2021-09-22: It's Not Eternity

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  • Log: It's Not Eternity
  • Cast: Lunata Croze, Timotheus Lovelace
  • Where: Buckeye Station - Market District
  • Date: September 22, 2021
  • Summary: Timotheus happens across Lunata, and thereby is planted the seed of a terrible plan.

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    Last Time in Lunata Croze Acquired a Morally Ambiguous Situation!

    "..... haaaaah," Lunata slumps on a bench in front of one of Buckeye Station's many bustling streets, taking a break from the jobs she's been up to. She's been working a little bit harder than usual lately, maybe to just take the mind off the stress of having someone bound to an amulet that obeys her commands no matter what...

    "Ugh, I want a treat..." the ex-waitress mumbles to herself. "Think there's a cake shop somewhere here... hmm, hmm... but sitting down is nice too..."

    Yep, just an undead ex-waitress loafing around in the middle of town...

<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.

    It may have been better for Lunata had she opted for that cake.

    Tap tap. Tap-tap-tap.

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB4E7Avgf9g

    Tap-tap.

    A man, bent with his years, stops at that very bench. His dark skin, where visible, is gnarled and covered with Symbology tattoos in several colors. The right side of his face is nearly hidden behind a heavy eyepatch. Though his hair is wild, his beard remains well-groomed. His single gimlet eye regards Lunata intently, as if attempting to see through to her core.

    "Girl," Timotheus Lovelace says to Lunata. "Give me your hand."

    It's not a request. It's a demand, near enough.

    Normally the wizard would not trifle with some wayward waitress, or whatever rabble she might be. But her presence seems to bend the rules of the world. As close to death as he is -- he has years at best, he would wager, years left to slip death's noose -- and as adept as he is, he has developed a... sensitivity towards such things.

    And that boy had given him such gifts and curses in equal measure.

    Time seems to bend about her. Years pass her by -- or is that delusion taking hold, instead? Can he even discern the difference between delusion and reality anymore?

    Is this where his Working had settled? Another vessel, deployed by that boy? He doesn't sense his touch here.

    But he will not know until he investigates further.
    Still, it's hardly the most friendly way to ask...

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    Lunata's face droops for a moment as a mysterious man covered in Symbology tattoos comes in front of her and urges her to give her hand out. Lunata looks around, left, right, left, right...

    "Err-- uh-- what? Wait, is something big about to happen?" is Lunata's reaction, as she unwittingly throws her hand out, peering around for anything about to explode or anything particularly out of the ordinary. You never know when another bout of shenanigans is about to happen, after all...

    A pause, as she leaves her hand halfway, to go, "Wait, who're you?"

    Sure enough, she exudes death with all her being -- nothing about her is alive, not even blood, breath, beat, none of the telltale signs of life... an ancient necromantic circuit courses through her. Something viscously black and primal.

<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.

    How helpful she is.

    The wizard does not hesitate to grasp her hand, however she might hesitate halfway. His eye narrows, his lips move in the silent syllable of the spell upon which he calls. If there is any trace of the Working within her, he will find it. Like calls to like: it is an ancient rule of sorcery.

    He finds nothing. Not even the faintest of echoes. There is nothing within her to answer his summons. Even that horrible girl had at least some trace of the spell she had been vessel to. But there is nothing within this girl.

    Nothing, except the sickly necromantic pulse that beats within her in the place of a heart. She should be dead, Timotheus realizes, his sole eye widening slowly with the realization. Except--

    'Wait, who're you?'

    "...You should not exist, should you, girl?" Timotheus says, regarding her with no uncertain interest. His bony hand still grips her own tightly. "Yet, you still speak. And with some semblence of intelligence, at that! How very fascinating. Girl... by what hand have you eluded death's call?"

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    Lunata winces a little, more out of reflex than actual pain, because this guy's being a weirdo! He's doing some sort of spell, she knows that much, but... heck, she doesn't know what he's finding for, but after he answers--

    You should not exist, should you, girl?

    Lunata wrests her hand harder to pull it away. "Excuse you, I exist very much right now, thank you." A quiet huff as she puts her hands to her waist. "'Some' semblance of intelligence? I'm plenty smart, you know! I know big words like, 'carnelian' and 'disenfranchised'... wait, does that refer to people that don't get to run a franchise?"

    She rubs at her chin, confused for a moment. But then he asks-- what hand has she eluded death's call?

    "... why do you wanna know?" Lunata asks. "What kinda interest do you have in that?"

<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.

    There are very few situations where the wizard's actions would be considered anything even remotely normal... if what he does now could be considered normal under any condition at all. The only good news for Lunata is that in this moment, nothing he's done causes her pain.

    But what is he doing, just now? Certainly it can't be anything good.

    Those bony fingers, for all they might clutch her hand tightly, have no real strength. They cannot hold against her when she pulls her hand from his. Timotheus huffs a sound that could be amused or possibly even annoyed.

    "Do you? You lack most signs associated with 'existing', girl. Not a drop of blood circulates in your veins. You do not even breathe. And yet, you speak," he says, running roughshod over her protests about her intelligence. "You, by all accounts, even think. What sorcery has animated you, girl? Even a necromancer cannot easily achieve thus."

    She asks him why he wants to know.

    "Fool," he tells her, shaking his head. "Why else would one seek such knowledge? You have achieved a sort of eternity. Tell me... what is it like? What must you attempt to sustain yourself in this state?"

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    "Oh, look at you! You're positively just as bony! Do you even eat properly, mister? You look like you could use a lot more carbs and fat in your diet," Lunata retorts for, mostly, the sake of retorting. She bends forward with her arms still on her waist.

    "I have blood, thank you! Sure, it's like, goopy and viscous and black and nothing like blood at all, but it's kind of like blood!"

    A grouse. "Fine. If you're so interested, it's not a secret anyway. I fell into some weird ancient relic machine that duped me into making a deal, and I traded my life for my mom's."

    Said with... about the same level of gravity of 'I went to the corner store to get bread and milk and eggs'.

    "What's it like? It's... ... I mean, you ever spring a leak on your home and put a bucket underneath it and it's like, 'oh gosh it's gonna overflow sometime' but you can't just patch the ceiling?"

    A longer pause, as she plants one hand to her opposing elbow. "... it's just time. It's not a good deal at all. So hey, mister, if you're looking to be next in line, don't, it's a total dupe of a scam."

<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.

    Normally, the archmage would ignore such things and proceed towards his point of (self-centered) interest. But that's before Lunata opened not by insults directed at his means and methods as much as his...

    ...body?

    "...Quiet, fool," Timotheus tells her, perhaps surreptitiously attempting to hide his hand under the sleeve of his robe. "My diet has no meaning in this matter. You, however... how is it that you have managed to sustain yourself?"

    There isn't blood as such in her veins. Instead, there is something else, circulating in accordance with some other mechanism than her heart.

    But her secret is at least readily handed over.

    "An... ARM? Not sorcery, but an ARM?" The wizard's lip curls, as if in some mild distaste. "Hnn. The ways of the ancients had been ineffable. Bah. So you transferred your life for a life, and gained eternity in the process? Hmph. So sacrifice is required for such a method... And I suppose you would be unwilling to tell me the location of this... machine?" Timotheus speaks the word with some distaste.

    Someone had once remarked that advanced technology is not dissimilar to magic and he hasn't been able to let that one go since.

    What is it like, though?

    He at least has the sense to ask before plunging headlong into lichdom. An eternity of agony is hardly worth the trouble, especially now.

    "...I do not understand what you mean, girl. Are you ever this sort of a fool?"

    It's just time.
    It's not a good deal.
    It's a scam.

    His eye narrows.

    "I see."

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    Oh no, Lunata can sense when she's hurt someone and they're more sensitive to their body image than she thought. "H-hey, it wasn't meant to be a jab, I just like seeing people fed well, okay?? Carbs and fats are not your enemy and people saying they are are trying to sell you a fad diet--"

    She pauses, as the wizard continues on and makes a face about it being an ARM. "Well, I don't know, it seems plenty magical to me, but it's definitely part-machine."

    Transferred a life for a life, and gained eternity in the process...

    "... not eternity," Lunata explains. "My time's borrowed. When it's up, my soul gets trapped in--"

    She squints and focuses, and a momentary flash erupts as her katana, with the Original Artificial Medium embedded within, appears. "--here, I think? I can't quite figure out if this is a key or the whole kit and caboodle. There's also a giant robot it's part of?"

    She sighs faintly and rubs her head, saying, "Hey, it's not fun to call people fools!"

<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.

    "Silence," the mage says on that matter, fixing her with a stare as Lunata worries whether she might have come on far too strong. He moves on soon after.

    "So a mixture of machine and magic," Timotheus muses, narrowing his single eye. "Blurring the lines between disciplines, were they? Such nonsense is ever difficult to decipher..."

    With little aptitude for such things himself, it of course becomes difficult for him to then untangle the meaning of the magical machinery he has been involved with over the years. He's had to summon specialists to assist with the other end of the problem, which means that he has a mechanism he cannot fully comprehend.

    Someone like the wizard dislikes incomplete understanding, however they come at it.

    "Not eternity?"

    Her time's borrowed. Eventually, she'll end up a soul trapped within...

    He takes a step back, clutching his cane as she produces the blade.

    "...A half-baked eternity. Feh. I have no need for such things."

    A giant robot?

    It might be fair for anyone who has ever known the wizard to assume he would brush this single comment to the side. Instead, it's planted a seed of an idea in his mind, the only distasteful portion thereof being the part in which it involves a robot. But the power of a Gear... the power of a Gear, and combined with the power of Symbology...
    He dislikes but one third of the whole. Perhaps distaste could be overcome, if circumstances required.

    It's something to consider, in any case.

    He waves off her protest about his language in the meantime and draws himself up. "You would think to tell me, Timotheus Lovelace, what he should do? I will name fools as I see them, girl. I tire of this."

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

    "... well, good," Lunata puffs up ever so quietly, putting her hand to one side. "At least I convinced you to not go after it. Like I said, it's a totally bad deal. Eternal punishment's not the kind of thing I want either, you know?"

    She blinks a few times, though, when he draws up and folds her arms. "Timotheus... Lovelace?" A pause. "Like... huh, are you like... Josie's uncle or something?"

    A pause, as she puts her hand to her cheek. "Also, better a well fed fool than a bony weirdo!"

<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.

    "Hmph. Whatever it pleases you to say."

    It may be a rare moment: Timotheus has been dissuaded from tangling in the likes of one thing that would end his mortal existance and/or also his soul.

    Unfortunately, there are so many other options out there for him.

    At the mention of that name the wizard scowls, his wrinkled face -- what can be seen of it -- lining in displeasure. "Do not repeat that name to me again," he says to Lunata, drawing himself upright. "She is no kin of mine."

    The fact that she'd tried to kill him is evidence of that.

    No matter. He has no need for scions.

    "...Enough," he says to Lunata at last, cane trembling in his grasp. "I will tolerate no more of this. I have the answer I sought, much to my own distaste. I have much to do."

    Though he still pauses a moment.

    "Should you see that boy. That other boy, caught in his thrall... tell him I have much to ask of him. Leon Albus... you are as much a puppet as I..."

    Tap-tap. Tap tap tap.

    He does not even say goodbye as he walks off. How rude.