elemental order and natural chaos, and achieve a new harmony. The childish hands of Zephyrion's descendents will no longer decide what lives and dies. Djinni Lords who wield godlike power, of the kind whose names have passed into legend- Murmur, Cyclonis, Char- Will fade into nothing more than that. Old legends."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"That,"[/colour] concluded Phi, [colour=cornflowerblue]"is what this war is waged to destroy. [i]Hegemony.[/i] Not lords, but lordship itself."[/colour]




Though it was unclear at first from his demeanour exactly why, Toun turned his head from side-to-side for several seconds. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Do you expect Zephyrion to react with greater leniency to Jvan's 'integration' than Jvan did to Vowzra's aggression?"[/b][/colour] He asked. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Zephyrion, unlike us, has not signed the Oath of Stilldeath. You would make an enemy of him, should he return to Galbar. And that is nothing mentioned of any others who might be perturbed by the changes to Galbar's environment, and thus its life."[/b][/colour]




This answer was a scoff. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Since when has Zephyrion cared for his firstborn heirs? They revere him as Father, and yet he's done nothing for them since their birth. When the Storm Djinn raged, he didn't so much as [i]comment[/i] on them! The council that decreed a crusade against Jvan never even drew his notice, nor did her treatment of the Stonelord Gneiss. By the time he returns, if he ever does, the system will have changed beyond reparation. Not without burning it all to the ground, at any rate."[/colour] Phi twirled, and flicked like a sash. [colour=cornflowerblue]"The First Gale's been idle and his own domain has passed him by. As for everyone else- Hah. That's moral debate. If you want to take [i]that[/i] up with Jvan, I wish you the best."[/colour] Twirl, twirl, stop. [colour=cornflowerblue]"There is one entity that acts as what you might consider a voice of reason in this compacted pile of absurdities. You met her on the way here. In fact..."[/colour] Snickers. [colour=cornflowerblue]"You insulted her to her face."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"The pilot, Diaphane Whisper- One of the three eldest entropites, the leading sisters. She's been enhanced by divine means. For reasons that are... Frankly stupid, though some might say 'complex,' Jvan saw fit to educate her and absorb her into the Jvanic community. That is, she's a Sculptor. Of sorts. All this out of some meagre attempt to stir a moral voice in with the rest of the swill."[/colour] A loopy sine wave that might have been a shrug. [colour=cornflowerblue]"What a cop-out."[/colour]




Teknall, who had been contemplative, spoke up. [colour=Peru]"Don't be so confident in your security. I know Zephyrion better than you. He does not interfere with the affairs of the elementals because he holds absolute confidence in the capacity of the elementals by his design to maintain some state of natural balance. Whatever the elementals, and any of his other creations, choose to do he claims it as part of a properly working system and a sign of his allegedly superior design and wisdom."[/colour]




[colour=Peru]"However, Zephyrion is also fiercely territorial and short-tempered. Supplanting the elementals from their position of lordship is guaranteed to draw his attention and likely his ire. Perhaps he might be lenient- Zephyrion is fairly unpredictable in nature, after all, and his exile might leave him Changed. But I recommend you prepare for the worst, just in case. The effects on the climate and the elementals may be irreversible when Zephyrion returns, but that won't stop the storm from raging."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Consider your recommendation noted,"[/colour] said Phi. Somehow, she turned pleasant courtesy into a mocking gesture. [colour=cornflowerblue]"A pity that we won't get to see the world burn again, but, alas, the big girl does not intend to watch herself get torn apart a fourth time. Any overconfidence she's accumulated from her last few tantrums and brawls is fairly compensated by the new body she's building. If Jvan was tough meat before, she's cast-iron now. Experience is an excellent teacher."[/colour] Flick, flick, twirl. [colour=cornflowerblue]"The thought isn't appealing to her, but if Zephyrion hauls an angle grinder from wherever he's wound up, she'll at least be able to give him the fight of his life."[/colour]




[colour=Peru]"I shall wait to see Jvan's transformation, then,"[/colour] Teknall said.




There was silence for a few seconds. Then Teknall resumed speaking. [colour=Peru]"Jvan's choice of fights isn't her only choice which might be questionable. How wise was it to give an aspiring emperor with dreams of global and interstellar conquest a kilometre-long self-replicating spaceship?"[/colour]




An unsurprised response, albeit one of bemusement. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Mm? I'd like to know, honestly, what makes you think those dreams weren't the exact reason she donated that helium-pumped swimbladder to our dear cousin Lifprasil."[/colour] Phi swivelled upside down. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Psyche! I wasn't being honest and I couldn't care less what you think. I can answer this one, though."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Jvan's motives, tarnished though they are by a quagmire of glitches she likes to call emotions, remain fairly simple. She values diversity. Jvan is hopeless as a critic; Anything that's new and different catches her eye like a shiny bauble. With the obsolesence of quality, then, she favours quantity. More is better. And that is expansionism."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Given what I've gleaned from Jvan's past lives, it's something of a miracle- and a testament to just what a madhouse this pantheon is- that she's kept herself to Galbar and its satellite orbits. Give her another, oh, century or two and she'll start using those Arks to terraform the rest of the system. After that the sky's the limit. The [i]lower[/i] limit. You lot made a proper big world out here."[/colour] This seemed funny to her. [colour=cornflowerblue]"It's... Kind of stupid. Just how many galaxies did you think you'd need to start killing each other over them?"[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Lex was the trial run. If Jvan can construct an ecosystem in the vacuum of space, she can do it anywhere, and will. She's piggybacking Lifprasil for as long as she can. If any empire is being established here, it will be hers. Her nibling is just the spearpoint. If he actually finds anything worth conquering, good for him! Let the kid have his dreams."[/colour]




Phi made another inexplicable flight around Toun, folding into a speck and expanding again as she finished the orbit. Toun partially followed the flight by rotating his head just enough to maintain indifference. Phi continued. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Before you try gutting me with a scowl, though, I know that's only half an answer. See, Jvan doesn't [i]entirely[/i] trust our little emperor. Jvan likes filling voids, so she's sponsoring anything that'll send Lifprasil off to go colonise one. Beyond Galbar, the only thing he's likely to damage is a few icecubes and space djinn. What she was afraid of when they met is that Lifprasil would spend his entire life on this wet rock without ever looking up, and eventually establish a planetary empire of peace and love and techmaturgical advancement without a hint of war. Can't have that, that's a monoculture. The more time he spends out there freezing his manicured toenails off in space, the more planets get to acquire mould, the less time he has to put out the garbage fire that is Galbar, the better."[/colour]




Teknall's eyes followed Phi. [colour=Peru]"What a novel solution. Dilute Lifprasil's thirst for global conquest by spreading him out across the stars. And you get to piggyback on his expansion as a personal benefit. Whether it will [i]work[/i] is another matter. Sure, he'll conquer the stars either way, but with his army of Cosmic Knights he seems pretty set on using them, first on Xerxes, then possibly the rest of Galbar."[/colour] Teknall stroked his chin. [colour=Peru]"Ideally, the Xerxes battle would reduce the size of the Cosmic Knight army by a sufficient degree that they are no longer a force large enough to conquer the world. But we can't afford for him to lose that battle either. We may just have to wait and see and act from there."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Speak for yourself. I've got my fingers crossed for Amartia, the traitorous little underdog. There's nothing left for him to flip the odds with, but... Can you imagine? Wow. The look on Lif's face."[/colour]




[colour=Peru]"If Amartia wins, then Logos retains a stronghold on Galbar. As comical as Lif's face might be, I don't think that's worth it."[/colour] Teknall continued, his eyes closing as he focused on remembering. [colour=Peru]"You wouldn't have heard; Vestec tried to make a deal with Logos, regarding the Xerxes battle. In Vestec's words, 'Winner is whichever mortal side holds Xerxes at the end of the fight. If Amartia holds Xerxes still, I will join you in your mass and careless purge of Jvanic entities, and you won't have to deal with me continously bothering and distracting you while you're trying to fight the other Gods and purging things. If Lifprasil holds Xerxes, you go home and stop smashing Jvan's things.' Logos' response was 'I will be there. Regardless of your actions, I will benefit.'"[/colour]




Teknall opened his eyes and cast a stern glare at Phi, who had listened with a smarmy yet keen interest. [colour=Peru]"There is more at stake here than a city or some demigod's pride. Even you will be affected."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"...You make some strange and very false assumptions about me, uncle dear,"[/colour] said Phi, but, for once, she said no more.




It was up to Toun to speak. He did so as if it was tedious. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Logos is part of the reason Chiral Phi exists and will continue to exist, brother."[/b][/colour] He took a long blink. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"As long as the consequences of Amartia's victory are sanctioned by Logos, Vestec will pose no danger to her."[/b][/colour] Toun cast Phi the promised scowl regardless of his lack of mouth. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Of course, trust of Logos is an assumption that [i]none[/i] should fall for in such sensitive matters."[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Indeed. Logos is a cause for caution. I can only hope he'll leave us alone for long enough to prepare for the next time he comes,"[/colour] Teknall concurred. [colour=Peru]"Speaking of which, that reminds me of the other reason I made my 'approximation' of the Blueprint."[/colour] He leaned towards Phi and asked, [colour=Peru]"How good are you at mathematical modelling, Phi?"[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"How long is a piece of string?"[/colour] The answer was blasé. [colour=cornflowerblue]"How bad is Jvan at controlling herself? Very, Teknall."[/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Excellent. If you are truly that good, then you might just be able to solve a problem I have."[/colour] Teknall pulled out the long roll of parchment which was his replica of the Universal Blueprint and unfurled it. [colour=Peru]"If you would help me, can you simulate the entire Universe in order to determine the current locations of the Orbs of Darkness?"[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"What, for free? Of course not."[/colour]




In the dubious pause that followed from that, Toun cast a question in the form of twisting his head an eighth further to Teknall. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"What do you plan with them, exactly? Are you intending to use the orbs as a heuristic to search for something else in the universe?"[/b][/colour]




Teknall hesitated, clearly reluctant to answer that question. [colour=Peru]"No. They will be a...countermeasure, a defence, an insurance. I'm sure you can put two and two together."[/colour]




Toun softly blinked more dubiousness into the situation. The new pause ended in a short hum. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I should hope that the endeavour is for more than envy of Logos' sword, then."[/b][/colour] He lowered his shoulders in a silent sigh and returned his gaze to the wispy shape. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"You could think this a fortunate opportunity, Chiral Phi. To pay off your debt to Teknall for protecting your mortals is a valuable price."[/b][/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Why would I be grateful for a chance to lose a bargaining chip?"[/colour] Phi sounded genuinely confused, insofar as anything about her could ever be genuine. [colour=cornflowerblue]"I said it was a debt, sugar cube. I never offered to pay it off."[/colour] Had she only raised the point for the sake of saying this later? Almost certainly. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Even a little edge over the Blacksmith God is better than a few hundred thousand extra mortals. Mortals are cheap. So how's this? In a few years, I plan to have a very-"[/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]DO IT[/i][/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"..."[/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]do. it.[/i][/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"...Ye gods, she recovers fast. Alright."[/colour] Phi took the blow in stride, settling back into a happy-go-lucky tone. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Alright, sure. What the hell. We're doing this."[/colour] Jvan's presence seemed weighty again, if only by virtue of its anger.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"If you'd be so kind, Teknall, do pass me that tattered old rag again."[/colour] The avatar vanished and reformed behind the brothers, giving the impression of one looking over their shoulders. Her light began scrabbling up around the edges of the universal blueprint. [colour=cornflowerblue]"And one of you boys scrawl me a temporal log of everything that happened to it in the first few hours of its existence. In milliseconds, with a confidence interval no smaller than, say, ninety-three point oh four percent. No need to detail the actual specs of the magic. My guess is as good as yours when it comes to half this arcane poppycock."[/colour] She gestured, specifically, to Logos' formulae. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Like this trash. Wow."[/colour]




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Everything?"[/b][/colour] Toun droned with growing annoyance. He closed his eye in preparation for revisiting unpleasant memories. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Concentrate on your part in this. I will not allow wasted time by having either of you recollect those moments with accidental discrepancy."[/b][/colour]




With his eye still closed, Toun placed his palms and fingers together, twisted the surfaces together for a quarter turn, and separated them up and down. Between his palms stretched a white membrane that connected the two. It stretched to such a thinness that it began to let through the diffused light of the pulsing behind it.




The reality on the membrane crackled like thrown paper.




The surface became pocked with tiny points of red. Though they formed a distorted noise, they described Teknall first creating a length of unassuming parchment in a perfect void. The points animated into lengths that almost made an image of the event without merely one perspective observation. It was every movement, unobscured and conveyed.




Wafting and wending followed.




The membrane was scratched over and over by the actions of Teknall, soon joined by other gods, adding and adding more detail. Except, every detail that was added did not stay in this image. Toun scribed points in time, just as Phi requested. He was not recreating the codex.




There was an abrupt hiss that interrupted itself.




Chaos marred the membrane as the scratching whirled and cut into the bickering of young gods. Every detail was captured, down to the last fleck of Jvanic flesh that hit the parchment from Toun's first attack on her. Waves of anger and entertainment mixed into the aura that hit the parchment.




At last, the membrane was soaked with something overwhelming. Unfathomable. It was a symbol of Tounic calligraphy that described the very beginning. Of such power that even Toun himself did not fully comprehend what he scribed. This point, in contrast to all others, was done by mere approximation. It was the one data point that Phi had no use for.




As the history continued, there were only mild events along the axis of time. Being carried in the hands of a late goddess to various places. The scratching and whirling had slowed. It stilled into the final millisecond just as the membrane began to bulge forward in a gentle expression. As it bulged, the round surface advanced from its position until it tapered behind itself. With no springing reverberation, it left the area between Toun's palms, separated to form a sphere, and drifted as a rigid bubble, printed fully with all the requested events, in front of Chiral Phi.




Finally, with a sombre movement, Toun's hands closed, subsuming the remaining fluid substance. He turned his body away.




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"One hundred per cent. Go on and find your darkness,"[/b][/colour] Toun grumbled. For all the pain that the parchment witnessed, Toun was hiding whatever anger remained from those events. His arms drifted to his sides and he looked ahead, blank and still.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Excellent,"[/colour] whispered Phi, whose immaterial eyes had soaked up every detail. Every moment of the Codex, and- Every twitch on Toun's porcelain face. [colour=cornflowerblue]"This will do me nicely."[/colour]




The light contracted into a white speck, knotting itself away into the core of the empyrean glyph. Chiral Phi's projection rippled as it collapsed, dwarved by what it dared to enter. She disappeared. A penumbral wind of whipping indigo light began to seep from the printed sphere, trailing linear fragments of waveforms into the tunnel as a buried furnace smoulders through the earth.




[colour=9e0b0f][i]i hate her,[/i][/colour] said a very quiet voice that was realising, for the first time, the truth of those words.




Teknall watched the mathematically-exact patterns of light dance off the orb as Phi calculated from within. But Phi would be a while, for even the greatest calculators in the Universe would struggle with a task of this magnitude. So there was nothing to it but to wait.




Teknall cautiously asked the still-stressed Toun, [colour=Peru]"Do you want to talk about it?"[/colour]




Toun's robes softly curled and ebbed with their previous momentum. He did not move. After several seconds, his quivering voice spoke at a low pitch. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"No."[/b][/colour] The clay fabric flowed to a flick. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"It would serve no appreciable purpose."[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Well, I just thought that perhaps talking about it rather than bottling it all up would help ease some of the pain. But if you don't want to, that's your choice,"[/colour] Teknall shrugged.




Toun clenched a fist. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I choose not to speak,"[/b][/colour] he quivered. His fist relaxed.




Teknall lapsed back into awkward silence, staying quiet for a minute more, watching the shadows cast by Chiral Phi's calculating light. Then he spoke up again. [colour=Peru]"Perhaps... you could tell me about the hain,"[/colour] Teknall suggested. [colour=Peru]"I've pieced together clues from their legends as to their origins, but mortal myths are hardly a reliable source."[/colour]




For a tense second, there hung in the air the possibility that Toun was going to stick to his words in a broad sense. That changed when his head twisted a fraction to his left. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"You wish to know the nature of their creation?"[/b][/colour] Toun asked in a wavering monotone.




[colour=Peru]"Yes,"[/colour] Teknall replied.




Toun rotated in place until he was side-on and looking at Teknall with his raw red eyelid drooping in mental fatigue. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"If it is important to you..."[/b][/colour] Toun's chest swelled in thought. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I required servants to delegate menial details. Creatures with enough autonomy to make trivial decisions, collaborate, and survive to an appropriate point in their purpose. I could have calculated a natural adaptability myself had I not had other requirements to meet at the time -- calculating the construction of Cornerstone being the highest priority. I looked to borrow what had already been calculated in Slough's essence. Her lifeforms survived by trying random chances, and while inelegant, held completed solutions to complex life."[/b][/colour] Toun raised an open hand, his fingers slightly curled, and eyed his palm. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I took up a piece of her discarded essence, incorporated it into a durable construct, and repeated the process for as many as the first generation would require."[/b][/colour]




One of the tunnel's ridges was fraying from within. Through the gaps, a colony of flatworm-like constructor cells began to writhe, clumping together and trailing strands of mucosal components. It was an oddly fitting vision of Jvan as she fiddled with an endless wreck of herself, still trying to cobble together something that worked.




Toun's hand floated down to his side again, he lowered his head in synch. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Unfortunately, the...suggestions that Slough had an ear open to before the beginning seeped into every creation containing her essence. I would have destroyed them and tried again. I could not, as Niciel had forbidden harm in her land. In my frustration, I adjusted a few to be subservient enough to fit my purposes and sent the most of the rest elsewhere on the surface of the planet. It was courtesy to spare Niciel cleaning up or hoarding my mess in her valley."[/b][/colour] Toun raised his head and continued in a clinical tone. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"It was not an optimal outcome, as so late into their construction, those few I adjusted had their intelligence irreparably damaged."[/b][/colour]




With a disinterested tilt of his head, Toun faced Teknall and concluded. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I have since bred them to number and role. What was lost in their capabilities, I have made up for in additional functions within Cornerstone itself. And manual control. They may be replaced when they reach the limit of their utility. If you have need of them, I could loan up to four hundred and seven. Unless you are satisfied to make use of the unadjusted feral hain that survived for this long."[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"I have no need for your subjugated hain. As far as hain are concerned, those out in the 'wild' building their own civilisations are adequate for me. I have some plans for servants of my own, but hain won't suffice for that purpose,"[/colour] Teknall replied. [colour=Peru]"I've seen Cornerstone in passing several times, although I've never properly visited. Perhaps I should take a tour at some time?"[/colour]




Toun blinked and looked off ahead. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I could not stop you,"[/b][/colour] he said as a matter of fact. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"There is little to behold and less still to be impressed by. I have no love for the salt that clings to its base."[/b][/colour]




Teknall shrugged. [colour=Peru]"I'm sure I'll find something to look at."[/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]i don't know what she's DOING[/i][/colour]




A voice blurted. Jvan had reached the limit of how long she would quietly try to find resolution to her anxiety. [colour=9e0b0f][i]toun, she. she. [/i]had.[i] the data. orbs have a one-way gap link. i ran this calc long ago. the painter should still have an- uncorrupted copy. i thought- i- she was- i was waiting for a proof. so she could say she wasn't lying. but she just! isn't! doing! anything![/i][/colour] The constructor colony was swarming, labouring to give the voice strength to say what needed saying.




The words were enough to encourage Toun to face the last space that Chiral Phi had occupied and narrow his eye.




[colour=9e0b0f][i]she's not using that sigil! she's SITTING in it![/i][/colour]




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Chiral Phi,"[/b][/colour] Toun elongated each syllable to the length of his fuming patience. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"You know I can find you. Return. I will not warn you again."[/b][/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue][i]Thought you'd never ask,[/i][/colour] said Phi. The divinely inscribed sphere shed its last beam of light, then began to spin as pale indigo plasma began to seep into its skin. It developed a wobble, compressed, bulged, and erupted.




Ignited by a wave of light that washed away all other vision, the three gods watched the birth of the universe.




Those forces locked in the Codex swelled into their full strength and collided with cataclysmic fury in the first instant, and the Shattering Disunity began. Chaos reigned, and Chiral Phi resolved that chaos into horrific visibility, cutting through the power of the first moment to reveal visceral layers of unbalanced energies, their laws fluid and slippery as quick mire, yet to harden into observable form. Within the light, forces physical and elemental surged against one another, dominating their rivals, breaking and succumbing until they began to lock into each other's contorted remains and desiccate into solidity.




The Painter's hand held, with quivering wrist, the force of Disunity; And now she cracked it open to reveal the screaming ichor within. In the first age, there was only cosmic fire. Change roiled against Order in the ignited cloud of energy, each burning the other into vapour. A golden light that would never be equalled shone from those first years, illuminating the blood of the shattered void as it condensed back into the existence it never had. Shimmers turned to smoke and smoke into a cloud.




There was darkness. Shadow burgeoned in the smog as reality began to sprawl, subjugating the turmoil of its elder siblings, crushing it with the pressure of the vacuum. Chiral Phi magnified the black cloud into an all-consuming haze of distance, burning through the strain of holding infinite space in her mind's eye. For the briefest moment, things crawled in the nascent World- Primordial sentience that gnawed on the cold and the elemental wilderness, and kicked bursts of fresh chaos into life.




And through them speared fifty-six motes of dust, leaving paths of desolation as they hungered on the warpath.




But old forces were rearing again, and the spirit's vision leapt into dizzying freefall, sweeping through a labyrinth of lines traced by the first matter as it began to collapse. Atomic sparks seared themselves into the universe, and their distant specks multiplied into a flurry, expanded into vast monstrosities of heat and gravity. Innumerable stellar gods swarmed the void, lived, died, and dominated, claiming galactic kingdoms built on the corpses of their elders. Through a bottomless ocean of raging eyes did the shadowed orbs fall, fearing nothing, alone and exiled from their fellows for eternity.




Phi held the cosmos she was creating even as its mind-razing scale destroyed all hope of grandeur, leaving only ephemeral dust on an infinite gale to show for the creations of man and god. With eight sevenfold gazes that were yet one, the brothers saw Julkolfyr's retaliation lost in the well of night, undying, unyielding, a vicious scorn against everything that aged and rotted in the indescribable depths of All.




Time slowed. The passage of the stars halted and died. There was a haunting instant of deterioration- And the Painter's simulation blinked into silence.




It took a long while for the tunnels of Ovaedis to seem real again. If they ever were.




Teknall blinked, and blinked again. [colour=Peru]"Staggering..."[/colour] was all he could manage in those first few moments after the vision faded. Yet he had noted and memorised the important data from that simulation, particularly the locations of the Orbs.




[colour=Peru]"You mentioned the orbs having a one-way gap link. That wasn't in the original design,"[/colour] Teknall eventually said.




The comment shifted Toun's stare from Phi, who was only just beginning to rematerialise. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"A link in which direction, exactly?"[/b][/colour]




[colour=9e0b0f][i]vowzra's doing. destroyed matter is funnelled gapwards. fertilises the other. stimulates faster growth.[/i][/colour] Jvan's voice had grown clearer since it had last sounded. The cells had been busy for some time, and her senses were still too dull to watch the simulation.




Teknall crossed his arms and drummed his fingers against his elbows. [colour=Peru]"Interesting. I may need to make some modifications to my designs. I'll have to do some tests to figure out the details."[/colour] Teknall unfolded his arms. [colour=Peru]"Thank you Jvan and Phi for your help. I'll be sure to put the data to good use."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Same to you, dear,"[/colour] purred Phi. Her own telepathy was as artificially chipper as ever, even as the projection sat heavy and dim in the tunnel, spent.




Toun's head was stretched forward into a slouch. He stared at Phi with his brow low and his body pointing slightly away. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Chiral Phi,"[/b][/colour] he breathed, displaying no loss in his previous warning.




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Why, is there a problem?"[/colour] It was a dare, not a question.




Without breaking his stare, Toun elevated one arm with his half-closed hand facing upwards. His fingers cupped the still floating orb that held the record of the beginning. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Eighty-nine..."[/b][/colour] Toun's fingers began to curl and the calligraphy on the orb dissolved. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"...Point seven...seven...six..."[/b][/colour] A hairline fracture shot up and around the orb. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"...Recurring."[/b][/colour] Toun's fingers closed in as if through empty space, so easily did the spherical manifest shatter into gently spinning petals. The thinness of the orb itself made the shards take on the appearance of ice flecks in the burning blue sun that was Toun's unwavering eye; melting as they did into nothing. The temporal record was gone.




[colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Consider that new confidence interval the most generous consequence you will take by trying to deceive us,"[/b][/colour] Toun flicked his thumb over his hand twice to dislodge any remaining shards as they folded out of reality. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"For that is now the quality of the temporal log, only due to witholding information."[/b][/colour]




A laugh, uncomfortably close. [colour=cornflowerblue]"You never asked, I never told! It doesn't matter. I have what I need, even if the position is a few... Say, hundred... Light-years off. And yet, even if I had harvested nothing from that sigil, kid..."[/colour]




The glow sank closer, close enough to kiss Toun on the nose. [colour=cornflowerblue][i]"I'd still consider myself well paid."[/i][/colour]




There was a snap, as of elastic cords slashed with a knife. Chiral Phi bent wildly and was gone.




Toun blinked and deflated back into his conventional humanoid shape. The weight off his mood collapsed, partially. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I hate her,"[/b][/colour] he hissed.




[colour=9e0b0f][i]oh really,[/i][/colour] said a rancid whisper from Jvan.




[colour=Peru]"She is rather irritating,"[/colour] Teknall admitted.




The vacuum around them lacked media to carry sounds in the first place. That did not make the next moment of silence any less demanding. The gods were idle, waiting for one another.




Toun eyed Teknall once more. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"If you are done here, you know how to contact me, brother,"[/b][/colour] Toun said. The quiet moment had calmed his voice. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I will forward to you the state of Jvan's health."[/b][/colour] Toun began to turn around. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"You have your countermeasure to find. Not every one of Julkolfyr's orbs will be out of place, by strong likelihood."[/b][/colour]




"Yes," Teknall composed himself, then flipped his palms upwards. "I shall see you again some time. Thank you for the help." Teknall pushed gently off the wall of the tunnel, did a half-turn in the microgravity environment, then flew back up the tunnel towards the exit. A faint psychic tailwind followed him, clinging for a moment to the hem of his apron, as if unwilling to be left alone in the dark.




[colour=9e0b0f][i]fare you well, my brother[/i][/colour]




Then the words were lost in the floating currents of Sculptor thoughts.




Toun's head and blue eye turned behind, further into the tunnel. He angled forward. As if the creases were the tentacles of a white squid propelling him, his robe curled taut against his body as he flowed onward, out of sight.




[center][h3]* * * * *[/h3][/center]




[i](Hey now, that's...) 

(~Welcome back) 

(How dare/This filthy air/Rest so heavy/On the rain-soaked heart) 

(Use a hollow rib, nn?) 

(Loralom soil...Fertile, ashen texture...Touch like the birth of a rose...)

(Yon craven bastard, and he goes by Hudjo- 'the Magnificent', no less!) 

(...So it continues.)

(See up, look out/See truth, know doubt/See things beyond the weathered track/See those who see you staring back)

[colour=mistyrose](Did you find her?)[/colour][/i]




The last whisper sounded double in Teknall's mind, telepathy shadowed by a change-eater's lightvoice nearby. Between the frayed lip of the tube, the Diaphane hero rested patiently, the smear of Jvan's blessing still dark inside the resting cells of her body.




Teknall drifted to a halt as the change-eater came into view. He nodded his head in greeting. [colour=Peru]"Hello Diaphane Whisper. We did find her- or, more accurately, she found us. Her voice is still quite weak, but she's on the way to recovery."[/colour]




[colour=ghostwhite][i]"Thank you."[/i][/colour] A slight movement rippled through Whisper, a simple nod. It became a shake, as if to clear her head from whatever new anxiety was replacing the old. [colour=LavenderBlush][i]"There was another. A third deity in white, with metal creatures all around. Watching you, I think. We spoke."[/i][/colour]




The thought of Logos listening in on the earlier conversation paralyzed Teknall for a moment in fear, eyes wide and teeth chattering silently in the void. [i][colour=Peru]How much did he hear? Does he know?[/colour][/i] he thought.




An uncomfortable pause, and Whisper contracted, rising to face the Haingod as a tower of eyes and jointed arms. [colour=mintcream][i]"Teknall,"[/i][/colour] she said, though she had not known the name before. Her tone held a philosopher's angst, desperate to understand, not simply know.




[colour=Honeydew][i]"Is it wrong, to kill?"[/i][/colour]




Teknall's jaw steadied and his eyes narrowed as he carefully contemplated the question. [colour=Peru]"It depends,"[/colour] he said, [colour=Peru]"To cause death and destruction without good cause is definitely wrong. But sometimes the only viable way to prevent a catastrophe is to kill. Killing is something to be avoided, a last resort if anything at all."[/colour]




[colour=aliceblue][i]"Without good cause."[/i][/colour] From top to bottom, the eyes shut. It was not an optimistic gesture. [colour=ivory][i]"A child born violent, then. Is it cursed? Should it be destroyed for its bloodlust?"[/i][/colour] Whisper's eyes opened. [colour=lavenderblush][i]"Would you wield the knife?"[/i][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Can it be proved that the child is violent? Does that mean the child will actually commit murder?"[/colour] Teknall retorted, [colour=Peru]"Or could the child suppress its violent instincts, and become a functioning member of society? The trouble with such a preemptive strike is that it assumes that you have preempted correctly."[/colour] Whisper's tailfin twitched a little.




Teknall looked out over the glimmering rings of Lex. [colour=Peru]"Consider the imagen. A predatory imagen hunts and kills other imagen. It must, or else it will starve and die. But the prey does what it can to avoid dying. If it is able, it will fight and kill the predator. It must, or else it will be killed. Neither of them are in the wrong. The prey avoids killing unless forced, and the predator kills only as it needs to eat. These aren't moral beings, so the analogy is limited, but it makes a point nonetheless. In general it is wrong to kill, but sometimes it is necessary."[/colour]




A stoic by nature, Whisper did not indicate her disappointment with the little aproned being that hovered before her. Three deities she had met this day, and three times she had been let down. To explain the law of the wild to an apex predator... Condescension and waste. Still, somehow, Teknall eventually told her what she needed to know.




[colour=MistyRose][i]"My grandmother said that you were moral. I guess this is what she meant."[/i][/colour] Whisper's gaze neither blinked nor shifted; Hard enough learning about the gravity-walkers without trying to master their body language. [colour=MintCream][i]"When this child is born it will kill. The world will resist it. I know the scent of slaughter, Teknall. So... If the-"[/i][/colour] The metaphor was starting to show cracks- [colour=MintCream][i]"'Child' can be destroyed, it will be. Even though it never asked to be born."[/i][/colour]




[colour=AliceBlue][i]"Nothing does. Neither the predator, nor the prey."[/i][/colour] Whisper gestured, an alien, unpracticed sweep of the limb, first to herself, then to Teknall, and then out to Galbar below.




Slowly understanding dawned on Teknall. He gazed down at Galbar for a long while, trying to come up with the right words. [colour=Peru]"People will fight to protect what they hold dear, although few will fight for something distant from themselves. Although the child will kill, and although it will be resisted, perhaps the child will have the wisdom to avoid angering those who can destroy it."[/colour]




No words came after that. Whisper's fluorescence had dulled, slightly, as if the stain inside her was leaking into her soul.




[colour=ivory][i]"May you find peace, Teknall,"[/i][/colour] said Diaphane Whisper as she melted away into space. As always, her thoughts were her own, though they were no longer so bitter. Only sad. [colour=honeydew][i]"I doubt we'll ever get a chance to talk again."[/i][/colour]




Her tails brushed past the frayed fingers of the listening-horn with patient affection as she departed into the shadows of the meteoroids below. In the distance, the Mothership hovered above a frozen forest, waiting, once again, for the touch that bade her deliver death to the world.




[colour=Peru]"May you find peace too, Whisper,"[/colour] Teknall said quitely towards the change-eater's departing form. He solemnly watched for a little longer, then turned and descended towards the planet below.













[hider=Earlier.]The two deities disappeared into the maw of the telepathic receiver, leaving Whisper to drift gently in the quiet, a colourful speck of dust suspended and alone before the scale of the divine bioconstruct. She would wait for them. Left to herself, Diaphane Whisper could wait for eternity.




She was not left to herself.




A wet grey snarl twisted into the glittering background of stars, then split into a wide portal. Caged atmosphere blasted into the space, hot against the vacuum. Two spherical creatures whose surface was a glowing coat of feathered light barrelled from the tunnel. A third entity, tiny by comparison, followed by three more Ophanim. With a shimmer of bent light, the portal sealed.




Whisper moved rapidly. She was a large creature, and the scale of Ovaedis had a way of making things seem deceptively slow; And yet, for all this, she was still a seasoned predator. When she decided to move, she could move.




The intervening vacuum gave way as Whisper melted into an inkdrop and surged, trailing the diaphanous streams of fluid for which her family had been named. The five Ophanim curved wide orbits around the third being, whose limbs gangled motionlessly in the weightlessness. Its body plan was strange, and she could not discern whether they were hands or legs. A splay of hairlike tentacles extended from unlidded cavities in its turned back.




[colour=f6989d]"Come,"[/colour] said Heartworm, without facing her.




Just as she reached the orbit of the closest Ophan, the entity kicked off, and its plumes fell back into a tail, revealing the metallic designs below as it flew. Their speed was astonishing for something that seemed so lifeless. Whisper set herself into a brisk pulsing gait to keep tread with the stranger, and even so, she knew it was slowing itself down for her sake. She doubted that was the correct way to describe it. The movement was still exhausting.




So Whisper waited on the creature to explain itself while she focused on maintaining the run, and, over the course of several minutes, found herself disappointed.




[colour=aliceblue][i]"Who are you?"[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Independent god-type entity."[/colour]




[colour=honeydew][i]"Why are you here?"[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Monitoring intrusion on potential assets."[/colour]




These answers were freely given, and yet Whisper found them frustratingly colourless, largely because she knew that the stranger was not actively trying to be obtuse. Whisper was not, however, one to vent those frustrations outwardly. She put her mind to finding answers by herself, through observation, as she began to leech power from the Jvanic darkness inside her to sustain the Ophanim's pace.




[colour=ghostwhite][i]"Are you the rogue Avatar?"[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Yes."[/colour] Just that. Nothing more.




[colour=lavenderblush][i]"You've taken interest in me?"[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Correct. Whisper's design, and the motives thereof, are curious."[/colour]




[colour=mistyrose][i]"I could leave. Then you'd have nothing of me to observe."[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Correct. Subduing you would be a complex expense of energy which Heartworm's curiousity would not justify."[/colour]




[colour=ivory][i]"So make this worth [/i]my[i] time."[/i][/colour] No answer. Whisper tried not to let herself mistake that for compliance, though she was increasingly tempted to abandon this newcomer the longer it failed to yield results. She'd been taught better than that, and born more determined.




[colour=mintcream][i]"Who are you,"[/i][/colour] she tested again. This time her results were duly interesting. 




[colour=f6989d]"Heartworm the Emaciator, avatar of Jvan. Created as an accessory intelligence to occupy the body and abilities of her envoy when it was not in use. Seized and possessed by the All-Beauty's psychic reach for many years after it displayed suboptimal behaviour. Escaped during her moment of weakness. Now in hiding. Still occupied with scientific endeavours."[/colour] It was strangely similar to the perspective Whisper had heard from her primary tutor, given that it was now being told from the opposite party. Heartworm's clinical way of words ran deeper than a learned behaviour.




[colour=aliceblue][i]'Now in hiding...'[/i][/colour]




Buoyed by the success, a little, Whisper tried repeating her other spoiled question.




[colour=LavenderBlush][i]"Why are you here?"[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Ovaedis is not in Heartworm's sphere of influence currently. In time opportunity may arise. Until then prudence dictates that the device be kept sound. Visiting deities must be observed to identify motives and Jvan is out of commission."[/colour]




[colour=GhostWhite][i]"The visitors- Who are they?"[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Toun, of Creation. Reserved by nature. Firmly headquartered in Cornerstone, which Lexites call the Glint. Teknall, of Crafting. Strongly invested in Galbaric mortal development. Social. Calm. Forms bonds. Motive for journey likely to be empathic in nature. Motive of former less clear. Who are you?"[/colour]




The last three words were so at odds with the rest of the description that Whisper took several moments to really understand, though she had heard them clearly. Curiousity and fear, Grandmother had said. It was clear which one had come to the fore.




[colour=Honeydew][i]"Diaphane Whisper, pilot of the Mother Suprema,"[/i][/colour] the change-eater repeated. [colour=MistyRose][i]"One of the three Big Sisters, the last to reach Lex. Grandmother- Jvan- means for me to be a check on the Sorority. She's been teaching me many things. So that the sisterhood won't be going in blind when we descend for good."[/i][/colour] That still wasn't quite it. The avatar's clipped exposition had thrown her off. [colour=MintCream][i]"I'm a chronicler. Of sorts. I'll shape the story I tell. There's..."[/i][/colour] She slowed. She would only trust the cold stranger so much. [colour=Ivory][i]"Someone I have to meet before it can truly begin."[/i][/colour]




Whisper didn't regret the quiet from which she had borrowed her name, and yet, for a Sculptor-storyteller, she fell into moments like these more often than she felt secure with. They left her lame, powerless to put together the words she knew must come.




Fortunately, Heartworm was not the type to press. [colour=f6989d]"A strategic informant?"[/colour]




[colour=lavenderblush][i]"A moral one."[/i][/colour]




An Ophan swivelled and collided with Whisper's side more quickly than she could avoid it and just slowly enough that she could morph to grip its smooth surface as it rose into the direct proximity of Heartworm. It stared into her with rows of studded eyes below a grey glass visor, this spindly little thing that dominated the exchange in the face of two giants.




[colour=f6989d]"[i]Explain.[/i]"[/colour]




So much for 'not the type to press'. Though startled, Whisper's reflexes were keen and she adjusted quickly, and without fear.




[colour=AliceBlue][i]"Grandmother told me most of her own story as well as others. I know what happened on the day we watched her smash the Northpoint. The Riddler cast a light into memories of old lives. One of them made her reconsider... Creating my family."[/i][/colour] Uncomfortable, to say it out loud. Curled over the Ophan with a mass of gripping, clawed tentacles, Whisper looked out, noticed that the Jvanic Eyes were revolving away from them or coming unfocused when the party passed them. [colour=GhostWhite][i]"She didn't say much but I think she underestimated how well I know her. She's not comfortable with what she saw. She doesn't understand it. It clutters her mind when she needs to be ruthless."[/i][/colour]




[colour=Ivory][i]"That's why I'm being educated. So that Jvan knows there will be someone better equipped to handle this... 'War'. I can adapt. Learn from everything I find until it starts to make sense. By myself. I... Never... Saw things quite like my sisters. What she's given me is the chance to understand what I see. I've started blind, but at the end, I'll create a resolution that stands on its own."[/i][/colour]




No reply.




[colour=MistyRose][i]"You don't like it."[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Emotionally neutral."[/colour] Same as everything, ostensibly.




[colour=MintCream][i]"Don't think it'll work."[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Morality is illusory. Societal-genetic mechanism used by social species to minimise damage to the group from individualist instincts. Nothing is 'right' or 'wrong'. Only harmful to the community physically, culturally or psychologically. There is no inherent wrong in inflicting suffering."[/colour]




Whisper was grateful for the training with which she hardened her heart at Heartworm's words. She made herself cold, for a moment, forcing back the implications of what she heard.




[colour=ghostwhite][i]"So nothing is vile to you. Even- Harming your own sister."[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Correct,"[/colour] affirmed the Emaciator.




[colour=Honeydew][i]"That's-[/i][/colour] Raw, visceral repulsion ripped through Whisper and she hurled herself from the surface of the Ophan, squirming into spike shapes as she receded back past the Ophanim's furthest orbit, forcing herself to keep pace. [colour=Honeydew][i]"[b]-disgusting.[/b]"[/i][/colour]




[colour=f6989d]"Correct. Entropites were designed to experience this emotional response. Heartworm was not."[/colour]




She said nothing.




[colour=f6989d]"This is natural to me, Whisper."[/colour]




Their flight continued, but she was no longer focused on keeping up. The two parties began to drift apart. Heartworm's lightvoice carried clearly through the vacuum.




[colour=f6989d]"Our experiences cannot be compared. An eloquent employee described Heartworm as a force of nature. Consider it likewise. To itself, Heartworm's psyche is neither 'good' nor 'bad'. Decisions are made to different parameters. Heartworm creates. Heartworm destroys. Its choices cannot be right, nor wrong."[/colour]




Whisper's repulsion from the thing that was speaking was mingled with a growing discomfort, an intimate sense of violation. Was it that, for the first time, the Avatar was speaking for her benefit, rather than its own?




Was that what she was meant to believe?




[colour=f6989d]"Consider. Diaphane colony observed Jvan when the Northpoint was destroyed. May also have observed the conflict responsible for her current state. Divine melee of continental scale. Jvan debilitated at conclusion. Catastrophic fallout of eldritch and conventional pollutants. Threat of global contamination capable of significant biospheric disruption. Current status neutralised. Ring of abyssal bioconstructs around site of violence acting as high-energy oceanic and atmospheric filters in All-Beauty's absence."[/colour] 




[colour=f6989d]"This is meaningless to Diaphane Whisper. Simple asset insurance to Heartworm. Yet I am a secret saviour of uncounted mortals who are those assets. Each party considers Heartworm's actions differently. Only true observation is that said actions [i]happened.[/i]"[/colour]




A dull pause.




[colour=LavenderBlush][i]"Does anything have meaning, then?"[/i][/colour] whispered Whisper, inaudible.




[colour=f6989d]"Heartworm has pursued this question. Results inconclusive. Inquiry uninteresting. Project abandoned. Thus I leave it to you, philosopher."[/colour]




And the Avatar accelerated out of its cruising speed, leaving Whisper behind to ponder as the Bludgeon colony rode out on its feathered tails and over the arch of the listening-horn.




She drifted slowly back down towards the opening of the tunnel, occasionally squirming as if to shake off the horror that clung to her. Grandmother had tried to teach her, and it was in her absence that Whisper discovered how poor a tutor she had been in the face of experience.




Questions plagued her as she curled into her core form on the inner lip of the horn. There she waited for the gods to return, herself nothing more than an ember in the light of the planet that lay below, and both of them no more than dust in the endless void of space.

[/hider]




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[b][i]STARTING OFF...[/i][/b]

Directly following Teknall and Lif-Meister's chat, one of Toun's droningbirds in Alefpria catches Teknall on his way out.




Toun and Teknall have a quick catch up. They recap the Logos question, the nature of the Codex (alluding to Toun's plans regarding it), as well as Jvan. Teknall mentions Ovaedis and the pair resolve to check in on Jvan.




The pair sizes up the Ark and the local wildlife of Lex.




Once they reach Ovaedis, Toun suggests heading inside to talk with Jvan. Teknall instead decides to yell WAKE UP JEFF into the telepathic listening stalk, alerting his presence to just about everything Jvanic on Galbar.




Jvan does not respond. However, they are briefly confronted by Diaphane Whisper, the pilot of one of the Arks. Toun sass-mouths. Whisper lets Teknall know about an entrance to Ovaedis through a tunnel down the listening stalks. Toun and Teknall leave the entropite hero to her business and head down the tunnel.




The tunnel, being the receiving end of the sculptor telepathic network, is abuzz with random voices. The voices fade when they get deep enough, replaced with Jvan's weak attempts at communication. Turns out she's a bit hungover and will continue to be for a while. She's regenerating with a schedule to wake up properly once "Logos' lieutenant falls."




Teknall tries to speak with Jvan. She is too groggy and sends for Chiral Phi. Toun, having been Phi's voyeur for a while now, is not amused at the prospect of talking with the conniving little jack-in-a-box.




[b][i]THEY GO OVER 9 TOPICS OF INTEREST...[/i][/b]




[b][i]TOPIC 1[/i][/b]

Chiral Phi introduces herself to Teknall. Toun immediately asks why Jvan attacked Vowzra.




Phi explains that the conflict between the deities had been brewing for a long time. She also reveals how Vowzra changed the Other to be angry and bitey on the Codex -- a detail previous unknown to Toun and Teknall.




Toun asks whether Jvan is liable to go murder anyone else, should anyone piss her off as much again. Phi answers that Jvan has learned to temper her aggression better after the Vowzra affair. Phi tries to twist the matter into a beneficial experience, suggesting that Vowzra was a sacrifice to teach Jvan. Toun calls bullshit, having witnessed enough of that spewed by Phi in the past. Stink-eyes are exchanged.




[b][i]TOPIC 2[/i][/b]

Teknall then pulls out a project of his: A replica of the Codex of Creation. The three pour over it, Toun does his best to avoid nit picking Teknall's best efforts, even when asked to confirm its accuracy. Toun calls it an approximation, rather than a replica. Something that will serve Teknall's purposes of modelling parts of the universe, but not perfectly. (BBeast's note: It might be even more accurately called a snapshot. It is Teknall's very accurate memory of the Universal Blueprint at a particular point in time- before it was snatched away. Of course, this temporal finiteness imposes limitations, the primary of which being that it is a snapshot from before Vowzra wrote anything on it)




Regardless of opinion, they all agree that there is an inconsistency with the Gap in comparison to its representation on the replica. It is easy for them to corroborate what Phi said about Vowzra's additions.




[b][i]TOPIC 3[/i][/b]

Moving on, Teknall inquires about whether Jvan ever intends to unleash the Gap upon the material plane. Jvan's voice steps in directly, assuring that such a thing would never happen and she is the sole gatekeeper between the two realms. She elaborates Phi's nature, being the frame for the tesseract that Logos set up to close the rift they made in their stouche.




[b][i]TOPIC 4[/i][/b]

Teknall shrugs his shoulders, good enough, and proceeds to nerd out about Jvan's Arks. Jvan squees and suggests that they race spaceships when Teknall builds his own.




Jvan is reminded to thank Teknall for helping during the Blinding Purge, does so, and then -- in the purest sense -- swoons. She's still groggy. Teknall is still happy for the gratitude.




[b][i]TOPIC 5[/i][/b]

Moving on AGAIN, Teknall asks about whether the diaphane sorority is a threat to Galbar. Phi answers that the function of the diaphane/elemental relationship is to be of predator and prey in a sustained ecosystem. The equilibrium is meant to break up the hegemony of elementals on Galbar, allowing for nature and Galbar's other inhabitants to thrive. Huge elemental lords will soon be history. Phi adds that it is Jvan's nature to [i]adapt[/i] to threats against her creation -- the main motivation to cutting down the power of elementals was to help her sculptors. Of course, Phi is a serial bullshitter, but this seems believable enough.




[b]Termizzle's note- Phi wasn't exactly lying through her teeth here, but she's definitely downplayed what a decrease in Elemental power would mean for mortal societies, passing it off as a moral issue neither she nor Jvan feels much for. Elementals tend to stabilise processes like monsoons and volcanic eruptions that are beneficial in moderation, but would cause damage if they disappear or go unregulated.[/b]




Toun pipes up, mentioning that Zephy won't like this if he returns. He's not on the Oath of Stilldeath, so he might just come up and chokeslam Lex and/or Jvan in a fashion similar to how Jvan chokeslammed Vowzra.




Phi points out two things in rebuttal; that Diaphane Whisper is something of a voice of reason guiding the sorority, restraining their voracious nature, maybe, and that Zephy hasn't apparently cared about the affairs of his elementals since they were created.




Teknall corrects the latter point, letting Phi know that just because Zephyrion doesn't interfere with his elementals, that doesn't mean he won't throw a tantrum if someone else does. Teknall recommends that Jvan and Phi remain cautious and prepared.




Phi says that Jvan is regenerating, and she'll come back tough enough to sustain Zephy, even if he uses anachronistic power tools. Muttonhawk despairs at the analogy in spite of the setting, as it still valid due to Teknall technically having power tools in his workshop. (I COULDN'T THINK OF A BETTER TURN OF PHRASE OK -Termite)




[b][i]TOPIC 6[/i][/b]

Moving on ONCE MORE, Teknall expresses concern over Jvan giving Lif, the aspiring world-conquerer, a self-replicating spaceship. Phi claims that this was a plan by Jvan to drive Lifprasil to expand into space, which would have two benefits: first, Jvan would be able to piggyback on the expansion, populating the galaxy with her creations; second, it would reduce Lifprasil's presence on Galbar such that Lif wouldn't conquer Galbar and produce a monoculture.




Teknall thinks this is a great plan, although it doesn't deal with Lif's army of Cosmic Knights. This leads to a very brief discussion about the Xerxes battle. Phi is fairly unperturbed, even when Teknall recalls the deal between Vestec and Logos. She hints that Teknall has failed to understand some aspect of her in assuming that she's in danger. Toun states that Phi herself should be safe either way, although they should be cautious about trusting Logos.




[b][i]TOPIC 7[/i][/b]

FINALLY, Teknall asks Phi to model the universe's creation to find Julkofyr's orbs of darkness.




Toun asks why, Teknall fidgets and says that it's totally just a countermeasure/defence/insurance measure.




Toun then talks Phi and Jvan into doing the universe modelling for free because Teknall did Jvan a favour by shooting down Realta. Phi is confused at this strange concept known as not being a dick. Jvan tells her to not be a dick and do it.




As seed data for the model, Phi requests that Toun makes a record of everything that happened to the Codex from its inception to just after creation. Toun harumphs and creates a passage of prose as he places all the events in Tounic calligraphy on a delicate spherical manifest. He says that the confidence interval of the manifest is 100% - It's a perfect recount.




Phi enjoys Toun's annoyance at recounting one of his hissy fits and begins the modelling.




Teknall tries to broach the topic of the beginning to Toun, seeing that he was bitter. Toun remains bitter and does not want to talk about it.




[b][i]TOPIC 8[/i][/b]

To take Toun's mind off his emotions, Teknall instead asks about how and why the hain were created. Toun shares to pass the time. He is apparently indifferent about how he treated them, obscuring the anger he had about his failure back then.




Teknall says that he'll come visit Cornerstone some time. Toun is fairly indifferent about the prospect.




[b][i]TOPIC 9[/i][/b]

Jvan interrupts. Apparently Phi has already done the modelling. She's screwing around trying to find something for herself in the model.




Toun warns her. Phi then displays her model in exaggerated detail, showing a representation of the big bang and all that. It's kinda cool. It's also rather distracting. How convenient!




It is then revealed by Jvan that the orbs of darkness form one-way links from the material world to the Gap. Toun is miffed, as this new detail that he doesn't know about reduces his seed data to a lower confidence interval. Now, anything on Phi's model on the universe has a roughly ten percent chance of not turning out the way it has. Toun warns Phi that she shouldn't withold information, both about her knowledge of the orbs and what she intended to use the model for herself.




Phi responds by being a dick and resolves to search the general area that she found anyway. She then invades Toun's personal space for the forth or fifth time and takes her leave.




[b][i]FINALLY...[/i][/b]

Toun says that there are enough orbs of darkness that Teknall was bound to find at least one predicted by the model, so the glitch is not a big setback for him. Teknall then takes his leave.




Toun still has to 'check on Jvan's health.' He proceeds further into the tunnel of the listening stalk and into Ovaedis' main body. [i]To be continued...[/i]




[b][i]BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE...[/i][/b]

Teknall runs into Diaphane Whisper at the mouth of the tunnel, waiting for him. Teknall relates that Jvan is still weak, but fine.




Whisper mentions that someone was watching, describing Heartworm without naming the vermiform avatar. Teknall mistakes the vague description for Logos and panics a bit.




Teknall is trailed off his thoughts on how much the watcher picked up on by Whisper asking about the morality of killing something that was doomed to murder other things.




Teknall, being practical, says that killing should be a last resort, to be avoided if at all possible. He also questions the presumption of guilt of the doomed creature. He draws a parallel of necessary killing by describing predator and prey.




Whisper eventually suggests that the target of the killer is Galbar, leaving the predators up to interpretation by gesturing to herself and Teknall.




Teknall admits that Galbar will resist, possibly dooming the predator, although the predator could still survive.




Whisper is sad. She bids Teknall farewell, convinced that she will probably not be able to talk to Teknall again.




[b][i]BUT BEFORE THAT HAPPENED...[/i][/b]

While Whisper was waiting at the mouth of the tunnel, Heartworm visits her with a bunch of Ophanim. Heartworm and Whisper introduce themselves to each other. Heartworm says he's spying on Toun and Teknall, trying to suss out what they were doing and why they were there.




Whisper reveals that she is being coached by Jvan to be a moral anchor for the sorority, as Jvan had seen something in Vowzra's visions that made her reconsider a bunch of stuff. One made her reconsider the creation of the sorority.




Heartworm speaks like Christopher Lee in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: "[s]Candy[/s] Morality is a waste of time."




Whisper is deeply uncomfortable and asks if Heartworm would apply this principle to sororicide, the most unthinkable thing imaginable to the Diaphanes. Predictably, it says yes. Revolted by the idea, Whisper stops talking. For whatever reason, Heartworm decides to explain itself a little, graciously(?) changing its tone into something (very slightly) less cold.




After going into a little more detail about the incomparable nature of its own head with Whisper's, Heartworm reveals, by way of example, that it was the party responsible for cleaning up the massive fallout of eldritch and conventional waste from Jvan's battle with Logos. This can be seen as a morally responsible action, even though Heartworm is an amoral entity. The (lack of) moral reasoning is ultimately irrelevant the fact that many mortals now owe Heartworm their lives.




This isn't particularly comforting to Whisper. From this perspective, it seems to her as if nothing would ever really matter. Heartworm, being Heartworm, doesn't really care either way.




The two part ways, Heartworm disappearing into the void and Whisper returning to wait for Teknall, now royally fucked up inside.







[i]No Might Spent[/i]







[hider=Image sources for Codex of Creation]

http://falsepositivecomic.com/2014/07/17/redeem-page-21-cosmic-eldritch-horror-story/

http://fuzzyberry.tumblr.com/post/96251248031/photonasty-sea-pens

https://www.bestthinking.com/articles/science/stellar-evolution-4-of-6-the-main-sequence

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/white-dwarf-stars-with-hiccups-2109201523

http://pics-about-space.com/massive-red-super-giant?p=1

http://www.watermarklearning.com/blog/da-vincis-requirements/

http://www.onlypencil.com/blog/tutorials/drawing-the-human-eye/

http://pics-about-space.com/supermassive-black-hole?p=1

http://www.universetoday.com/88311/astronomy-without-a-telescope-cubic-neutrons/

https://freerangestock.com/photos/48222/old-tainted-parchment--grunge-background.html

http://www.space.com/17715-planetary-nebula.html

http://www.enlightened-consciousness.com/the-magic-of-symbols-and-words/

http://kingofwallpapers.com/pentagram.html

http://www.supernovae.net/

https://blogdojuniorhard.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/arcane_rune_circle_by_thy6sins6of6lust.jpg

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[hider=Behind the Scenes Bonus DVD Content!]

[i]Crap that we had on the Pad During the Creation of this Post:[/i]




----[color=f49ac2]+[/color]---[color=f49ac2]+[/color]------NO ESCAPE
------[color=ed1c24]O[/color]--------THESE CLOWNS
----[color=6ecff6]\/\/\/\/[/color]------ARE PERSISTENT




------------------------------------------------------------------------[color=fff79a]+[/color]-----[color=6ecff6]_|[/color]---CAN'T SLEEP
----------------------+--------------------------------------------[color=fff79a]+[/color]---[color=ed1c24]o[/color]--[color=6ecff6]_|[/color]-----CLOWN'LL
-----------------------------------------------------------------------[color=6ecff6]_,--'[/color]-------EAT ME




[color=6ecff6]Suddenly Jvan burst into the tube, tankard of beer held high. "yea booooiiiz i'm ready to start the party yo hot diggedy"[/color] [color=ed1c24]"Jvan, you're drunk. Put the beer down. We're here to take you home."[/color] [color=fff79a]Toun succs down the goon sacc cos he needt to <relevant blurred meme image>[/color] [color=ed1c24]"Eh, stuff it." Teknall swipes Jvan's tankard and gulps down the beer. <party party> until Goliath enters and drags out the staggering trio by the scruff of their necks.[/color]




[color=fff79a]<Unless Teknall has a better idea, our astrogynaecological expedition may proceed through the cervix, I believe. Feel free to interject in the monologue above.>[/color]




[color=6ecff6]<The cervix, as the largest and most important entry, is unfortunately too well defended. The listening horns (fallopian tubes) might be a better bet this time>[/color] [color=ed1c24]<What is it defended with, dare I ask?>[/color] [color=6ecff6]<Sheer size, as it happens! The shell/walls of Ovaedis are kilometers thick, including the gate. The energy required to open the cervix/gate is phenomenal, even when unlocked.>[/color][color=ed1c24]<I'm not sure if the size was ever mentioned before. But I suppose it makes sense>[/color]




[color=6ecff6]<WHY DID I DESIGN A SPACE STATION BASE D ON A UTERUS IT JUST HIT ME LIKE>[/color]




[color=fff79a]<In that case, we've got two choices. 1. Strut in like godly badasses as we raise an invisible shield that deflects everything shot at us from the cervix, our polished white forms providing fittingly suggestive symbolism for our reconception of dear old lil' sis Jvan. [/color][color=6ecff6](woooow)[/color] [color=fff79a]2. Be sensible and go through the fallopian tubes, hoping that we don't accidentally become media for new demigods and instead are deposited outside within Jvan's next menstruation cycle (presumably indescribable in its horror).>[/color] [color=6ecff6]<WOOOOOW>[/color]




[color=fff79a]<By the way, would we have to cut our way into a listening horn or are there openings on them already? Toun is hesitant to so much as scratch Ovaedis because of the Gap stench on it.>[/color][color=6ecff6] <they're hollow and open at the ends, so you could go a considerable distance down the tube before the mechanisms start getting in the way. EVENTUALLY there are actual barriers past those but by then you'll have caught her attention>[/color][color=ed1c24]<If physical barriers become a problem, Teknall, the ever practical member of the party, would suggest simply teleporting past them. We are gods, are we not?>[/color][color=fff79a]<Toun might have said so had he a guarantee that teleporting in wouldn't result in them stumbling into a Gap rift.>[/color][color=ed1c24]<ah, there is that>[/color] [color=6ecff6]<possibly also Geometry shenanigans quarrantining the internal area>[/color]




[color=fff79a]( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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[colour=9e0b0f]"What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little demi? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Lovecraftian pantheon, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Chronos, and I have over 300,000,000 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare, by which I mean throwing genetically engineered gorillas at shit, and I’m the top deity in the entire Galbarian home universe. You are nothing to me but just another fleshy mortal. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Galbar, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Telepathy Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of eyes across Lex and your divine trail is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with propoganda alone. Not only am I extensively trained in biological combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of like ten thousand out-of-work artists and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the collective consciousness of current civilisation, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit meat all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo."[/colour]




[color=fff79a]<( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)>[/color]The company felt a pause emanating from Toun. When they looked, some obscured void behind his face sucked Toun's smooth features into painfully scrunched incredulity. His head fell forward on his neck and swayed to face Teknall, shouting out immortal words with palms swinging upwards. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"The [i]fuck[/i] is an 'angle grinder'!?"[/b][/color][color=fff79a]</( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)>[/color]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Well,"[/colour] said Phi. [colour=cornflowerblue]"I guess you could say that really grinds his gears."[/colour]




[color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"THE FUCK'S A GEAR!?"[/b][/color]




And lo, Toun lamented, for he had all the symbols in existence, but had not a dictionary to know them.




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[i]Redacted when I realised that Teknall could get his Arksynth from Lifprasil.[/i]




[colour=Peru]"I shall wait to see Jvan's transformation, then,"[/colour] Teknall said. Teknall paused for a moment before continuing, [colour=Peru]"On an unrelated note, I've noticed a new biological material, used by Tauga and in the Cosmic Knights. Some kind of tissue with high potential for differentiation guided by external stimuli. You wouldn't happen to have some to share, would you?"[/colour]




Audibly feigned exasperation sighed from the spirit. [colour=cornflowerblue]"I don't have pockets, Teknall! What would I carry the stuff in, my hands? I don't have those either."[/colour] Phi made another inexplicable flight around Toun as she laughed, folding into a speck and expanding again as she finished the orbit. [colour=cornflowerblue]"And here I thought I had intelligent company. Yes, there are locations where you could very reliably get a sample. That worm designed it with easy replication in mind, and fortune tends to favour its spread, anyway."[/colour]




[colour=cornflowerblue]"Your easiest access lies with the refugee fleet sailing from Xerxes. You offered to assist their passage, did you not? One of Jvan's plants sighted you while you were helping the girl. She's currently the main disseminator, and gave rudimentary training to some technicians that are now en route to the settlements between Amestris and Yorum. They have samples. The product itself has been dubbed 'arksynth', after its primary genetic contributors. I mean, other than the minced god."[/colour] As she spoke, Phi slowly swivelled upside down (or perhaps downside-up), then kept on bending around until she spiralled. This question had been too easy. [colour=cornflowerblue]"Take what you can. Creating the 'synth was a 'throw mud at a wall'-type experiment. There are no rules, and if you find one, break it. Next!"[/colour]




Toun's head turned a degree to Teknall. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Brother, your chances of recovering that ichor appear to now depend, in part, on how swiftly that machine of yours can clear the acalya to the north of my moat."[/b][/colour] Toun lifted a finger and tapped it against the elbow to the left of his crossed arms in the silent vacuum. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Unless you wish to find out how it reacts with acalya when the refugees float right by."[/b][/colour]




[colour=Peru]"Goliath is making reasonable progress burning back the Acalya in that region. Provided they don't get [i]too[/i] close to shore they should be fine. Although I might want to work on an additional countermeasure, just to be safe..."[/colour] Teknall gazed off into the distance, a twinkle in his eye as designs began forming in his head.




[colour=Peru]"Speaking of countermeasures, there is another reason I had drafted up an 'approximation' of the Blueprint,"[/colour] Teknall said. He leaned towards Phi and asked, [colour=Peru]"How good are you at mathematical modelling, Phi?"[/colour]

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