Through the Living Heir

Rebus nodded, and teleported the two of them into large open space, the walls of which were grey, weirdly blurry, and slightly glowing. Yup. Ever tried to find cookies that were actually good but still gluten free? It’s hard. Rebus had been talking to Beosta, but that might have been ongoing from last night. He’d thought the baking product precipitation had been partially Shoe’s doing, which had been what he was talking about. Depends if the cookies can do things. If they don’t, you probably don’t need anything. It’s a funny background event, or maybe foreshadowing. If you want to interact with one of my characters, I think Sagerian is still around.

Ooh! This sounds really cool - I’ll pitch several characters, and you can decide which ones I should use. If you’re familiar with Rebus (I have a slightly out-of-date bio in my blogs), I’m thinking of sending one of his (weaker) clones here as well. I’ll make another character sheet tomorrow.

“Which is why I was saying I needed an endothermic reaction.” Will sighed, trying to remember how potassium iodine was supposed to be made. Fire was involved, perhaps?

“Case in point. Or point in case, maybe.” Rebus came up to Cricket. “Speaking of which, I’ve got a combat diagnostic for you to do. And the others, though Rose and Beosta are getting ready, and I believe Shoe is busy.” Some cookies ended up on Rebus’s moon, and his nanomachines ate them to self replicate. Some rabbits, weird mollusk-dragons, and invisible snakes were also very happy. The dreaded Eerf-netulg, on the other hand, was very much unhappy. It sulked in its mountain lair.

Rebus sighed. That made everything simpler for everybody; except for him. Though it did mean he didn’t have to worry about the Witherlord. Yup, certainly. If we want to really delete it, I can run a very brief plot in which someone have Onyx delete Muin from history using Lore. “Nope! After speaking for another ten minutes, or playing music for a little less, I’ll wind down, though. And the ridges probably need re-charging at some point.” Rebus nodded. He’d eventually need to explain the fact he was a Narrator who owned celestial bodies, but for now he’d done all he needed. “I hope you make it, and come out better, more than you were before. As for the party, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Both parts were true. Rebus didn’t really want the world - he wanted to be with his friend. “Combat, mostly. I’ll set up a simulation, and you’ll be challenged by different situations requiring different skills.” Rebus said this to both Rose and Beosta, though they were not in the same room. My worry is not for your experiment, but for my friend. At the moment, these are the same, but if you truly think a test subject cannot also be a person, I can separate them. “I’m pretty sure both of your swords are mind-altering parasites; in fact, many Plotblades seem to be.”

Chord giggled as well, improvising some more music. “Excellent. I’ll get you my notes and materials soon.” Rebus sighed. “I don’t know either.” Rebus nodded. “I can make a sort of armor layer - but we should do some tests to determine skills to be enhanced and vulnerabilities to be accounted for.” Rebus nodded. “I will write up some specs to propose while you do an baseline test.” Pretending is fundamental! Have you forgotten the realm in which we live? We are made from pretending - Symbol knows that, and having someone who understands is uncountable. She is one of two people who understands me and yet has not betrayed me. She’s also the only anchor I truly have - my successors are in place, and my legacy is ensured; I am not merely me, and if not for my friendship with her, I would not need to maintain this. Though I may “pretend”, I keep my promises - trust me, you do not want to go up against Rebus Honesty Clarke with nothing to lose. And Symbol is the last thing for me to lose. A bipedal thing formed of dirt and what seemed to be splintered bones walked up to whichever character you choose. “I am the Render. I have little purpose now - I require a superior material, and will perform tasks until my quarry returns.” “I suppose. I don’t really want to be a squirrel, though.”

Will nodded, looking for potassium. “You didn’t give me any temperature changing equipment, that’s all.”

“It’s a sword. Sure, it’s a sword that can teleport to your hand, but it’s still a sword. You, on the other hand, can stop time, or at least movement.” Heir did not know what that song was but Chord certainly did. “Yup!” “Excellent. I can likely find diamond mines, and of course money is no problem - I know of a few colleges, and they’d certainly be able to teach you things, though as I said outside the Eternal Mountains your ability to construct things with Nullite is unparalleled by any except possibly the Ennullers.” Rebus put his hand on her shoulder. “I will fix you if you need me to. I promise.” Rebus nodded. “I can do four different kinds of electric shocks, actually - contact, tesla coil, arc, and electrolaser.” He demonstrated each - contact required touching something, the tesla coil made lightning branch off of it, arc was one thing of lightning between two points, and an electrolaser was a line (because apparently you can use a laser as a wire). Meat bounded past in the distance - evidently returning home - and could be heard calling, “Me! Galileo Galileo…” before his voice receded again. “I can certainly do that. Not that it’s any more helpful than lasers in most circumstances, but it’s often more fun.” If you take her from me, there’s nothing stopping me from destroying you. Rebus was still talking in a mock-pleasant voice.

We can just say he’s doing it offscreen - though Rebus had expected Cade to plant it on planets as Pyk and Asher traveled. The young man roasting marshmallows, who was presumably nearby since they were both talking to Bacon, and neither had walked away or teleported, noted, “a lot of people are scared of Authors, probably for good reason. Manipulation, godlike powers, and all that. Basically Narrators but worse. From what I’ve overheard, you indeed probably don’t want to mess with that thing - generally a savior complex is a problem.”

“You gave me the ingredients. I know how to combine them. I am physically capable of doing so. Hence, I can.” Will, despite the sarcasm, began the process of condescending the proper amount of iodine onto the salt. “I assume you want me to find an endothermic reaction to do this?”

Will then looked for salt, salt water, or sodium and chlorine - though that method for making salt was not very safe. “So then what’s the challenge?”

That was good - for Rebus, at least. Uh, honestly I would, but YouTube is probably more comprehensive and easier to access than I. Rebus kept waiting, for he knew his Author was about to eat dinner.

Will looked over the ingredients, searching for a purple gas. “From scratch, with seaweed, or is there iodine in here somewhere?” That wasn’t the experiments, of course - he’d read a book about recreating civilization from scratch far before this had happened.

“Finally. These are tedious,” Will said, though they were far better than some of the tests he’d been through, “what do you want me to make?”

Rebus was glad about the first part. Heir was worried about the second part - can I be of any help?

The scientist watched. Will kept solving puzzles - what else was he supposed to do? It wasn’t like they let him do science - or whatever passed for it here.

Rebus waved, and as soon as Cade blinked or looked away, he was gone. Rebus had thought he was still asleep, though the point was still valid.

Will looked down at the puzzles. They’d been repeating recently, but these were new. He sighed - that old block one had been quite fun. Then he moved pieces around, sketching out solutions in the air as he thought through the answers.

“I didn’t say it wouldn’t be. Oh - don’t break these things unless you want a pretty significant explosion; they’re powered by antimatter, though they are quite durable.” Actually, I’ve been pulling how Chord should work from a YouTube video someone showed me - they made a piano that could move its keys, and figured out how to make it talk. “Yup! Do you like any songs?” Rebus kept walking, looking around at the mountain(?). After a moment, he spoke again, “I understand if you wouldn’t want to be away from your family, so I created three different options - plus, of course, declining. Firstly, you could continue to live here, but work in my laboratory - the technology I have is advanced enough to provide nigh-instantaneously transportation. Secondly, you and your family could come live nearby to my laboratory - again, advanced technology means you could have basically whatever you needed. I’ve been trying to give it out and improve living standards, but people are reluctant for some reason. Thirdly, you could have most of my schematics and test materials here - there are some that I want to classify, of course - and send in any progress or prototype designs you can’t make here. As for payment, I can do a lot of things - advanced technology, once again. I doubt you’d actually have a use for a bunch of pure gold, or a diamond the size of a house, but occasionally people have asked me for them, and that is a thing I can make with little trouble. I’m not trying to bribe you or anything - honestly dealing in material goods stops making sense once you have space travel and cascade production - but I can probably deliver whatever you ask.” Rebus would have tears in his eyes, but as usual he didn’t do that automatically. “And I’ll be with you - and waiting for you here, protecting the two of us so we can do this.” Rebus chuckled. “What about ‘requires a layer of nanomachines a foot thick’ did I not articulate? I can do levitation and telekinesis via utility fog, ‘iron skin’ which will actually be far stronger via nanomachine armor, lightning via electro-lasers or tesla coils, energy blasts via normal lasers or an approximation via utility fog, acid spit via either manufacturing acid or self-replicating nanomachines, healing via nanomachines, enhanced physical abilities via nanomachines, barriers via utility fog, any kind of conjuration via molecular assembly… anyway, most of the powers you might want can be duplicated through utility fog, molecular assembly, and enhancement nanomachines - and I also have lasers, antigravity, teleporters, and any sort of normal technology.” Rebus wasn’t actually sure who he was talking to, so he decided that he explained similar information to both Beosta and Rose. No, actually. I’m not done being with Symbol. I’m sure you’re very altruistic and all, but I’m actually quite selfish, and don’t care too much if you’re saving the world. If you tell me what you’re doing to her, she might simply let you - and I’ll go with her. Otherwise, unless you’d like to be sent a mentally hazardous message, go away. Rebus sighed, since he’d literally just made an entire planet into potential sleeping locations. But he stayed awake through the entire night, though completely immobile in parade rest. Maybe Shoe would want to retroactively talk to him - Beosta could stay asleep. “Yes. A squirrel is a squirrel, and I am me. If I was a squirrel, I would still be me, unless I wasn’t me, in which case I would be a squirrel, but I wouldn’t be a squirrel. S’more?”

Yeah, pretty much. The GMs will, if needed, enforce it - usually they don’t have too, since the goal is less to win the games and more to have fun playing a character trying to win the games. If people were willing to cheat through out-of-game knowledge, they could also cheat by simply refusing to die.

Are you familiar with the concept of metagaming in a game such as D&D? Effectively, it uses the honor system to not have your characters know things that you do - just as responding to attacks with plausible injuries is honor system.

“Yes, pretty much.”

“I know many people, but perhaps not.” Rebus handed Cade the objects he wanted planted, smiling.

Rebus sighed internally, since it meant he basically had to wait. Rebus kept smirking. Would you have done anything different? I don’t see you trying to save the world - and in fact you’re opposing me.

Rebus nodded curtly. “You’ll be able to have the same tools - that was molecular assembly, not Narration,” he noted. “That is a deal, though I shall spend the same amount of effort on your favor as you will have on mine, and may veto - just as you have - if it harms the few people I care about.” Chord finished the song, and switched to Rush E, interspersed with giggling and commentary. “You’ll can play this on the piano, but only if you have three hands.” “Alright. I’m a metaphysicist, and I have a few projects going that could use the expertise of an inventor skilled with working with Nullite. I’ve been attempting to construct nanotechnology using Nullite components, attempting to improve a metaphysical reaction involving Nullite, and trying to distribute Narrative powers more evenly so that society can be benefited rather than me.” Rebus thought Symbol was right. The party was ending, and maybe so was Symbol as he knew her. “Camouflage would let your tattoos change color to make you match whatever background you’re on, or to even seem invisible from specific perspectives.” Rebus demonstrated, changing the color of his clothes so the wall could be seen through them. “As for nerves, I can connect my technology to them so that you can control it as you would a limb. It would go only one way - though I can also do the reverse and send information through thought.” Rebus loved the attitude, though they hadn’t really done anything. “So, would you like to head over to the headquarters? Alternatively - or additionally - we can talk more about ethics and Antagonist, or come up with a name for the organization.” Rebus held of a list of Cricket’s powers he’d taken directly from the wiki. “Is this more-or-less complete? Would there be any powers, skills, or tools you definitely want?” Rebus could accomplish most of them, actually. “To inflict pain or perform mind control is difficult - I’m not planning upon using magic, so you would have to actually interface with the nerves. The others, though, are quite possible. Not all at the same time, of course - unless you want to be walking around in a layer of nanotech several feet thick.” I’m not even sure - though I am back. Me too! And of course discovered all the things Rebus had been doing - destroying a planet, walking away with Bat’s father, and recruiting the rest of her and Bat’s friends towards a surprisingly innocuous organization. Rebus waved at her, smirking.