"Okay, let's try this again." Greg muttered to himself as he closed his eyes and entered his Runescape, focusing on his completely undeserved Terrorize Rune. He knew he could be scary, arguably even horrifying at times, but he didn't terrorize people! In fact, he'd say he'd been pretty damn polite all things considered! He calmly laid out who he was and what he could do, and let them decide whether it was a good idea to fuck with him or not. How was that terrorizing anyone?!?

Greg paused as he realized he'd slipped out of his Runescape and cursed. Every time! Taking a deep breath, he returned to his Runescape and concentrated on his Terrorize Rune. *Okay, focus!* Greg chastised himself, concentrating on the Rune. *You can do this! Terrorize, terrorize, terrorize, terror eyes, tear or eyes, teary eyes, turn around~, now that's terrorizing someone. Freaking ear worms. Thankfully not a real ear worm. Hate things in my ears. Or over my ears. If only there was a way to listen to music without all that… well, besides blasting it out so everyone can hear. Just rude. Heh, terrorizing-* Greg blinked as he realized he had yet again slipped out of his Runescape.

"Fuck!" Greg groaned, covering his face with his hands. He wasn't built for this! He couldn't just sit there and wait on these fucking Runes! It was just so… boring! At least with spells he was actually doing something. It was almost like trying to figure out a puzzle. But this- ugh, all he did was sit there! He couldn't take it! "Fuck it." Greg growled, getting up and heading to the courtyard. He was done with this shit. He'd been struggling with this damn Rune all day, and he'd gotten maybe an hour worth of actual meditation in. He needed to do something else. Maybe he could see what he could do with that idea his other self had had… see if he could get his smoke to ignore gravity or something.

"Okay, let's see." Greg muttered as he entered the courtyard, creating a small ball out of smoke. "First…" He dropped the ball, simply focusing on getting it to ignore gravity. The ball… ignored him and fell anyway. Greg clicked his tongue as he stared down at the ball. "Well, that probably would have been too simple anyway." He sighed, turning the ball back to smoke, bringing it to his hand, and reforming it. He paused for a moment as something occurred to him. How did his smoke move?

Greg turned the ball back to smoke again, studying it as it floated there, moving it this way and that. Greg frowned. The smoke was moving, obviously, but he had absolutely no idea why it was moving. It just kinda did. Because he wanted it to. Maybe. "Okay, that was a bust." Greg sighed, shaking his head. "Let's try this then." He took the smoke and began adding qualities to it one by one. First, he added the image of a ball, and it kept floating in front of him. He continued to add quality after quality, and the ball continued to float, but it also remained… insubstantial. It certainly felt like a ball, but his hand simply passed right through it. Greg grimaced at the ball, before sighing as he added the final quality. Mass. Immediately the ball dropped.

"So, without mass, I can do what I want with it, but it's insubstantial. With mass, it has substance, but it also has to obey the rules of mass." Greg muttered, frowning down at the ball. "It makes sense, but where does my influence go? Why is it that I can move it, but then I suddenly can't? Unless… the aspect allowing that control is what became the mass?" Greg frowned. His smoke was a field, right? Then… was mass a field? And since he'd turned his field into mass, then it was no longer capable of exerting the force that came from its innate field? So… if he did half mass, half smoke, would he have both?

Greg cocked his head at the ball, shifting half the mass back to smoke, trying to drag the ball back up and… the insubstantial part rose, while the substantial part remained firmly on the ground. "Damn." Greg tsked. The smoke simply ignored the mass. Unless he could somehow connect the two… Greg paused. Could he connect his smoke to mass? They could obviously occupy the same space… Greg sent the insubstantial ball back down to the other and concentrated on connecting the two, merging them together, and- Greg felt his smoke slide into the mass, merging with it on a fundamental level, granting him a complete awareness of its structure. Not that he hadn't already known its structure, since he'd made the thing. "Huh." Greg cocked his head. "Is that all I had to do?" He'd been trying to figure out how to analyze things without dissolving them for ages now, and all he had to do was connect his smoke to them?!? Not that he knew he could connect his smoke to things, but still.

Greg sighed, shaking his head. "This shit needs to come with a handbook. All this time and I'm still stumbling onto basic functions of my own damn ability." Greg chuckled. Not that he needed more. "Ah, I'm getting distracted again." He muttered, refocusing on the ball. "Now, up." Greg pulled at the ball and… it didn't move. "Damn it!" Greg cursed, kicking the ball, why won't you just-" Greg cut off as the ball bounced off the wall of the courtyard and just kept going up. "Oh…" He blinked. "How-" Greg began, before smacking himself in the head. "I canceled out its gravity!" He paused. "So the force of my smoke is equal to gravity, huh? Interesting…" Greg turned the entire ball back to smoke and brought it back, reforming the ball before adding more smoke to it, equal to the amount of smoke he used to make the ball, and making it float. He moved it to the side, and it dropped as it moved. He quickly had the smoke go back up, but it couldn't cancel out the momentum, the ball continuing to fall before bouncing and drifting upwards until Greg grabbed it.

"So, the smoke just acts as an extra force acting on the mass… and force is mass times acceleration, so- hold on." Greg frowned. "Mass times acceleration… smoke has acceleration, but no mass… or mass but no acceleration… but then both together have force?" Greg's frown deepened as he felt like he was close, but still missing something. Shaking his head, Greg added some more smoke to the ball, and sent it flying upwards with a grin, a snicker escaping before turning into a full on laughing fit as smoke began to merge with him, enough to counterbalance his own mass, and then just a tad more, before he shot into the sky after the ball. This was so much better than meditating on a stupid Rune.

*

"It is you!" Greg exclaimed, causing Victoria to jump as he landed in her training yard.

"Greg?!? What are you doing here!?!" Victoria snapped at him, before pausing. "Hold on, how did you get here? Were you flying?!?"

Greg grinned. "I was! Turns out I can just do that. Well, as long as I have enough smoke."

Victoria scowled at him. "So, of course, you decide to use this ability to drop into my training yard." She sighed. What was up with people and flying into her private spaces?!?

"Well, I didn't mean to. I was just flying around, saw you, and decided to visit." Greg shrugged. "Plus, you know, I've been flying all night." He yawned as he stretched. "Felt like a good time for a break."

"You've been flying all night?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I can fly!" Greg replied. "I mean, I could always fly as smoke, but… well, it's different, you know? There's no sensation to it. But this… you can feel the wind! The g-forces! The thrill!" He paused. "You wanna try?"

Victoria blinked. "What?"

"Do you want to try? All I need to do is connect my smoke to you, and I can bring you with me." Greg grinned.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Victoria paused, considering the offer. It was actually pretty tempting… She did like the idea of flying. Especially since her version using Spirit threads just wasn't the same. More like using stilts than actually flying. Though the fact that Greg would be the one in control did sour the proposition… he'd probably leave her up there just for shits and giggles.

Suddenly there was a banging on her door. "Lady Victoria! We believe we witnessed a man descending into your courtyard! Is everything okay in there?!?" One of the guards yelled.

Victoria leveled a glare at Greg. "You see the problems you cause me?"

"I should probably go…" Greg muttered, beginning to float away.

"Oh no you don't!" Victoria snapped, grabbing his ankle with a thread of Spirit and yanking him back down. "You are not leaving me to explain why a strange man is visiting my training yard early in the morning!"

"And how is me staying going to help with that!?!" Greg protested. "Better I leave and you just tell them they were wrong!"

"Yes, because, even though they saw you coming in, there's no way they'll see you leaving." Victoria rolled her eyes, before beginning to drag him towards the door. "Come on."

Greg crossed his arms. "This is bullshit."

"Lady Victoria?" The guard knocked again, before jumping back as she opened the door. "My Lady!" He bowed slightly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Victoria grumbled. "I just have idiots falling into my courtyard again." She pulled Greg out and shook him at them.

"Hey!" Greg yelped. "Don't do that!"

"If you don't want to be shaken, walk for yourself!" Victoria snapped.

"I can't walk for myself if you're carrying me!" Greg retorted.

Victoria blinked. "Oh…" She dropped him, causing him to yelp again. "Right."

The guards shared a look as Greg got up and started dusting himself off while grumbling. "Should we- take him to the dungeon?" One of them asked hesitantly.

"No, just take him out of the castle." Victoria sighed. "He's not a problem, just an idiot."

"Hey! How am I an idiot?" Greg protested.

"You're an idiot because you're here!" Victoria snapped.

Greg snorted. "Well, see if I ever visit you again."

"I don't want you to visit me!" Victoria yelled. "Go home!"

"Fine, be that way." Greg stuck his tongue at her, walking away before pausing and turning back. "Which way is out?"

Victoria turned to the guards, who had no idea what to make of this situation. "Well? Take him to the gate!"

"Y-yes, my Lady!" The guards saluted, before grabbing Greg and taking him towards the gate.

"Hey! I can walk on my own!" Greg protested, briefly struggling against their grip before giving up. "Ugh, I'm too tired for this shit." The guards quickly brought Greg to the gate, shoving him out before closing it behind him. "So freaking rude." He grumbled, stumbling his way down the road before letting out a long, weary yawn. "Ugh, I don't want to walk all the way home." He groaned, before pausing. Why should he have to? He had smoke, why not make himself a little place to sleep right here? He looked around to make sure the coast was clear before sending some smoke into the ground, clearing out a space, making himself a bed, and dropping inside. "Perfect." Greg muttered as he curled up in the bed, letting out a small sigh as he remembered the last time he'd made an underground chamber to sleep in… he missed Tessa.

*

Horace was making his way to the castle for his meeting with Victoria, when Philmore popped onto his shoulder. "Horace, wait! There's someone under the road!" He hissed, pointing with his wing.

Horace frowned, narrowing his eyes at where Philmore was pointing, seeing that there was indeed a faint glimmer of someone waiting under the road. "Ambush?" He muttered.

"They must be a Qi Cultivator." Philmore agreed. "I can barely sense their energy."

Horace nodded, spreading out a mist of Spirit-Qi, sending it into the ground to study the ambusher, before pausing. He was… sleeping? "Eh?" It was just a man sleeping underground! Unless… the ambush wasn't for him? Horace's eyes narrowed. Of course! No one in this region would ambush a Unification Realm Cultivator! This ambush must be for the Marquis or the Duke's forces! Luckily he'd stumbled upon it first. With a shout, Horace leapt into the air and smashed into the underground pocket, wrapping the villain in Spirit threads and yanking him out!

Greg jolted awake, looking around in a panic as he was suddenly dragged from his bed. "Who- what- the fuck is going on?!?" He stammered, before focusing on Horace. "Ay! What are you doing!?!"

"What are you doing!?!" Horace growled back. "How dare you lie in ambush before the Marquis's castle!"

Greg blinked. "Ambush? Dude, I was sleeping! How dare you break the Marquis's road!"

"Who sleeps under a road unless they're planning something nefarious!?!" Horace retorted.

Greg paused. "Okay, I can see how that could look bad… would you believe I was just really tired and didn't want to walk all the way home?"

"Too tired to walk home, but not too tired to dig yourself a hidden underground chamber?" Horace replied, raising an eyebrow.

Greg coughed awkwardly. "That… really isn't that hard for me. I- well, I guess I can just show you." Greg sent out some smoke, gathering up the rubble and dissolving it, then re-creating the road. "See? Easy."

Horace's eyes were wide as he looked between Greg and the road. "How- how did you do that?"

"Uh… magic?" Greg offered hesitantly. "Can you put me down now?"

"Magic?" Horace frowned. "Without any energy?"

"Yeah, it's kinda my own special thing." Greg nodded. "No energy, just smoke."

"Interesting." Horace studied him for a moment. "What else can you do with this smoke?"

"Well, basically just that." Greg shrugged. "I dissolve things to turn them into smoke, then I turn the smoke into those things." He paused. "And I can use it to fly, but I only just figured that one out."

Horace froze. "You can fly?"

"I can fly." Greg nodded.

"Show me." Horace insisted, letting him go.

Greg hesitated for a moment, giving him a weird look, before shrugging and connecting his smoke to his body again, beginning to float. "Ta-da!" He spread his arms wide as he did a little loop. "Happy?"

"Fascinating." Horace muttered, getting closer so he could get a better look. Not that it helped. As far as he could tell, there was absolutely no reason for Greg to be flying! No energy, no nothing to explain it, except… "What is this smoke?" Horace asked with a frown.

"Well, it's smoke." Greg shrugged, taking out a small ball of smoke and swirling it around. "Kinda in the name, you know?"

"But how does it let you fly?!?" Horace asked, a hint of frustration in his tone.

"Well, as you know, force equals mass times acceleration." Greg began, before pausing. "You do know that, right?"

Horace blinked, before narrowing his eyes at him, remembering the other person who seemed to regularly do things outside his comprehension and had asked him a similar question just last week. "Do you know Victoria?"

Greg paused. "You know Victoria?"

"I'm-" Horace hesitated. "I'm familiar with her…" He trailed off before narrowing his eyes at Greg. "What is your relationship with her?"

"Friend?" Greg cocked his head. "No… more like a sibling, maybe? Not literally, but it's a similar sort of relationship. You know, not necessarily close because we want to be close, but because life forced us together and we kind of have to be close."

Horace just looked confused. "I- see. And how did you develop such a relationship with her?"

Greg shrugged. "It just kinda happened. But why are we talking about Victoria? Didn't you want to know how my smoke lets me fly?"

"Er, yes, I suppose." Horace's expression twisted. He really wanted to dig for more information, but he supposed that would be inappropriate… Maybe he could ask Victoria?

"Right." Greg clapped his hands. "So, you have force equals mass times acceleration, right?"

Horace rolled his eyes. "Yes, I understand basic physics."

"Great! So, I am mass, my smoke is acceleration, so together, we have force! Force I use to do this." Greg explained, gesturing to his floating self.

Horace frowned. "That- that doesn't make any sense!"

"Eh, it's close enough." Greg shrugged. "And, you know, clearly it works." He gestured to himself again.

Horace paused. Well, he couldn't argue with that… "I- well, um, thank you for… your… wisdom?" Horace bowed slightly. "Would you be willing to part with some of this 'smoke' so that I might study it further?"

Greg paused. "I don't think you'd get much out of it, but I suppose?" He shrugged again, taking the ball of smoke, considering what to do with it for a moment. He could attach it to Horace's hand, but that wouldn't really do anything for him… wait, what if he anchored it to Horace's hand like Chris did with his portals? He concentrated on Horace's hand and the smoke, until something clicked and the smoke set Horace's hand as its new point of reference. "There, it should move with you now." Greg yawned, before shaking his head. "Ugh, I should get home. Still need more sleep." He muttered, walking off.

Horace looked between the smoke and Greg, before shaking his head in disbelief, not sure what to make of that encounter. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he continued to the castle. He had another lesson with Victoria today, and he dearly hoped this one wouldn't end up getting cut short.