Session 61

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 8

lazarus: catch me up on what I missed?
BethE: Well, we took the helicopter to Mexico...and we investigated.
Sara: Snow may have chased down small children.
BethE: And turned into a polar bear.
Sara: There was that.
lazarus: snow is the best character ever. I commend you on your creation

• Sara blushes.
  

Sara: Oh! She can't create ice, as we'd planned. RN had another horrible, horrible, WONDERFUL idea for Snow's other gift
BethE: And we talked to some mortals. But the whole polar bear thing brought out the local priest. And men with shotguns.
BethE: What is this idea and why can I feel RN smiling from across the room?

• Sara tries Adorable on Beth?
  

Random_Nerd: It was more Sara's idea. I just put mechanics on it.
lazarus: aww... adorable girl :) *melts*
BethE: That doesn't work on me, missy! I spent points to be invunerable. Cute on the other hand, no stopping Cute.
Sara: Heh.
lazarus: (don't worry, this is just me being apparently quite loopy today. Not sure why)
BethE: (Yeah and see, Snow has Cute as a power. Where is the justice in the universe? <g>)
Random_Nerd: (Not Cute. Adorable. There's a difference.)

• Sara grins adorably.
  

Sara: S'a lot like cute though.
Random_Nerd: (Basically, her Gift means that when the does the Sad Innocent Eyes on someone, it /actually works/.)
BethE: (Oh yes, sorry. I typoed.)
lazarus: ...
lazarus: Snow can do Sad Puppy Eyes?!
lazarus: squee ^_^
Sara: Yup!
BethE: Litter-ally, yes...

• • • Mode change "+ooo Sara BethE Random_Nerd" for channel #nobilis by lazarus.
      

BethE: (Man, that was bad even for me...)
Sara: People're like, "ZOMG SO KEEYOOOTE!" Like. Yeah.
lazarus: Beth, you get a *bop* for that ...
lazarus: ...
lazarus: I can't call it a pun.
lazarus: that would be insulting puns.
BethE: *grin* Dan Davenport would be proud.

• Sara laughs.
  

BethE: Can Snow's Adorable affect groups? I forget. And what's the new Gift?
Sara: I'll keep the new gift secret, because it's hilarious. But as for groups, I don't know. Let me check.
Sara: Local Things Only. Doesn't say it can't affect more guys.
lazarus: Local would be in your area
Random_Nerd: Local Things Only can affect multiple people.
BethE: So it would be more than one person.
Sara: Yup.
BethE: So see, Theresa can be Irrestistable to one person, while Snow can just Adorable a whole town, if they could see her.
Sara: Not sure how "local" that would be, but possibly, yes.
BethE: Could be a small town. At least a village.
Sara: I'm not sure what kind of gift it is, though. God forbid it got warped by the cult.
BethE: *snort*
lazarus: I interpret "local" as the absence of infinity. That is, it's not affecting a countable area of creation.
lazarus: but I'm not RN. :-P
Sara: Should we just start, since Laz'll have to leave early?
Random_Nerd: I think I'll interpret it as "whatever Laz doesn't want it to mean in this particular situation."
Sara: Heh.
Random_Nerd: Hmm. You guys didn't even tell him about the chupacabra?
Sara: Oh yeah. Some chupacabra's taking away, then warping and releasing, people's capriciousness.
BethE: Oh, yes. Chupacabra. And a Warmain, but yes, a chupacabra that I don't think we've seen yet.
Sara: Once they're released, they look like bird-like things.
BethE: And while the angry mob was confronting us, a Warmain reached through a wall and ripped the ribcage off of the local priest. Well, mostly off.
Sara: I think they'd just killed the Warmain, and Theresa had taken a Deadly Wound?
Sara: They weren't angry any more!
Sara: Snow pinged Adorable.
BethE: True, they had calmed down. Then the chest ripping.
Sara: Yes.
Sara: I think that was it...?
BethE: And yeah, we all chased the Warmain, there was fighting and Theresa got the Warmain's arm through her chest. Deadly Wound. But the Warmain was killed. Odds are, though, he had friends.
Random_Nerd: Yeah.
BethE: I'm ready. Although I'm not quite sure how Theresa is... How painful _is_ a Deadly Wound? This is her second one...

• • • Knockwood has joined #nobilis.
      

Sara: Yay!
BethE: Hi Knock! *HUG*
Sara: Hey Knock!
Random_Nerd: A deadly wound is... hmm. Comparison.
Knockwood: sorry I'm late, got held up at work...
lazarus: and have I been tagging along for this, or am I elsewhere?
Sara: Can Brian "arrive"?
Random_Nerd: You're presumably there, you'll just disengage from the Horses.
BethE: Laz - we weren't really sure...we knew you came along in the helicopter, but it was hard to figure out what you would have done through the rest of it, unless you were guarding the heli or trying a different part of town...
Knockwood: oh, we're all together. Me, Beth, Sara, you, Carrie, Lesson, a crate of tacnukes...
Random_Nerd: And a deadly wound, in terms of pain, is equivilent to how being shot with machine guns would feel for a regular person.
Sara: ...oh.
Random_Nerd: Or set on fire for a while.

• Sara fidgets. Wanna do something about it!
  
  • • Mode change "+o Knockwood" for channel #nobilis by Sara.
      

Random_Nerd: I mean, Theresa can still function. She's a Noble, and a high-Aspect one.
Random_Nerd: But it hurts.

• • • lazarus is now known as Brian.
      

Random_Nerd: Hmm. It hurts about half as much as the Unmastered Pain gift did.

• • • Knockwood is now known as DanteE.
      
    • Sara is now known as Snow.
      

Brian: (just to warn y'all, I've just taken my sleep pill, and will get progressively loopier until I have to head off to bed)
Random_Nerd: (Well, it's Nobilis.)
Brian: (I'll try to keep it under control :-P)
Random_Nerd: Everyone ready?

• • • You are now known as Theresa.
      

Theresa: Yep!
DanteE: probably not, but go. :)
Random_Nerd: _________________START_________________
Theresa: "Urg...ruined my shirt, the reality-destroying bastard." *wince*
Random_Nerd: The people in the vicinity poke their heads through the doorway, and look at the sliced-up corpse.
Theresa: "Oh, crud...witnesses. Snow, can you tell them that everything's okay? With your specialness?"

• Snow looks up at Theresa, worried. "Okaaay..."
  

Random_Nerd: They conver inside.

• Snow goes to the largest group of people.
  
• Snow makes a point of being in coyote form, since she believes it to be her cutest form.
  

Snow: "That was a bad thing. We killed it. You guys wanted us to kill the bad thing, right?" *adorable!*
DanteE: what was that last hard thing I hit?
Random_Nerd: They back up a bit.
Theresa: (*facepalm*)
Theresa: "Snow...people are scared of talking coyotes..."
Snow: (Would they care, with Adorable?)
DanteE: "Remind me to start with the not-driving-people-nuts lessons once we get back..."
Random_Nerd: (Well, it's enough that they aren't shooting you...)
Random_Nerd: (But a cute talking coyote is still a talking coyote.)

• Brian turns the corner "um... I missed something, didn't I?"
  
• Snow blinks, unsure as to why nobody is fawning over her.
  

Snow: "What aren't they scared of, Theresa?" she calls.
Theresa: *thinks* "Kittens."
DanteE: "A human!"
Random_Nerd: (And also... they're a southern North American farming community. Coyotes... probably aren't their favorite animal.)

• Snow flicks into the form of a kitten...then into human.
  

Theresa: *to Dante* "I think that is a lesson that Snow will find hard to understand, hard to follow and possibly an insult to her Estate."

• Snow repeats what she said earlier, flashing Adorable.
  

Random_Nerd: The people back up a bit more.

• Snow gives them a trying-too-hard smile.
  
• DanteE looks for the hard thing th his last sword blow...
  

Theresa: "Sorry, brain not working very well. Blood going south...ish." *pressure* *uses other hand to wave at Brian*
DanteE: *he hit with

• Snow shrugs and goes back to the others.
  

Random_Nerd: (Ah, in the thing's chest?)
DanteE: (yep)
Snow: (Presumably Snow still hurts like before, despite the Warmain?)
Random_Nerd: It's vaguely blobby, like a cross between a heart and a jellyfish, and has a stiffness midway between bone and cartiledge.
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Was Snow hurt?)
Random_Nerd: (Oh, the domain thing.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, that's unchanged.)
Snow: (Yeah--thanks!)

• DanteE hands it to Theresa. "Can you find out what this is while I go and fix that (the group Snow's with)?"
  
• Snow looks sad.
  

Snow: "I still hurt."
Snow: "Like Theresa, but only inside."
Brian: "aw, poor snow" *hugs Snow*
Theresa: *takes the hardthing* "Dammit, Dante, I'm a Noble, not a Doctor!"
Theresa: *to Snow* "It'll get better, Snow. We just have to figure out how they're hurting your estate. Brian knows. He had to deal with something like this."
DanteE: "I ... know .... Bones. Butwe ....... stillneedtofigureitout."
Random_Nerd: The farmers, priest, etcetera look at Snow with a "I'm... going to ignore you so I don't have to think too much about this" expression, and step out.

• Snow is hugged by Brian, and takes the opportunity to hug him back.
  
• DanteE heads over to the group...
  
• Theresa examines the thingy. Aspect braininess and such? Domain divs would not be helpful.
  

DanteE: "It's all right...." (Ghost-LC-Courage on the lot)

• Snow goes back into the house where the captured Caprice is/was. Is it still there?
  

Random_Nerd: It appears to be an internal organ of some sort. Probably something that synthesizes something.
Random_Nerd: The farmer with the shotgun shoots the corpse in the face with both barrels.
DanteE: "You're cleaning that up."

• DanteE checks out the priest...
  
• Snow leaps straight up into the air at the shotgun blasts and sprints into the house, terrified.
  

Snow: RH: "Ididn'tdoit!"

• Brian will follow Snow
  

Random_Nerd: (In what respect, Dante?)
Brian: "Ssh, Snow. They're just scared. Humans have a funny way about them sometimes"
Random_Nerd: (Let's see, did Dante heal him yet?)

• Snow breathes quickly.
  

DanteE: (as in, see how he's dealing with haviung his rib cage extracted by an it-from-hell)

• Theresa squeezes the thingy. *looks into the mythic view for the thingy's spirit*
  

Random_Nerd: He looks very faint, but not quite unconscious.
Random_Nerd: The thingy's spirit is bulbous, squat, and appears to be in a coma.
DanteE: "Father. I know this is outside of your experience, but for now you'll have to trust us...

• Theresa pokes at the spirit. "Talk to me. What are you?"
  
• DanteE heals the priest when no one's looking.
  
• Snow approaches the mangled Caprice that is still in the house.
  

DanteE: "We're here to deal with what's happening here.
Snow: "Brian? This thing's me, right? Only changed?"
DanteE: "Let's just say we're ... uniquely qualified to do so."
DanteE: "Feeling better?"
Brian: (mangled Caprice?)
Random_Nerd: The farmer without a shotgun kicks the dead Shard in the chest.
Random_Nerd: (A whim, given material form. She caught it earlier.)
Brian: (whazzit look like?)
Snow: (A bird-bug, IIRC?)
Theresa: *to the farmer* "I would be careful about doing that. You never know what might bring such a monster...back."
Theresa: *to farmer* "This town, other towns, they might be infested with other things like this..."
Random_Nerd: (Correct. A shiny reddish bugbird.)

• Snow swats it with her paw.
  

Brian: "Um. Maybe. I don't know what this is, but if it feels Capricious to you, then it's probably under your command"
Random_Nerd: Farmer #1: "That's why we aim to kick it a lot, chop it to bits, set it on fire, and bury it under consecrated ground."

• Snow looks pensive.
  

Brian: "Does it feel wrong?"
Random_Nerd: The priest still looks faint, and as if he's not quite sure what to think.
Random_Nerd: He has a glazed look in his eyes.
DanteE: (/me gives him a doughnut. :)
Snow: "Yeah. Super wrong, like the other people who lost the parts of them that is me. But...
DanteE: "Rest now. We'll deal with this."
Brian: "Can you make it right?"

• Theresa actually smiles. "You might have trouble cutting it to bits, but setting it on fire sounds good to me. I would be careful about the consecrated ground. This thing could move through it like a ghost. Have there been any other strangers in the area besides us?"
  

Snow: "One time, all the crows in the village died, super fast. One crow came in, and he talked to the other crows, and they all got sick. Chief said it was a disease.
Theresa: (No answer from the coma-bodypart?)
Random_Nerd: (Well, it's in a coma. What do you expect?)
Random_Nerd: (The Saint Crispin's Day Speech?)
Snow: "Can I make this thing better, and make it talk to the other changed-me's, and it'll make them better? An opposite disease?"
DanteE: (In Nobilis, that's a distinct possibility.)

• Snow flicks into human form, and appears to be struggling with putting her idea into words.
  

Theresa: (Hmm...actually, that would be rather impressive. Although not that suprising, given it was in a Warmain.)
DanteE: (Who all's still in the house?)
Snow: (I am, as is Brian...?)
DanteE: (I mean NPCs)
Random_Nerd: (There's the guy who lives there, his daughter, and his wife.)

• Theresa prays to Dante. "Oh illustrious brother, who causes papercuts in others who offend him...offhand, I think this is some kinda heart or food synthesizer thingy. The locals want to burn the corpse. Sorry, kick a lot, cut into pieces, burn and bury in holy ground the corpse. Sound good?"
  

Random_Nerd: (And the priest is sort of in the doorway.)
Theresa: (Prays silently, btw.)
Random_Nerd: (Propping himself up, at the moment._
Snow: (As a Snow-translation, she wants to Change the whim back to normal and let it loose. But the whim would then fix the other whims, by sheer proximity.)
DanteE: to Theresa: "I'd go straight to the burning, and put the ashes in an urn, which we'll take."
Snow: (Is that even possible?)
Brian: (With a Change, anything is possible!)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Changing the whim to give it the ability to change other whims.)
Snow: (Yes.)
DanteE: (Oh... checking out the area with the Sight. Is it still dark?)
Snow: (She'll add some other stuff to it, but that's the crux.)
Random_Nerd: (She could do it, but it might not do a perfect job of locating all the other whims.)
Random_Nerd: (It is still dark.)
DanteE: (We'll help! :)
Snow: RH: "Can you guys bring all the other changed-me things here?"
Theresa: *to farmer* "Actually, I feel just like torching the *Spanish for s.o.b.* and watching him burn. Sound good to you?"
Snow: RH: "I have...an idea."
Theresa: (*makes sign against Nel..oh, wait, wrong game.*)
Snow: (*grin*)
DanteE: (Theresa: pendejo. :)
Random_Nerd: (The Message Board relays her message to those without RH.)
Theresa: *pryas to Snow* "Oh Capriciousness - sure, just as soon as myself and the locals burn our enemy into tiny little bits of whatever passes for carbon in an Excrucian Shard."
Snow: RH: "Okay! I'm gonna do stuff now!"

• Snow flicks back into coyote form and begins to snuffle at the wounded whim.
  

DanteE: (Actually, would Shards start as Human?)
Random_Nerd: (Nope.)
DanteE: "Ah, Snow? Lesson one is, be careful about changing forms in front of mundanes?"
Random_Nerd: (Shards aren't like Nobles in that respect. They don't start out as something else and then become Shards.)

• Snow barks, but it's no bark like the locals would have heard before. It makes them feel funny, and reminds them of wild paths they've followed in their younger days.
  

Random_Nerd: One of the farmers goes off in search of Tools Of Setting Stuff On Fire.
DanteE: RH: "Stay alert, guys, the area's still dark to The Sight"

• Snow pushes Caprice into the whim, making it more than it was before. What was once a whim is now a full-blown whimsy. When--or if--it goes back to the daughter, she will be quite the handful as a human being.
  
• Theresa smiles at the remaining farmers. Would any of you or your wives have a shirt that could fit me?"
  

Theresa: *prayer* "This guy probably had friends. They probably know that their buddy died" *squishes thingy in her hands a bit* "and are probably on their way toward us. Or fleeing, but when have we been so lucky?"

• Snow also Changes the whim so that it will infect the other changed whims, making them normal again, as well as desperate to go back to their "owners" so that they can pursue their delights.
  

Random_Nerd: The guy who lives here looks at Theresa, carefully ignoring the gaping chest wound, and then says "I... suppose. Be right back."
Random_Nerd: (But in spanish, of course.)

• DanteE helps the priest to a couch, if he's not there already...
  

Theresa: "Gracias, senor"
Theresa: (Yeah, yeah, I'll 'ignore _your_ gaping 'chest wound'...)

• DanteE does a Div-Courage of the area, to see if anyone suddenly got real scared...
  

Random_Nerd: (Just now?)
DanteE: (ayep.
Random_Nerd: (Nobody had a sudden big scare other than the stuff with the shard and the stuff with Snow. But people are very nervous and paranoid at the moment.)
DanteE: (Trying an early-warning system for incoming Exs)

• Snow looks perplexed still.
  

Snow: "Brian? The other little me's aren't so smart. I can change them back, and I can make them go back to their people, but they might not be smart enough to find their way back in the first place."
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. You can tell from the divination that most of the people, instead of doing their usual work, have stayed in their homes and kept their children in with them as well, and that a fair number have armed themselves.)
Brian: "Hm."
Snow: "Maybe...can you make two of these things? Once I finish Changing it?"
Brian: "That might work"

• Snow looks thoughtful.
  

DanteE: "Or we can just corral these things and bring them here.
Random_Nerd: The farmer returns with some matches and kerosene.
Brian: (sorry guys, I'm almost out.)
Snow: "That's a good idea, Dante!"
Random_Nerd: He pours the latter on the dead Shard.
DanteE: "Careful..."
Brian: (Brian will help Snow, and basically continue to be protective of her.)
Brian: (g'night)
Snow: (G'night!)
DanteE: (oyasumi)
Theresa: (Night! *HUG*)

• • • Brian has signed off IRC (Disintegrated: Leaving.).
      
• Snow barks again, sealing her Change.
  
• Theresa makes sure that she has stepped back enough from the corpse. No need to add 'on fire' to her list of problems.
  

Random_Nerd: The reddish whimsy flies off.
Random_Nerd: The guy tosses a lit match at the corpse, and then backs off.
Snow: RH: "We should still find the changed me's, to make sure they get back to where they should be. But my one'll fix them, anyway."

• Snow flings herself on Dante, in human form again. She smiles up at him, as if he's the best thing in the world to her.
  

DanteE: "Snow, you're the one who can tell us where they are."
Snow: "I won't change any more, Dante."
DanteE: "Don't be so sure..."

• Theresa watches the *fwhoomp*.
  

Snow: "Well...if they can't find their people, they'll come back to me in a day. So...maybe we should wait, and find out what changed them funny in the first place?"

• Snow looks sheepish. "I thought it was a good idea. A human people idea. They're hard."
  

DanteE: "Let's do this... Brian, you and Theresa go that way, while Snow and I will go that way, and we'll herd the Caprices back here.":

• Theresa looks for any change in the heart-thingy?
  
• Snow tugs on Dante's sleeve.
  

DanteE: "Snow, keep everybody apprised via the Realm's Heart."
Snow: "They'll come to me, if they can't find their people. In a day. We don't have to find them."
Snow: "I mean, we might, but we should maybe find the big bad thing first?"

• Snow looks a little upset, as if she's worried she may have done things wrong.
  

Random_Nerd: (It's not changing any.)
DanteE: "I'm guessing the big bad and the caprices will be near each other"

• Theresa watches the sucker burn, as she's not near the others to hear the plans.
  

DanteE: "Not to mention, you can tell us if a new one appears."
Snow: (Snow did a Greater Div regarding her caprices earlier. How far abroad were they?)
Snow: (Were they spread, rather?)
Random_Nerd: (They're all over.)
Random_Nerd: (Spread around in about a ten-mile radius.)
Snow: "They're all over, though."

• Snow suddenly releases Dante, and begins to pace.
  

DanteE: "Can you tell of anywhere where the capriciousness is particularly suppressed?"
Snow: "I don't like this. It hurts, and it won't go away, and I tried to fix it, but it won't stay fixed, and I don't know what to do!"
Snow: (I assume not, RN?)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm.)
DanteE: "um... where is it really bad?"
Random_Nerd: (Let me think.)
DanteE: (Suddenly dawned on me that coyotes aren't big on vocabulary. :)
Random_Nerd: (It varies in degree of density of changed caprices.)
Random_Nerd: (There's no single hotspot, but there're areas where it's close to normal, and areas where they're all over.)
Snow: (Yeah, s'hard to explain things sometimes. I know what I'm talking about, but...)
Snow: (Does this give them a direction to head, RN?)
Random_Nerd: (Well, you could pick the nearest area of heavy density.)
Snow: (How many of these areas are there/)
Theresa: *burn baby burn*
Random_Nerd: (It's tough to tell, because they aren't discete distinctions, but about three to five. The area you're standing in now probably qualifies.)
Snow: (Wait...does Snow have any command over them?)
Random_Nerd: (Not really, except through what she can do with miracles.)
Snow: (Can she miracle them to want to come to her?)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm...)
Snow: (Creation of Caprice?)
DanteE: (She can probably miracle them here... house rule. :)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm, yeah, you could probably move them here...)
Random_Nerd: (One moment, please.)
Snow: (DMP expenditure?)
Random_Nerd: (Guys, could we call the game finished, soon? I'm just feeling quite under the weather.)
Snow: (Always!)
DanteE: (Cold?)
Theresa: (Sure, love.)
Snow: (We can end it here, even, as they work on a plan for what to do next.)
DanteE: (Well, we could just say Snow miracles the caprices here...
Theresa: (That's a good idea. Sorry that I haven't been very productive tonight.)
Random_Nerd: (Sorry. Either I'm coming down with a flu, or it's a bad cold that makes me feel sick to my stomach.)
Random_Nerd: (Either way, bleh.)
DanteE: (...except that RN triggered our Area Effect Danger Sense with that 'One moment'.  :)
Snow: (Don't be silly. Get offline, go feel better.)
Snow: (Though he's right, I was worried. ;))
Theresa: (*laugh* He didn't mean to trigger it.)

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 8