"Sorcery!  Feh!  Sorcery is, Daniel, my love, my Lucifer, my golden angel, host, holder of my sword, holder of my heart, not-holder-and-stroker of my hair... sorcery is futzing with the warp of the parallel timeline.  Wyld magick is the weft, my dear, a totally different thing.  Mortals can manipulate the warp, but only Exalts and Fae can manipulate the weft."

She tosses her head and hair whacks Daniel across the face lightly in a slight rebuke.  What she's rebuking him for, of course, is very much up to interpretation.

"You should most definitely dip your foot and other unrelated body parts in this greatest of arts!  Let us start the first lesson.  Tell me a story."

Daniel accepts the honorifics more naturally than one might think until his train of thought is interrupted by the slight hair whip, bringing a momentary frown over his features as he considers whether he'd said something disagreeable. He soon abandons the notion of unraveling that mystery, however.

"I'm aware they're not the same thing, but warp and weft are part of the same cloth, no? No doubt mastering both will help one weave a greater tapestry."

He quirks a brow at the sudden onset of learning, but by no means rejects it. He discards his first impulse of asking what kind of story she'd like to hear - deducing it was not the point of the exercise - so he draws on the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to stories. The beginning.

"A story? Hm... Alright. Let me tell you of Ginnungagap, of life born between fire and ice, of the primordial ice giant Ymir and his fall at the hands of the Gods, of Creation born from death and reality forged from chaos."

He starts recounting a version of the Norse myth of creation. It seemed a fitting subject.

"no no no no no no!"  She half-babbles, half-groans.  "You're playing right into everything's hands!  Bad!"  She clutches her face with frustration, then tears out huge swathes of pink-and-white hair that never seems to really diminish anyway. "Tell me a STORY.  Not a myth.  Not something anyone's heard.  A STORY.  Your story!  Not a real one!  The first thing you have to learn about the Wyld!  Don't ever ever ever ever use a story that isn't your own!  You're not taking power if you do, you're BORROWING it!"

Daniel frowns as he considers.

"I'll admit borrowing from something powerful and making it my own is something I'm used to doing."

He scratches the side of his nose while he thinks, WAL's overblown tantrum barely registering on his radar.

"So something that's mine, but not real. Hmm... Alright. Does it have to be about me or can I tell my story about something else? Say, the shitty day Brahe is about to have in the near future? Or the society I wish to build once we reach the New World? Or something altogether fantastical like an adventure I never had?"

"As fantastical as you can get.  This is exercise," She tells him seriously, "Use the wyld mundanely and you're using a bazooka to shoot a fruit fly.  Not only does it kill the fruit fly as easily as a spider, but you're wasting valuable bazooka ammunition.

Stretch your muscles.  Lift some heavy narrative weight.  The important thing here is to make something totally, irrevocably yours.  You'll need to build it,"  She tells him, "Piece by piece, brick by brick; some bricks may be larger, some pieces smaller, and there may be gaps.  Then when we make one, we make another, and another, and then- then we hammer them together and twist them around and make them circular."

"As fantastical as I can get."

There's a long pause as Daniel scours his brain for something that was fantastical yet still personally relevant, something he cared enough to make a meaningful story about.

Finally he raises a finger in suggestion.

"The how about I stop borrowing from an existing pantheon and describe a new one instead?"

Unless his idea is shot down, he takes a deep breath, straightens his back and takes on the guise of a storyteller sitting in front of an amphitheater, a lecture hall, or perhaps a planetarium.

"Let me tell you of the Godheads of the New World. There was Creation before their arrival, but so is the world shaped by them that such a history seems irrelevant. Such is as well the world they left behind, for their presence is what defines the spotlight of Creation; while where they came from may define their history, they are each transcendent in their nature and thus able to hold rein of the Pillars of Creation just like their own Fate as they reign over the New World. They are a pantheon of beings who once held different labels - Human, God, Exalt, Demon, Fae - but in strife and struggle they found such distinction secondary to what truly defined them; Purpose, Ambition, Unity. It is through forsaking their differences and finding their individual truths that they learned to break destiny and shape reality; overcame challenges impossible to overcome; time and again they wrested victory, hope and life from where there was supposed to be only Void and bitter failure."

He regards WAL's expression as he speaks, although now that he'd gotten the story going his enthusiasm was rising enough to keep going even if she wasn't entirely happy with it.

"The Godheads of the New World are beings defiant of their given nature who, rather than be shaped by fate and circumstance, transcended to shape Creation in their image instead. First among them is Sol Resurgens, Lightbearer, Morning Star, the Incandescent, who was to be a Slayer and Destroyer, but at his Zenith overcame blind hatred and instead directed his judgment at the injustice of Creation, finding his true nature as a Leader of Men and the Guiding Light of the Living."

He'd definitely gotten carried away there but hey, she'd told him to.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:00, Mon 06 May 2019.

Lucifer's a long way from controlling the warp like she can, but he can certainly conjure up some visuals (as he'd already shown before).  His Fae 'girlfriend' populates the amphitheater with thousands of copies of her, each as heartbreakingly gorgeous as the last, each wild and confusing.

WAL-PRIME almost- ALMOST- looks like she's about to interrupt him as soon as he says 'Exalt'.  But she's shushed by the other audience members.

"So who's the guiding star of the gods?"  Someone calls out from the far right,

"The Fifth Day of Darkness, God of the Embers of Dying Stars, leading in opposition to the Incandescent, angry at falling in importance to the others!"  A third chimes in.

Daniel frowns at the idea of Five Days Darkness being his opposition. While he was genuinely angry at him that one moment after the Buchenwald, he held no particular animosity toward him in general. Even if he was almost as distant to him as Sol was.

Still, he deduces the purpose of the exercise to be like improvisation; don't say "no", say "yes, and". So he flares his Anima, bringing daylight into the amphitheater but also casting elongated shadows behind the WAL-clones and trees.

"While there is opposition and disagreement within the Living, there is no animosity; such matters were discovered trifling in the face of survival and transcendence. The Incandescent, even in his righteousness, realizes that all Light casts a dark shadow, and shadow is different from the Darkness of the Void. He welcomes the opposition, because for all his power he is but one part of a Pantheon of disparate beings made more than whole in their unity. He is driven to his truth and justice, but knows it is not the only one.

But who else is included in the Godheads?"

He makes a grand sweeping gesture, drawing attention to the shadows cast in the theatre, each now flickering with purple-tinged shadows in the form of watchful eyes, umbral talons and vaguely feminine silhouettes.

"In the shadows cast by the Incandescent and in the reaches and nooks untouched by light reigns the Umbral Queen, whose power rivals the Incandescent's yet is less widely realized. Someone once bound for a life in the spotlight, she was torn down to the Shadow; but instead of being broken she embraced her new domain. She goes where she pleases, hears all poisonous whispers and digs her claws to the throats of those who stray from Shadow to the Void. She has one foot shrouded in Darkness and another illuminated by the Light, finding grounding in the space between. As such, she often acts as intermediary when either the Incandescent or his opposition is blinded by hubris."

The crowd titters at this next stage.  One of the others, one with wide bat-like wings and sharp talons with a face like a gorgeous fallen angel starts to speak...

"A pause!"  WAL cries out, her simulacrums turning grey and stopping.

"A good start, my pupil," She's turned to some Fair Folk approximation of a quirky schoolteacher, though there's a weird amount of lace and she has a chameleon riding her head, "When you make a story, others can glom on.  They can change and twist it to their own ends.  It's different from taking a full, already completed one, like the Norse myths you were using earlier.  Here, I've created a pocket of power in your world.  You can choose to accept it, of course... or you can attempt to reject, to push it down."

She tosses a piece of chalk in one hand.

"There are advantages!  For starters the entity jumping in automatically makes themselves subordinate to you.  If their part is minor, this is definitely good, because they're effectively declaring their allegiance to you and protecting your narrative flanks; if their part is major, then that's a point they can chisel away from you later.  So, pop quiz!  Do you accept or reject Lightning #3458's proposal?"

It's a testament to Daniel's willpower he's managing to stick to the subject among this crowd, although he does regard WAL's new habitus with some confusion. Better not get caught up with the details, though...

"That would be the part about Fifth Day of Darkness, proposed by... her?"

His gaze scans the crowd for the clone who'd made the suggestion.

"I feel I should reject it. Claiming ownership of my main opposition this early seems easy to turn against me so I don't want to give away. She could go on to describe an apartheid in my utopia, to wrest narrative control of the Gods despite my intent to include them under the Living guided by the Incandescent."

"That would be the one yes."

She listens.

"That would be wisest.  But can you tell me when having someone like that is a benefit?"  She asks, "When would it be best to have your intent corrupted?  Is there ever a time you strategically allow it?"

She floats up and towards the crowd,

"This is Shaping combat in a nutshell.  I... honestly don't think that normally I would bother this, but... I have a feeling it's important."

Daniel cups his elbow in one hand, stroking his chin with the other.

"I can see two situations like that off the top of my head. One - the invader is so powerful that outright rejection is likely to result in me losing control of the position of main storyteller, so ceding a major part is preferable in order to get them subordinate to me. Two - the invader is a lesser evil in comparison to someone else I anticipate to get involved, so having an ally to strengthen my flanks against a worse invader may prove wise. In the ideal scenario the  third party will enter, spend power wresting control from the second, and be left weakened against me."

He regards WAL thoughtfully, with a hint of concern even.

"I appreciate the lesson and I can see how it might be important, but is there something specific you're worried about?"

"Very good,"  She says with a quick nod, "Yes.  There is a third reason, tied with the second.  Sometimes your greatest enemies are also your best allies.  There's power in rivalry,"  She tells him.  "Your world, without an enemy, is stagnant.  Dead.  Without conflict, there's no life to it, it's boring, and therefore it's vulnerable to a greater story.  It isn't uncommon in Fair Folk society to be someone's best friend and take the place of their worst enemy, and then leaning into it."

She looks a little proud, "Kind of like me!  But yes.  There IS something I'm worried about.  Say that we do break through to another timeline, a fresh one- I've been worried before that we'll just jump into another dead branch.  But say we do.  The moment we do, things will take notice.  The Unshaped will stir."

"Well, it's not entirely dissimilar to waging war - something I've also been expanding my horizons on over the years, as opposed to just fighting. As such it's a valuable lesson."

He eyes her with a slightly amused smirk. "Yeah, I'm not going to excuse everything you've done under that pretense, but I can see the semblance of logic behind your actions. Perhaps you've corrupted me."

At the mention of the Unshaped he gets serious again, frowning as he scratches his neck.

"The Unshaped. They should only be a problem in or near Wyld pockets, being unable to survive in Creation, shouldn't they? Aside from any minions they might send out. But yes, I can see how having more capable hands on that front would be important if only to ensure we actually make it out of the Wyld on the other side."

"Well, that shows you how much and how little you know about the Unshaped.  In the instant we tear a hole through like that, we enter their domain.  Time will then cease to have any real meaning and we'll sort of pull it through.  They can't exist in Creation for very long, but when time means nothing, 'very long' is infinite.  For brief aeons they will be free to ravish and rage through Creation until somehow, some way, we convince them that time holds sway again."

She bats her eyelashes at him.

"I've corrupted you, have I?  Hmmm.  I don't think I've corrupted you enough yet."

"Yes, I assumed something like that will be our main challenge coming out the other side. Isn't it something we will either make or break in the moment though, as long as it might stretch?"

He takes a deep breath as she flutters at him.

"Glad to hear that. Not that I know how much would be enough on your scale."

"Well, I mean, in MY opinion that's the main challenge.  Your opinion should probably differ.  Like, dealing with the gods and yozis on the other side, which I can tell you are pretty much the same as here but who knows how strong they are!  And they might be really pissed you're here."

She bats her eyelashes so hard bats fly from them.

"Well you're not wearing enough black leather for my liking yet, so I think you're still OK!"

”One thing at a time, dear WAL. If we don’t deal with the Unshaped properly we won’t get to worry about the gods and Yozis. Rest assured I’ve been thinking of the challenges on that front quite a bit more than I have the Unshaped, though.”

He shifts a ’really?’ look from the sudden swarm of bats to WAL, before turning back to the swarm and concentrating. If the exercise was successful, the ground would soon clatter with a bunch of baseball bats.

”I do have a biker jacket and a long leather jacket in my wardrobe. I draw the line at chaps, though.”

He turns back to her.

”Thanks for the lesson. I’ll be back for more.”

"Everyone can be improved with assless chaps,"  She informs him.  The baseball bats grow bat wings and fly off to chase a pigeon shaped like a baseball.

"Aww.  You're leaving me so soon?"  She frowns, big globules of tears welling up in her eyes, "It's only been thirty seconds!  You still have so much to learn!..."

Well, the power isn't flickering in the vast globe of wyld energy, so... she can't be THAT upset.  Could she?  Probably not.

"... and tell Core- you know what?  Don't tell him anything.  Let him wonder for once.

"We'll have to agree to disagree on aesthetics, as usual."

He glances around the twisted reality of the Reactor's inside before turning back to WAL with a faint smile.

"You of all creatures should know that time is relative, dear WAL. It was fun. I'll be back to learn and test more things out soon enough."

He gives her an opening for a parting show of affection before heading back out. He still had to confront Sondok about his mystery offspring, but was seriously considering if today was the day to do it after all...

The twisted reality is a strange world of aztec pyramids, candy unicorns, giant WAL titans looking at him, and globes made of iridescent paperclips rotating in unforgettable patterns.  The beauty is enough to make one almost forget that- if one looked hard enough- there was an unmistakable seed of pattern to it, a little crystallization to the randomness.

She gives him a flurry of hugs and kisses and blood-burning promises before he leaves her behind.

As the door of the Reactor's core closes behind him, Daniel breathes in deeply and closes his eyes. It was always an exercise in mental discipline to not go overboard one way or another in that realm of whimsical fantasy, but at least as taxing was the return to banal reality afterwards.

After a long while he takes a deep breath. Well, at least his private hell of a day had a reason behind it now. He considers contacting Sondok but the more he thinks of it, the more he becomes aware of how overdrawn his patience and social reserves were. That, and he wanted to give her a chance to come forward herself for a while longer.

Maybe the best thing he could do today was to go home and do nothing.

A baseball-shaped pigeon flies out of his pocket, bats against his face twice- it was tragically born with no eyes, or else it's just the stupidity of a pigeon- and then flies off into an open pipe.

((Lucy can either End Thread, discuss with Sondok, or hunt down Brahe...))

With the way the day had gone so far, the best option by far was to go home. He wanted to give Sondok a little longer to come forward of her own volition before confronting her - not least because his social reserves were strongly in the negatives for the day - and hunting down Brahe would only result in another wave of outrage as he beat the bastard's face in. No, he would rather exact his revenge in kind this time.

((Unless something comes up, End Thread))

((Lucifer gets a free Disadvantage:  Yet Another Bad Day.  Gain a destiny whenever your day goes... spectacularly... wrong.... for no good reason.  This Disadvantage may fade spontaneously depending on future developments.

This gives him 6 Destiny, 5 Entanglement.

Please spend entanglement on anything you interacted with directly during this thread.  All expenditures subject to approval.  I prefer fleshing out characters/organizations rather than self-improvement for this entanglement purchase.))