Chapter Four-Hundred Eighty-Eight (Patreon)

I was half expecting the ravenkin to immediately grab Aranya and do the ceremony, but it seems that, in the rush to defend the keys, they didn’t actually plan what to actually do for it.  Sure, speeches and whatnot, but what should they say?  Where should they say it?  So now they’re running about like chickenkin with their heads chopped off, preparing for the ceremony to officially become dwellers.

Which is good for Aranya, because she gets a bit of time to decompress and to help Larx with the administration of the cathedral and everything.  He’s been doing a great job, and I think Aranya is going to be happy to leave him in charge again if the need arises, but there are a few things she needs to attend to, like meeting with the delegations from the others.

It’s a pretty informal affair with the representatives of the other deities.  They’re already working with my people and with everyone else, it’s just good to make sure they get to meet my Head Priestess and double check that everything’s going well, which it is.  I only pay half attention to the meeting, though, because there’s other things to keep my attention that might actually need it right now.

First is Doppler’s trick to undo a knot of stagnation.  My other scions have him repeat it enough times that he can probably do it in his sleep, if he ever slept.  I would say he could do it with his eyes closed, but I don’t think he technically has those, either.  The point is, despite there not being a knot nearby for him to actually take apart, the concept works well on ordinary knots in rope and such, so he’s getting good practice.

It’s also looking like he might be the only one that can really do it.  Well, him and Slash. Rocky has the affinity and the control to theoretically do it, but my zombie can’t carry a tune in a bucket, and a major part of the whole trick is in fine tuning on the fly.  That doesn’t stop him from relentlessly hounding Doppler to train and help him practice, but I think Rocky is taking the concept in a different direction, and is more trying to make sure Doppler can handle himself in a more proper fight.

Thanks to his trick, he’s probably going to be very important for dealing with the Betrayer.  I don’t think he’s going to be topping any lists for strongest fighting scion any time soon, but luckily for him, Sue is intending to shore up exactly that sort of weakness.  My big T-Rex girl has been diligently training with Fluffles while Rocky was gone, and now he’s back, she’s showing off for him.

I think the wildest part of her style is how often she uses gravity to do things I’d more expect out of Pul than out of a huge dinosaur.  Seeing her run up and along the walls and ceilings really shows how good she’s gotten with gravity, and I think she’s taken a bit of a page out of Rocky’s book in how she manages her mana.

My zombie likes to spend a lot of his mana up front and then keep recycling it through his affinities.  While gravity isn’t great for trying to recycle into other things, it is very happy to stick around once a gravity well is formed.  So she tends to create a couple wells at the start, and then use the rest of her mana to move them around.  Even more interesting, she can flip the direction of them without spending too much, turning the pulls into pushes and making it all the harder for a foe to adjust their aim accordingly.

Rocky still eventually leaves her battered and bruised after a good spar, but even he has to take the time to whittle her down.  His larger attacks are easier for her to disrupt and redirect, so the only real way to beat her is with a thousand cuts, which is exactly what a tank should strive for.

The spar gives me an idea for the sub, too, and I ask Teemo to brave the whirlwind that is Thing and Queen to deliver it.

Them and the antkin are still working out the design details from the concept document, and I have one more to give them that should solve one of the major problems: pressure.  Teemo pretends to be offended that his suggestion of using spatial affinity to fix it may be left by the wayside, but he knows it’s a major problem we need to fix if we’re going to get anyone to the Betrayer.

Thing and Queen are each in separate workshops at the moment, each organizing their workspace in the large sub docks that are still under construction.  I direct Teemo to Thing first, since I think this idea will be an enchanting solution, not an alchemical one.

Thing doesn’t even notice Teemo at first, and my Voice chuckles to himself as my hand scion skitters all around, levitating things left, right, and center.  After a few seconds, Teemo clears his throat and speaks up.

“Heya Thing.  Boss has an idea to fix the whole ‘crushing pressure’ thing.”

Thing freezes for a moment, as does everything levitating around.  He snaps his fingers, sending everything into whatever space is available, and brings his own notebook to bear, eagerly awaiting my suggestion.

Teemo eyes him for a moment before he continues.  “So, Boss says that pressure is basically the weight of everything above pressing down on something, right?  Well, weight is dependent on gravity.  If we can enchant the sub to be a little bubble that forces gravity to flow around it, instead of down onto it directly, it should be a lot easier to handle.”

Thing slaps his palm against the floor, which I’m pretty sure is his version of a facepalm, before he scribbles furiously in the book.  Looking over his knuckles, it looks like he’s working on runes to do just that.  I gently pat the bond, not wanting to knock him out of his focus, but still wanting to make sure he understands I appreciate his work.

And he’s not the only one who’s work I appreciate.  Doppler gets a pat as well, but I also want to have a chat with Pul and his little mind shadow trick.  I call it little, but it also gives me ideas, and Pul is the only one who could act on them.  Well, maybe Onyx, but I don’t want to spell things out, lest I accidentally get another domain on accident.

Chatting with Pul is easy, at least.  I wait for dark, wanting to give him plenty of time to catch up with his folks and hopefully for them to head off to bed, then Teemo slips into his room.  By now, I think Pul is used to this, and he doesn’t even flinch when Teemo lands on his pillow and whispers “Hey Pul.  Feeling up to another bit of night schooling?”

He opens his eyes and looks at Teemo without turning his head, looking rather tempted to just get some sleep, but he instead sighs and sits up.  “Alright.  I learned a lot on the quest, and I do want to talk about it.”

Teemo gives him a thumbs up.  “Want a shortcut, or can you slip through shadows on your own now?”

“I’m… still not very good at it yet.  Shortcut, please.  Let me get dressed first.”  Teemo nods and gives him some privacy, waiting outside his door.  He exits a few minutes later in full kit, prepared for whatever I’m going to throw at him.  Or at least thinking he’s ready for it.

Teemo leads him through a shortcut and to the Lecture Hall, where Honey is actually situated at a desk, ready to take some notes.  It figures she could smell information better than pollen, and unlike the rest of the nerd squad, she’s not currently occupied with a project.  I don’t think that’ll change tonight, but you never know.

Teemo motions for Pul to have a seat, then settles himself on the lecture podium, using some gravity to levitate a bit of chalk.  “So, Boss has been watching you and your shadow practice, and he really likes your shadow clone things.  Refining them will give you a powerful and versatile tool, but that’s not actually why he wants to talk with you right now.”

Pul sits up a little straighter, and Honey gives an eager buzz as Teemo continues.  “He’s still not very confident in knowing anything about shadow affinity, but if you can make a shadow of a mind, it reminds him of something else he’s not confident in his personal knowledge of.  But there’s a concept that fits too well for him to ignore, and could be something to make your shadow affinity incredibly potent.”

Teemo lets that sink in for a moment, and Pul looks riveted to what we have to say, so my Voice soon continues.  “Your clone draws attention, but too much makes it unravel.  The natural assumption would be that people are spotting the little flaws and learn to ignore it.  But some things actually do change when looked at.  The trick, then, would be to make sure it changes in a way that favors you.”

Pul looks confused, but Honey is scribbling like mad, the little bee already knowing the concept enough to understand where I’m going, but I’m deliberately being vague for Pul.  “Because Boss thought shadow was just an absence of light, but after seeing you make a shadow of a mind, it might be more about the traces left behind by things, the little disturbances that reveal something's existence.”

He chuckles at Pul’s continued confusion.  “Just try to keep using shadows more metaphorically, instead of only literal shadows, and keep in mind that things can be literally more than they first appear.”

Pul still looks confused, but I think he at least has something to think about, instead of simply being completely lost.  I’d like to try to explain more to him, but I really don’t know much about the subject.

Quantum stuff is weird, and I at first thought it might be part of Fate affinity.  But after seeing Pul’s shadow clones, and how none of my scions have even brushed against quantum weirdness even with them all having Fate, I wonder if it belongs in shadow instead.  It makes a certain amount of sense for shadow affinity to govern something that does its best nonsense when nobody’s looking.