Name: (Words) = Thinking (usually reserved for third person perspectives).
Words~ = Sing-song voice.
Words/ = Monotone voice.
*Words* = Sound effects/actions.
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Spatial Cabin - Afternoon
Hold on a second, can’t monologue and get out of bed with this much aching going on… Okay, now that that is out of the way, welcome back! I shuffle over to Charlotte and help her out of bed.
Charlotte: “Too bad we don’t know healing magic…”
Tyche: “I do, do you want to be a virgin again?”
Charlotte: “No! That hurt too much the first time, never again please! Wait… Healing magic restores the hymen?”
Tyche: “Yep! Learned that the hard way… Follow me, the bath is this way~.”
Charlotte: “Shouldn’t we loot the wardrobe first?”
Tyche: “Good idea, let’s do things your way…”
We start digging through Midas’ wardrobe, finding all sorts of things from video game, anime, and manga costumes, to S&M bondage gear… What kind of person does Midas think I am? I’m pretty open sexually, but not that bad… Ooh! Sailor uniform in black, and another armored corset, in black also. As an afterthought, I grab some golden kneesocks, as that will match the golden Minstrel symbols I put on all of my clothes. Charlotte picks out a miniskirt military uniform, foregoing the hat, on account of her ears. To the bath, and hopefully some sort of conversation!
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Bath
Charlotte: “How do you have a hot spring in your cabin?”
Tyche: “Magic? I don’t know either, it’s a Spatial Cabin Ring. So~ tell me about yourself, we’ve already went all the way, and know next to nothing about each other…”
Charlotte: “You know pretty much everything: I’m a princess, play with the maids, trying to not die from my brother’s plots…
Well, this is depressing, her brother is an asshole… Kind of glad Midas’ switch got flipped, otherwise I would have killed the bastard slowly…
Charlotte: “Now tell me about yourself! How come you act like a guy sometimes, while it’s the opposite for Midas?”
Crap… How does one explain this? “Oh, this is a poorly made game world, designed as a game to bring two groups of people to peace.”? Yeah… That’s not gonna work… Let’s go with half-truth!
Tyche: “Due to circumstances you wouldn’t believe, Midas and I were reborn as opposite genders…”
And I try to give a heavily sanitised version of events to her.
Charlotte: “You’re Players aren’t you? Crap… I mean Otherworlders… But that would explain most of everything.”
They knew!? It’s a conspiracy…
Tyche: “You knew? Wait, ‘Otherworlders’? Isn’t that some novelization crap to justify not telling the locals anything?”
Charlotte: “The Royals of every kingdom know. Gimme the real story!”
Oh… This reeks of interference of the Goddesses… And so I explain everything, back from the start.
Charlotte: “Couldn’t you, you know, switch yourselves back to your original genders?”
Tyche: “We could, but it’s awkward… You know how there’s differences between the male and female body?”
Charlotte: “Yes, we did the whole shebang last night, I could tell…”
Tyche: “I’m not talking about plumbing, I’m talking about structure and chem… pheromones in your brain… We should probably move out of here, we’ve been in here too long…”
I feel like I’m about to pass out, and Charlotte shouldn’t be far off either. We exit the bath, get dressed in our new clothes, and move into the livingroom to continue the conversation.
Charlotte: “What was that word you were going to say before?”
Tyche: “Chemicals… Think of it like alchemical ingredients, the whole body is full of them. Anyway, there’s subtle differences in the bone structure of males and females, one of them being the pelvis. On the chemical front, males and females have different ones, and the same ones, but in different amounts in their body. The pelvis alone makes it so you have to relearn how to walk again. Chemically, your whole body just feels… wrong, alien…”
Charlotte: “That just sounds so weird…”
We continue talking about all kinds of minor things, like music, art, clothes, and Midas... I suck at this girl talk thing… I pull out one of my ongoing projects to work on as we talk. As I have a test subject here, I might as well finish it so she can test it, this will advance my worldbuilding!
It’s a sheet of glass inserted into an enamel painted wooden frame, that has a rod shaped mana stone embedded into it. I’ve had this theory that talisman enchants MIGHT work off of mana. Theoretically, you could run some minor artifacts with mana alone, but you won’t be able to do the big things, like spell talismans. The last piece that really needs testing is this card sized sheet of metal, which only needs some blood enamel to before testing can commence.
Tyche: “Can I have some blood?”
Charlotte: “Why?”
Tyche: “Gift for you, have to see if it works first, and it needs blood for it to work.”
She holds out her arm, which I dab with some numbing sap I bought on one of my shopping expeditions, cut her wrist with a clean knife and let the blood fall into a bottle. While channelling healing energy into her wrist with one hand, I bring my scribing tools out of my inventory into the other. I label the bottle with her name, and use some of it to make some blood enamel in another labeled jar. I use that enamel to paint the card, channel some fire mana onto it to cure it, and then begin disassembling the wood and glass contraption. I add the metal card into it, reassemble it, and hand it to her.
Tyche: “Channel mana into it, need to see if it works.”
Charlotte: (suspiciously) “This is safe right?”
Tyche: “Yep, this is one of those things that either work, or doesn’t.”
Charlotte: “You sure? Why can’t you do it?”
Tyche: “I can’t, I used your blood to make it…”
As I’m about to take another set of the contraption out of my inventory, she begins channeling mana into hers which turns it on, surprising her. That’s right, I made a mana tablet! Bow before my mightiness! I discovered recently that I could download things with the wifi implant, but only into mana stones which is convenient as hell. We were using everything in the cloud before, which sucks for purchases when the internet or store servers go down… Now we can download things to crystals and store them in the inventory!
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
How did I make it? I downloaded a version of iDrone onto the mana crystal, which was connected to a complicated spell circuit which “runs” it, and displays onto the sheet of glass… Getting that sheet of glass right sucked, because it’s really two sheets of glass sealed together with this rainbow squid ink between them. Which is cheap, but hard to find because nobody wants it… Anyway, it turns on because the mana runs through the case into the card, which feeds it into the circuit. Looking closely, I find out that my theory is wrong… It does take the mana from the user, but it activates from the minute ki every person unknowingly emits from their body… Meh, I hate being wrong, but at least it works! I just have to work on deploying the broadcasting antennas, so they can all connect together!
Charlotte: “What is this? There’s all these shapes and words on it!”
Tyche: “Mana tablet, you can store, look up, and manage information with it! You can also use it for communication and entertainment too! I have to create some other things to make this project fully operable though… But the cool thing is, since I used your blood, nobody can steal it!”
Charlotte: “Do you know what this means?”
Tyche: “That I can finally play Fruit Ninja and Solitaire again?”
Charlotte: “What are… Forget about that, we can spread information among the people! Everyone can get an education with this! We can warn of disasters, better coordinate for them…”
While she’s rambling about how awesome the tablet is with her Royal Hat on, I complete another two tablets with the Midas/Tyche blend of blood for Midas and I to use. After completing them, I set them up with iDrone user accounts so they can use the messaging app and whatnot. Using my tablet, I remote connect to Charlotte’s, and set up her account.
Before you ask, I’m not connecting them to the outside world. Yet. They themselves should advance further before anything that extreme should happen. Meh, I have to design servers, access terminals, and lots of other crap for this whole plan to come into fruition... The relays are pretty easy, they are complete already, it’s just spell circuits. Setting them up will be a pain in the ass, should probably make a request at the AG… Oh! Knowing that the card works, we can make an item that should let her enter our houses! Let me add this to the “To-Do List” app that I made sure this damn tablet has! So much crap to do, but first, a round of Fruit Ninja!
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Armistice Online Headquarters - Boardroom - 3rd Person PoV
The whole room is in an uproar due to our protagonists. Everyone there has a range of emotions on their face, from wonder to mirth, while one person is confused...
Lore II: “What am I even doing here?”
GM Department: “Your predecessor was fired for slacking off... We just watch Tyche and Midas.”
Maintenance: “You forgot about the last stunt he tried to pull, trying to receive a patent for another’s work...”
System: “Speaking of that, who would have known that Ki Talismans could be utilised in that way, and it would really work?”
Maintenance: “The icing on the cake was that Tyche already filed a patent on it… How did she even do that?”
GM Department: “The wifi implant, I don’t know why she even has that…”
Connection: *wakes up* “She doesn’t, it’s part of the whole Goddess thing, we just told her she does so she doesn’t discover what she is right away and goes berserk or something extreme.”
System: “Oh, awake today Connection? Care to explain your hypothesis for the hair passive, and Midas’ new personality mode?”
Connection: “You remember the Alpha testers?”
GM Department: “Yeah, what about them?”
Connection: “What do you think happened to them?”
Maintenance: “You don’t mean…”
Connection: “Yeah, I’m sure they probably got absorbed by them or something similar. Tyche was the only long term coma patient who was in the Alpha Test... AI Development could probably explain it better…”
AI Development: “The coma angle could explain why she survived. Midas still being there is most likely because he was present, and thus recognized by her. The quick thinking on the Fairy’s part helped too… That would explain those two, but you’re saying that the others’ personalities are being channeled by them?”
System: “That would explain all the new Goddesses… She’s fragmenting some of the Alphas off to fill the position…”
Lore II: “Should we bring in a psychologist to consult on this?”
Everyone is shocked to hear this. The Lore Department finally suggesting something useful? This is a new concept for everyone present, so they take a moment to fully appreciate the situation.
GM Department: “Don’t ever change Lore II. We would never forgive you if you did…”
Lore II: “Okay… But would that be doable?”
GM Department: “Yeah, that’s easy, we already have one on retainer for them. Shouldn’t be too hard to set something up.”
Lore II: “Another thing I noticed, they are only using manipulation for magic. Why is that?”
System: “It looks like a toss up between us tricking them into disabling skill-assist, and laziness…”
Lore II: “Why would you trick them into that?”
GM Department: “Because they were breaking the balance of the game?”
Lore II: “Aren’t they doing that moreso now? *looks over character sheet* You should probably disable skill assist all together, and implement some sort of class talent system… Their class is absolutely garbage without skill assist. Nobody these days really uses chants for magic anyway, except for grand magics...”
Silence is pervading the room, as this is more helpful ideas from one person than what the entire Lore Department has given since the creation of the company. A discussion quickly ensues, as the security camera silently watches, and the Goddess behind it nods in approval.
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Author’s Notes: Meh, trying to remember all the plot holes I purposely left in the story, to blame the developers is hard… I have a talent tree to write up, this will suck… Next chapter will be more crafting, and a family reunion of sorts. I also have a decision to make coming soon based on the map I have in the making: Human or Demon kingdom next? Demon kingdom will be them wrecking shit for revenge, and Human kingdom will be a dungeon. We’re gonna visit them all, but I figure a little reader interaction here and there wouldn’t hurt much. I also decided after the next Kingdom is when the “game” is released...
Anyway, moar Payday 2 for me!