1 Soul Bound
1.2 Taking Control
1.2.2 An Awakening Epiphany
1.2.2.10 Lord of the dance
Omobono cried out in glad greeting as they arrived: “Kafana!” then added in a more puzzled voice: “Wombles, what have you been up to?”
Kafana: “Just an assassination attempt upon us. Don’t worry about it.”
Alderney: {That prick might have damaged my egg. He didn’t, I checked first thing, but I need to make some secure armour for it.}
Omobono pretended to be outraged.
Omobono: “First Hachiko leaves you unattended for a moment, and you break the world speed record for boat travel. Mary-Lynn leaves you, and you get robbed. Kino leaves you, and you get attacked by assassins. I dread to think what will happen if I take my eyes off you. Will you acquire a dragon or start talking to deities?”
Kafana shot Alderney a glance and burst out laughing.
Alderney said smugly: “Oh, we already did that today.”
Bulgaria: {Did you notice that armour with DEX or INT soak doesn’t activate when you can’t move or think? Whereas Tomsk’s STR based armour worked just fine.}
Bulgaria: “Not to mention that Wellington discovered the meaning of life, the universe and magic while Kino wasn’t watching.”
Bungo: {Yeah, loads of criticals, especially when they hit you from behind. I wonder if you can make armour with more than one kind of soak or mitigation? Would they stack?}
Bungo: “We got something far more impressive planned for when you turn your back for a moment Omobono. Don’t look away. Don’t even blink.”
Kafana invited Omobono into a private chat.
Kafana: {Omobono, my friend. Let’s tease them back. Before anything else titanic gets in the way, I promised you a chance to strut your musical skills. I really want us to play together. What do you know which will fit the Vecci, with an irresistible dance beat?}
Kafana: “Omobono, ignore the fools. Let’s make music!”
Omobono: {Do you know McFadden’s Handsome Daughter? I made a flute today.}
She walked over to where he was standing by a group of Vecci musicians who’d just stopped playing, and drew out Giovanni’s Masterpiece violin. She felt shame that she’d only used it for spells, when he’d intended her to take joy in playing it just for the music.
Kafana spoke to the musicians: “Thank you for inviting us to your circle. With your permission, Omobono and I will play a bit of dance music. It is a song designed for others to join in, and we’d be delighted if you did so. I have a bit of magic that will share the tune to any who want it, so don’t be afraid if you feel something offered.”
She targeted the group and invited them into her group performance, mentally labelling herself and them as one gestalt, “the musicians” and the other Wombles and spectators as a separate group “the dancers”, then linked the two in her mind as “the performance”. She tried pushing some mana into the visualisation, but it didn’t quite work.
{Minion, what did Johannes say about doing this?}
[He said “Through observation, reality affects us. Through the mana the deities grant, we affect reality. Magic is the process by which this tension is resolved. For example, when our Spirit expects that two objects are but parts of a single greater object, our will can direct that mana to make reality conform to our expectations.”]
Reality magic; that was earth-order. Mind; that was air-order. Making; that was fire-order. Hmm.
Several musicians were getting out a mix of tambourines, lyres, castanets, balalaikas and waisted drums.
{Sys, overlay linked earth-order runes around the individual musicians, overlay linked air-order runes around my visualisation of the gestalt “The Musicians”, connect them together with linked fire-order runes.}
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She thought hard about a band of musicians playing together in harmony, as one, standing by her, and an overlay ring appeared on the ground around her, growing sharper as she focused her enhanced willpower on the visualisation. She poured mana into it from her ring and felt something snap into place. She repeated the process for the dancers, and then again to link the two groups.
It was as though she’d been able to walk before, but had then tried considering which foot and muscle to move in which order - when you first do it, you feel at a loss. But after a bit of practice, the process felt natural again, and now it was under her conscious control. She grinned, and put away her gems, except for her green and purple which she tucked under her clothing against her skin. She was so going to need her hands for this.
Kafana: “Ready. On the 3. 1 … 2 ... 3”
Omobono: “ … 2 … 3”
They started playing, like they’d played together before in a hundred different Irish pubs and halls. Their music was life & vitality, conversation & meaning, inviting & enchanting. And the dancers joined in, oh how they joined in.
Alderney was first up, grabbing Tomsk’s hands and whirling him away. Bulgaria, always quick to improvise and go with the flow, held out a hand to a nearby Burgundish lass, and led her off with surprising grace. Bungo looked like a deer in a car’s headlights, and was snatched by a very imposing heavily built woman who firmly took his hand and demonstrated that she too could be light on her feet.
Within ten measures, the fire was surrounded by couples. She grinned, visualised the steps from her memory and poured more mana from the ring into offering the joy and moves out through the gestalt, setting Alderney as the pattern and directing the dancers to resonate from her.
Kafana: {Omobono, let me give you one. *here* Bartok’s Roman Polka. Got it?}
Omobono: {Nice. You want to get them out of breath? Then to finish the set, let’s have me switch to drums for the third piece, and I’ll bring them the sounds of Mali, Bwazan style.}
Out of kindness, she let the older dancers out of the gestalt for the African dance, but kept the Wombles in it. The star of the piece was Nicolo who stepped in leading a group of Iberian friends he’d met while at the Orphanage, roaming the area with Antonio. Kafana set him as the template for others to follow, and set his annotation to “Lord of the Dance”. She sat back, relaxing, eating a strawberry gelato, to watch. Ah, revenge!
Nicolo strutted up to her, when the dance was over.
Nicolo: “I got a title!”
Kafana: “You earned it.” she smiled.
Bulgaria: “Kafana, you…”
Kafana interrupted: “Yes?”
She raised an eyebrow at him, and then with deliberation placed a large spoonful of delicious cold gelato on her tongue, letting it melt with obvious relish. Mmmmm.
Alderney bent over, panting.
[Skill “Performance” has reached level 21.]
[Skill “Group Performance” has reached level 18.]
[Title gained “Merciless Conductor”.]
[Skill “Performance” upgraded to "Command Performance" - you are the one in control.]
*ding* [Your reputation with the Vecci has increased by 250.]
*ding* [Your reputation with musicians has increased by 250.]
The reputation gain seemed much too high for just a couple of ceilidh songs. She looked around, noticing several adventurers among the audience around the fire. Corolle and Seguso were near a large hut where Bungo was now talking with his earlier dance partner. Alchymia and Igraine were talking with Vittoria.
Kafana: “Omobono, it was a pleasure. If you made that flute, I’m impressed by your crafting as well as your playing skill.”
Omobono shrugged: “I am learning much from my master, Giovanni. I have you to thank for discovering him.”
Kafana: “You watched some of the recordings that Alderney put up?”
Omobono: “I have watched all of them. Every sensible player in Torello has. Our first impressions of this city are through your eyes, which leads us to feel about it the way you felt about it. Tomorrow there will be dozens of adventurers here dancing. It affects the game. Several adventurers tried jumping the river like you and Tomsk did, and now it is a thing. Students will offer a quest to try it, to any adventurer who gets drunk on Libri. I hear the sailors are becoming annoyed.”
Kafana: “Oh no!”
Alderney, standing next to her stealing spoonfuls of Kafana’s gelato while Kafana was distracted, was less restrained. She burst out in howls of laughter.
Flute. Something about a flute. What was it?