Void Girl [Oh god it's back]

>Some of our collective had a theory about portals. Other parts just wanted to fly between your antlers just because. Probably should talk to the girl.

Not even a dent huh. Guess we aren't breaking out of here with force.

We only meant to experimentally zoom between your anchors, and it appears we had a bit too much "zoom" and not enough asking permission first.

> Apologize and explain yourself

You stop thrumming musical nonsense and ease off the ground.



GENO
"We're sorry for having done that; we meant no harm from it."
"We only meant to experimentally zoom between your antlers, and it appears we had too much 'zoom' and not enough 'asking permission first'."

Antlers' facial features are impossible to discern, shrouded in shadow as he is, but you imagine him lifting an eyebrow. (Do deer-people have eyebrows? You're not about to get up close and personal enough to find out -- at least, not yet.)

ANTLERS
"You've come quite late to this conclusion."

GENO
"The portal is between your antlers, isn't it? There's no other opening here. It has to be on your head."

ANTLERS
"Hmm."



Antlers approaches Geri and leans down for a closer look, just a bit, wisps of something dark and nebulous flickering at his feet.

ANTLERS
"The girl is quite large. If the portal were between my antlers, did you just intend to climb on my head and be done with it?"

GERI
"H-hey, who are you calling 'large'?"

Despite her indignation, though, Geri must concede his point. There's no way she could squeeze herself through the gap, even if it was a portal. She shrinks back a step.

ANTLERS
"I'll ask the questions, now. How did you get here? This Void is private property, shielded and hidden from the Nexus Directory."
"Anyone capable of entering this place uninvited should be more than capable of exiting, and yet..."



ANTLERS
"You're not."

Geri's eyes widen to saucers. A disconcerting realization creeps to the forefront of her mind -- Antlers here might not have anything to do with her certification test at all! As you hover into place beside her, you can practically hear her gulping.

GERI
"Well, I was trying to warp myself someplace else completely, but I must've overshot the spell 'cause Geno exploded, except it didn't, but I didn't know that 'til I woke up here with my wand all melty and my memory borked, and..."

She hesitates.

GERI
"I think that's what happened? Eurgh... my head feels fuzzy."

> Defend Geri

Antlers seems unimpressed. You hover closer to his eye level.



GENO
"Hey, like, she's got basically zero control over us, so if you're gonna get mad get mad at us."

Geri looks at you with something like admiration. Antlers does not.

ANTLERS
"It would've required an impressive amount of mana to come here; mana which the girl clearly doesn't possess."

GERI
"Right now. Possess 'right now'."

Ignoring Geri's interruption, Antlers continues:

ANTLERS
"You, however..."
"A Soul Vault this durable would not contain a mouse."

Show Content

SpoilerHere's an opportunity for y'all to give Geno some more context. Just keep in mind what we've already established!

What did you do with the soul vault and should I be concerned?

Sassy mode: Oh ouch, this so totally hurts. Okay listen stud. As much as it would seem I'm to be a small thing against you, able to be flipped about. I am way more capable of much more than any molecular level you behold yourself to keep those 'souls' within you.

If you are able to do that that is...

> Yeah any idea who made this? All we remember is being alive with limbs and faces, you know, corporeal stuff, minding our own dang business and then BAM! SOUL VAULTED.

We didn't even do anything!

Although

> You might not even hear this, apparently whoever constructed this thing set up some kind of filter. It blocks some of what we try to say, and from what you said earlier about "not seeing it" I think it blocks some of what we can see too.

> By the way, think you could crack open up this little orb for us? I got one of those "phantom itches" like when you lose an arm, but it's over mah whole dang body! Constantly.

>Dunno. Got a good hunch somebody wanted to make a soul vault and see how many souls they could cram in here for kicks. Unfortunately, not one of us has the instruction manual for this thing beyond flight. Though going by your reaction I guess we can do other stuff?

>I/We miss being able to separate thinking and acting.

Are you gonna let us out? You should totally let us out.

*Considering we are some kind of eldritch abomination made from 800+ souls and contained, at one point, seemingly infinite power, we probably did something very much to deserve our soul imprisonment. Probably enough to get us on the "Megaverse Police's" Most Wanted List. Live and learn, I suppose*

HOT DAMN I love the Adobe Spark Mirror.

*Considering we are some kind of eldritch abomination made from 800+ souls and contained, at one point, seemingly infinite power, we probably did something very much to deserve our soul imprisonment. Probably enough to get us on the "Megaverse Police's" Most Wanted List. Live and learn, I suppose*

Definitely shouldn't have jaywalked.

Well, see, there was this noisy jerk wizard named Hawkspace, you might have heard of him? Always yelling about buying viagra for cheap. He'd curse the anyone who dared set foot on his lawn and all the predatory birds that lived nearby into eternal servitude delivering the mail and terrifying the populace, After a long while of going farther and farther afield for more eagles, hawks, raptors and the like, the countries in the area decided they'd had enough of their populace getting terrified by birds, and sent their best to take him down. In response, he stuck all 816 of us together into one sorta lich-thing to defend him. We defeated them, but in the fighting, our master fell. From there, we struck out, terrorizing the populace, delivering our own mail. We weren't too conscious of how the rules of the road worked, what with most of us being birds, and we jaywalked. So we ended up in here.

any questions

AHEM Speak for yourselves, I happen to be a bear. A non-winged, ordinary bear. I still don't know what made me join up with the rest of you.

As for our crimes...I recall something about breaking a major law of the Forth Ring of Netherym, possibly shattering a few universes...honestly the details are kinda fuzzy.

Was that even a question, Professor Deer Man Guy? You were all "Oh I'M asking the questions" or whatever, but then you closed with "You're not even a mouse" well... okay so we're not a mouse. What next?

We uh, we can't be a mouse? *Panicked squeeking* U-uh, that's cool, we weren't a mouse in the first place..

AHEM Speak for yourselves, I happen to be a bear.

yeah i didn't word that right, anyone who dared step on his lawn was cursed, not terrorized.

AHEM Speak for yourselves, I happen to be a bear.

yeah i didn't word that right, anyone who dared step on his lawn was cursed, not terrorized.

It's fair to say we might not be the most reliable of narrators.

yeah i didn't word that right, anyone who dared step on his lawn was cursed, not terrorized.

It's fair to say we might not be the most reliable of narrators.

I'm a reliable narrator that can't make that sentence work out :( edit: fixed?

Pretty sure my story is at the base level of crazy when our backstory is already that we
- contain 816 souls
- are mostly (but not all) predatory birds
- used to be a conglomerate lich-thing
- ended up on megaverse police's most wanted list
- for jaywalking
- are imprisoned in here

If you have a better story to tell then go for it.

Pretty sure my story is at the base level of crazy when our backstory is already that we
- contain 816 souls
- are mostly (but not all) predatory birds
- used to be a conglomerate lich-thing
- ended up on megaverse police's most wanted list
- for jaywalking
- are imprisoned in here

Personally, I like it. My only gripe is the jaywalking bit. Perhaps a bit...small time. Let's have it be something worth being stuck eternally to serve a Primarch of a megaverse-spanning kingdom/organization.

My only gripe is the jaywalking bit. Perhaps a bit...small time.

I'm apparently bad at implying anything at all that jaywalking was just the start of a downwards trend of relations with megaverse police which may have resulted in the destruction of some universes.

We may also just be crazy, being stuck in a confined space with way too many can do that.

> Turn '... and should I be concerned?' into a running gag

You rotate in place and stare down at Geri.

GENO
"... What did you do with the Soul Vault, and should I be concerned?"

Indignation twists Geri's face into a comical frown.



GERI
"Hey, I didn't do anything! At least nothing I wasn't s'posed to. Part of the test was I had to channel mana from an external source to make a portal happen, and I did."
"Just not very well."

Her voice tapers into silence near the end, there, and Geri gives a helpless shrug. Growing impatient for an explanation, Antlers clears his throat a second time. Geri makes a 'go on' sort of gesture with the stubby remnants of her wand.

> Sassy mode, activate

GENO
"Okay, listen stud. As much as it would seem we're a small thing against you, able to be flipped about, we are way more capable of m--"

GERI
"Geno! Play nice!"

She interrupts you with a fierce little whisper, which you figure Antlers could hear from a hundred meters away.

GERI
"I'm kinda curious what you're all about, too."

She glances up at Antlers and supplies a little exposition of her own.



GERI
"Geno's my familiar. Before I landed us here, I was in the middle of my Level II Warp Mage certification test."
"I was super, super nervous. Probably why I messed up so bad."

ANTLERS
"Mm."

GERI
"My chronospatial magic teacher, Madam Diavla, assigned Geno to me as part of my training. I think it's passed down? I'm not 100% sure."

ANTLERS
"Aha."

GERI
"We're re-ally sorry about the zoomy thing just now, by the way. Geno and I haven't known each other very long, and we're both pretty confused, and..."

ANTLERS
"Fascinating."

That word is so laden with sarcasm that even Geri realizes she's boring him. Turning pink with embarrassment, she clears her throat and nods at you.

GERI
"But um, I'll let Geno tell its own story."
"Go on, Geno. Stage's all yours."

Your parts debate among themselves as to how you'll tell your story. Eventually, you settle on:

> The thing with the wizard, undead slave birds, the bear, and the breaking of major laws in the Fourth Ring of Netherym
> tl;dr WILDLIFE SAURON

Show Content

SpoilerThis noisy jerk wizard named Hawkspace'd curse anyone who dared set foot on his lawn and all the predatory birds that lived nearby into eternal servitude, delivering the mail and terrifying the populace.

After a long while of going farther and farther afield for more eagles, hawks, raptors and the like, the countries in the area decided they'd had enough of getting terrified by birds, and sent their best to take him down.

In response, he stuck all 816 of us together into one sorta lich-thing to defend him. We defeated them, but in the fighting, our master fell. From there, we struck out, terrorizing the populace, delivering our own mail.

Show Content

SpoilerI recall something about breaking a major law of the Fourth Ring of Netherym, possibly shattering a few universes... honestly the details are kinda fuzzy.

GENO
"... and that's the story."




Antlers is quiet for a long while. Geri shrugs.

GERI
"...Take it or leave it, I guess."

ANTLERS
"I see."

The dark flames that flank Antlers' steps die down, and he moves to examine you closer.

ANTLERS
"The Soul Vault is sturdy indeed, if you cannot use your full power without the girl's assistance."

Antlers looks over his shoulder, in the direction one suspects the real portal is hidden.

ANTLERS
"The only proper exit to this plane is reserved for my personal use. As much as I hate to damage this reality, I may be capable of tearing another one -- provided you don't mind my borrowing some of your mana for the operation."

Geri turns to you with questioning eyes.

GERI
"... It's your power, so... your call?"

>Okay, but on the condition that you create the tear in between your antlers.

>You may use our power on one condition. Let us fly between your antlers like we tried to earlier. As an apology for zapping us unprovoked, naturally.