methods and tools

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

The gate opens in an small space. Through a doorway ahead is a mid-sized room, scattered with chairs. One wall, directly across from the doorway to the incoming gates area, is made of some clear material. On the other side of it is another room, with a metallic floor raised slightly above the first one's, with a half-dozen complex diagrams and space for many more.

The way into there appears to be through a decontamination room to the left. There is a door on the right into the rest of the base. Embedded in the wall to the left is the door to the outgoing gate area.

Both rooms are windowless and otherwise minimally decorated.

(Observant guests may note that the gravity is about a third of what they are used to.)

Comments

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Hugs. "Um. I assume you have been more careful about checking who the people you are talking to are, and about them, since then?"

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

Oh. Slightly tighter hug. He nods. "Not your group in particular though, not until I'm warded, and then I will. But you personally seem fine."

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn makes a face that is simultaneously concerned and touched. After a moment more of hugs, she detangles herself and sits down in a conveniently placed chair, muttering about bloodloss.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

"I am still planning to, though. I don't know if it'd interfere with your magic, but there's a little ritual that sometimes helps with bloodloss?"

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn nods at the first thing, and at the second says, "If it is actually replacing the lost blood and not just supressing the side effects it would definitely interfere. The latter case is somewhat more complicated--" she explains it briefly, before shrugging, and drinking some more of her protein drink. "It is mostly just annoying, though."

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

He nods in sympathy. "It can help with the lightheadedness, but doesn't actually give you more blood." He pulls the bloodstone out of his pocket, then reaches for a different pocket before stopping and muttering something about party security.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn squints at him for a moment, and then makes a comprehending noise, and produces a knife from somewhere on her person, offering it (correctly, hilt-first) to him.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

"Oh! Thank you!" He takes the knife and turns his arm over, looking for somewhere with less nerves or major blood vessels.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

"Be careful," Thorn says. "It is, um, very sharp."

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

He nods, and carefully pokes his arm with it. He swaps the knife to his other hand, and presses the bloodstone against his arm. He looks to Thorn for permission, and then presses the stone to her forehead. The blood glows briefly blue, then disappears.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Yes, that is a thing that just happened.

She wordlessly offers him a cloth with which to clear the knife, and a flat thumb-sized object.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

He wipes the blade and hands it back to her, hilt-first. He accepts the thing that is apparently a bandage and applies it to his arm.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

The knife disappears again. "Thank you," she says, after a moment.

She reaches out absently to pick up the necklace, and then stops, looking at him.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

He looks nervous, but then nods. "It's probably not evil..." He sounds extremely dubious.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

"I know what it is," she says, as it occurs to her that he might not know that, "and we checked, too, if it is doing something else it is hiding it amazingly well."

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

"Good. Uh. Is it dangerous to know what it is unless you're the one who bought it or who uses it?"

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

Thorn blinks. "No? --Um, it is a Takkarash minting kit."

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

"Oh, you can feel pain? Are you sure it will definitely only hurt you when you tell it to?"

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

"...Yes? --This is a biomorph, not a synthmorph with a synthetic mask. --And yes, we checked the triggering mechanism very thoroughly." She reaches out and scoops up the necklace, watching him for alarm as she does so.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

He still looks slightly confused, but lets it go. He watches as she picks up the necklace, but doesn't try to stop her.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

She holds it for a few moments, thinking. "--Would you be more comfortable if this looked different?"

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

"It looks pretty evil right now, but disguising it wouldn't change what its true form is? So it would be the same either way. So, do it if you want to?"

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

She gives him a slightly puzzled look, but shrugs, and slides the necklace over her head. After a moment or two, with slight concentration on her part, it shifts, digging the thorns into her skin. She looks slightly pained for a moment, and then it fades. Black coins appear on the table beside her.

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[dotted_lines]

After a moment of this, "Thorn? Not sure if you noticed, but the necklace is biting you."

Re: Thorn and Dotted Lines

[onwhatwingswedareaspire]

She is visibly confused for a fraction of a second before noticing his alarm, and then directs the thorns to retract before answering. "Biting is -- not exactly the word I would have used, but, yes, it does that."