don't wait for a knight in shinin' armor, your savior's reflected in the mirror

[perpend]

[That sure was a fucking thing. That execution was a fucking thing. Those secrets are a fucking thing.

Cabanela retreats to his room, but not for all that long. Everyone will get a note eventually, written in very neat handwriting

I do not plan on bowing down to threats and intimidation. If you did not act, it means you were, like me, aware of the risk, but decided against it. Your reasons are entirely your own.

Join me in the dining room if you agree enough is enough, and that you won't acquiesce to threats. I don't plan to let this stop me, and neither should you.

-C

In the dining room itself, Cabanela has set up coffee and tea for those who want it-- there's no food, because to be honest, he doesn't know how to cook. Two more candles have been lit-- he wasn't really sure what to do about the whole... parasite thing... so Fern's candle will have to make due.]

Comments

[heritrix]

Go for it. It'll at least give me some time to collect my thoughts.

tl;dr >> no, nextwave doesn't make any sense

[zomgboom]

So, like. I'm a mutant, right? It's different from being human, and our powers make us outcasts and stuff. We've been trying to fix it forever but, like, this girl named Scarlet Witch took it too far and she, uh. [Tabby pauses, because she skimmed enough to know Rin's secret is about magic somehow.] Cast a spell or something over my world so mutants were, like, the dominant race. Then I guess she got cold feet or whatever and undid that? But, like, she also thought we would be happier or whatever without our powers so, like. She tried to erase mutants entirely.

It mostly worked and kinda didn't - I still have powers, obviously. But after that, like, my previous team wasn't really . . . a thing. I got an offer to join this group called H.A.T.E. which stands for something about anti-terrorism and so, like, I joined. It was whatever, you know? It paid my bills and , which was fine up until it wasn't? My team's leader, Monica, noticed that something was super up with H.A.T.E. and did some investigating which, like, ended badly.

Turns out that H.A.T.E. was being funded by, well, Beyond Corporation which is a, uhhh. Facade? [Pronounced like "arcade."] It's a fake company for this terrorist group called S.I.L.E.N.T. - no, I don't know what that stands for but it's an acronym - which was . . . who we were supposed to be fighting? It's a little stupid, imho. ["Em-hoe."] So we were a tool for them which was, like, not cool because I signed up to fight people like that and not be one of them.

Anyway, I stole their plans and stuff and my team, like, went rogue. We started their shit up - which, like, included some getting thrown around in occupied cities by Beyond's weapons and stuff. I'm, like, trying to take out terrorism and stuff, you know? Property damage is, like, an unfortunate side effect! . . . I mean, like. We probably should have stayed to, like, help them fix their buildings and stuff? But we had stuff to be doing so, like, the best we could do was take care of the weapons for them.

So then, like, our former boss turned into a zombie and because Beyond doesn't around - when they consider you their property and stuff, they'll keep you around by any means - but we had mostly, like, defeated them and stuff but then, like, this stupid guy made us fight these lame superhero teams and I defeated them because, like, I'm awesome. We followed him, to, like . . . This is all, like, speculation? I don't actually remember this part, it's like. From my dreams and stuff, so cut me some slack.

We followed him to State 51 and then he was, like, a M.O.D.O.K. - that one's, like, Machine Designed Only for Killing? I think that's the words it stands for. Anyway, the guy was a baby thing in a robot suit and he was probably a whiney baby to the dinosaur who, like, was apparently behind everything. We probably, like, defeated him and that's, like. The story behind how I destroyed a bunch of cities and could technically be considered a terrorist.

1/2

[heritrix]

[Rin's not hip with this texting slang, she's probably just making a weird face halfway through the explanation because why is Tabby calling her a hoe.]

[heritrix]

[...but okay, she's from Fate/Stay Night, so she's actually here for infodumps. So she follows that? Mutants exist in her world, just in a different way, but she thinks she's getting the gist of this. And as Tabby goes on, her expression becomes more engrossed, too, because seriously, what kind of life do you lead. Also fuck giant robots?? Ugh, why robots.

When the story is over, Rin settles back into her chair, setting aside the highlighter pens to look back at the secret wall.]

It mentions more than properly damage up there. But given the nature of your abilities, I can guess what happened.

[She didn't miss that plasma explanation at the trial earlier.]

[zomgboom]

If a building, like, falls on someone while I'm trying to save them then you could say I'm responsible. I feel sort of responsible, but it's like . . . It's not like I snapped my fingers and killed them all, you know? It's the same if, like, a dragon eats a dude before I can take care of the dragon.

. . . I didn't kill anyone on purpose, is what I'm saying.

[Beating them up and leaving them for dead is another story entirely.]

[heritrix]

No, I gathered that. [She hums.] It's tamer than what I imagined, actually. I was picturing an accidental supernova, but if that happened four times I'm not sure you'd be here either.

[In any scenario, the key term there is Rin gathered from the story whatever happened must have been an accident. Tabby is kind of trashy, but she's not malicious. Just very chaotic.]

[zomgboom]

Nah, but Monica sometimes does that. She turns into, like, microwaves or whatever that'll fry you if you get too close.

[Monic Rambeau got hit with some gamma rays and now possesses the ability to transform into any form of electromagnetic radiation. Except for the ones that they make up on Star Trek.]

That's why we have the catchphrases and stuff - it's to tell the rest of the team that you're about to do something and they, like, might wanna step back.

[heritrix]

Like the ones they shout in cartoons? [She doesn't sound incredulous. That's amusing, but really smart when you think about it.] What's yours?

[zomgboom]

Tick, tick, boom! [She points at Rin and snaps her fingers. It's really weird to do that without something exploding.] I used to, like, go by Boom-Boom. It was a stupid name, but I was fourteen or something when I came up with it so whatever.

[heritrix]

That sounds like a car commercial.

[Boom-Boom, Zoom-Zoom.]

[zomgboom]

All of my codenames were mega stupid. [She counts them off on her fingers as she lists them.] Boom-Boom, Meltdown, Boomer, Time Bomb, Firecracker, Madame McSplode . . . It's why I don't, like, use one anymore.

[heritrix]

You went through that many in ten years?

[zomgboom]

It was more like twenty? I dunno, I don't really keep track.

[Time is an illusion, comics don't care.]

[heritrix]

[...]

You know what? [Rin laughs lightly, shaking her head.] At this point, I just accept that. The stories you tell about your life are some of the strangest ones I've ever heard.

[So far. So far...]

Does that make it my turn?

[zomgboom]

If you're, like, ready? I can tell you more stupid stories if you're, like, still trying to figure out what to say or whatever.

[She means it. Rin's . . . one of her favorite people here? So she's inclined to let her speak at her own pace.]

[heritrix]

[OH... Rin wouldn't expect that at all. During the first trial she made a bad impression, so she assumes most people here don't care much for her.

But Tabby is a lot of fun, so that would pleasantly surprise her. As it is she smiles at the offer, not picking up on the reasoning behind it.]

It's okay, I think I know where to begin.

The important thing to understand about magic in my world that it can't exist without mystery. Magical energy is like water in a well. Everyone draws from the same source, so the more people know people know about it, the less energy there is to go around. If too many people learned the truth, the well would dry up entirely.

The Mage's Association and any mage worth their salt will hide the truth at whatever cost. They don't hesitate to kill anyone who happens to find out about them; it's the most approved way of handling it.

[Rin props her chin in her hand, eyes flickering back to the secrets.] I hate that rule, so I've always been extra careful to avoid discovery.

[That's part of it. She's pausing to make sure Tabby understands so far, before getting into the rest.]

[zomgboom]

So magic is a natural resource and you have to, like, do magic on the down low because of it. [That's . . . weird. Doesn't sound anything like the Sorcerer Supreme, but most worlds aren't like home so that's not surprising.] Does it refill or is it just, like, this is the amount that exists and as we use it then it's gone forever?

[heritrix]

It's a little bit of both. Human mages can generate magical energy too, by converting their own life force, but our spells won't activate in the first place without interacting with the mana in the world around us.

[She raises a finger.] You know how you can't have fire without oxygen, right? It's exactly like that. We're providing the fuel, but without the world's energy to create that chain reaction, we can't make any explosions.

[That's imagery she hopes Tabby can appreciate, because Rin also enjoys blowing things up. Both figuratively and literally in this case; the girl does love her exploding gems. But anyways:]

Both resources replenish, but at different rates. It might take only a few days or hours for humans to generate more mana, depending on how much has been used, but the world replenishes its energy more slowly, as best as its able.

If too much was taken from it all at once, then yeah. It really could be gone forever. It's happened in other worlds.