Through the Living Heir

“I’m sure.” Rebus smiles.

“That’s a villain skill as well. A subtle, smug smirk of amusement rather than a smile or grin.” Rebus copies the expression.

“Not right now, no. But great minds think alike, and I daresay this group includes some of the greater minds of the Thread.”

Rebus tilts his head to the side is a “perhaps” shrug. “I suppose so. She can die and you cannot, so if you do end up outmatched or merely taken by surprise by the Ennulling grenades, that would be problematic. Though I suppose we could bring you back.” He smiles. “Causally duels would be interesting, actually, once we cover fighting. Villain combat is fun - you get to casually backhand people, or use your powers to the same effect while you stand there looking scary.” @Halcyon The Only, is Ruia listening? Or the mercenary, for that matter.

Rebus shrugs. “You’re threatening people without knowing what they can do. That means you cannot prepare for their capabilities. Maybe you’re fine - I don’t know what this specific person can do.”

“My origins? Or my organization’s? I need no tea - and truly, I have very little stake in most conflict.” Rebus smirks a bit. “Perhaps that is true - you did perform several impressive schemes. But you’re acting on incomplete information, I suspect. And regardless, if this devolves into petty boasting, nobody here gets anything done. Except me, of course, so carry on.” @Halcyon The Only

Rebus waits patiently for the two to stop fighting. It wasn't as though he had anything he needed to say, and combat between the two could be interesting. He does raise an eyebrow at the arrival of the hunter, but continues staying silent. Alright, I'm going to sleep.

Alright what now? Ruia kinda has to do something or we’ll stall out again. Though I need to do my homework, shower, then sleep, so I won’t necessarily be able to post more tonight.

This is pretty cool, though I don’t have time to fully think about and give feedback on it. How does culture and magic interact? Especially the healing magic - how do people feel about that obligation-wise?

Hmmm. Now I must canonize fun facts about five people. Rebus steeples his fingers, thinking. He also suddenly realizes something, which he would attend to later. “Fun facts? I’m pretty different from the original version of me, but the same as the first copy. I’m the only one here who isn’t proudly telling everyone about my evilness. I have a moon, but nobody wanted to visit. I learned to swordfight instead of Narrating the skill, because it’s fun and challenging, as well as practical.” Most of the Machination member are either less open, or less interesting. The winged man has the second highest death count of any member in his cell. The grey man has a cat with similar enhancements. The woman in power armor wanted to learn time magic originally, but couldn’t find a teacher. The man in the cloak found the Machination by accident, and decided to join instead of being killed. Rebus nods. “I’ll go set things up in the rest of the laboratory.” He walks away, using waving various walls and equipment into place.

The other Machination members perform similarly aloof greetings, clearly for the purpose of intimidation. Rebus steeples his fingers. "Shall we begin?" We probably shouldn't begin, as I have work to do and NameIess needs to be here.

The Machination students showed up, and we did some descriptions without prompting the interaction further.

Rebus (last updated 2/4/25) Rebus is very interesting… He’s close to main-character status, at least to me, so there may be some hedging here. Oh, and I probably have control of everything he does - it’s just method acting. Appearance: Rebus is fairly tall, handsome, and has a lean, muscular build. He’s got dark hair and orange eyes, which are made endlessly deep with metamaterials. His outfits - in most cases either a long coat over loose, functional clothing or a suit of sleek armor with a more cloaklike coat over it - are black and white, with glowing orange lines at or paralleling the seams enhancing the dynamic silhouette. He’s perpetually surrounded by neigh-invisible utility fog, making the air around him slightly blurry. Personality: Rebus helps those who ask for it, and has been trying to acquire resources to assist himself and others. He’s sometimes frustrating or confusing, but does his best to be friendly despite what he views to be the failings of his Author. He wants to be written and paid attention too, and has been seeking a legacy of some sort. He often has plans and is prepared for many things, sometimes driving him to act cocky. That being said, he’s fully aware that his Author won’t give him needless plot armor, so he needs to use tools and plans to do what he wants to. Skills: Narration, knowledge of science and metaphysics, physical enhancement through nanomachines (which includes enhanced speed, strength, and a healing factor), conventionally acquired swordsmanship, mental control system for his technology, ability to read the Thread and say Author tags, hive mind of clones, at least four methods of teleportation, probably some other things. Significant possessions: Abstract, an item from the Dreamsmith. It’s invisible and helps Rebus Narrate more abstract things like plot. It also automatically Narrates to defend itself and his possessions. Utility fog. These practically invisible nanomachines surround him always and form any shape Rebus wants. They are also molecular assemblers, and Rebus is experimenting with constructing them with Nullite. Teleportion network. Rebus has been handing out and placing (using Narration, so they’re where they need to be) these fist-sized beacons. The fixed beacons are mounted on telescoping poles, and can be used by anyone at the cost of one thing that is theirs (which doesn’t necessarily have to be physical). A Plotblade. It takes the form of an ornate bastard sword, and its name and powers have not been revealed. Rebus was very happy with getting it, though, and it’s keyed to his own archetype. Rebus also has so many tricks up his sleeves it’s a wonder there’s room for his arms. He has quite a bit of exotic matter, technology, Narration, allies, and general cunning at his disposal. A personal moon converted into nanomachines serves as his base, and a has a high-tech laboratory in the same star system, far enough away that any explosions won’t damage the moon. Significant relations: Rebus is friendly acquaintances with many people, including Bacon, Omen, the Dreamsmith, Bat, Tam, Cricket, Shoe, and Ryss. He’s a partner in crime to the Scribe and Lady Bug. He grudgingly respects many of the more friendly villains, such as Ruia, Atredies, Malevolence, and Desolation, and is willing to work with them if needed. He’s infuriated a few villains, as well. This number includes the leader of the Malstrom and Ruia’s brother. There are many copies of him around, most full extensions of his mind. Significantly, one serves as the Narrative security system for Entoturis, and a rogue clone named Rebel has stolen some Narration, some technology, and the Plotblade Cursed Treasure. At first, Rebus was annoying, undirected, and poorly characterized. After a brief stint attempting to prank Bacon and the Emperor (among others) by blowing them up and destroying their possessions, creating a relatively successful display of pyrotechnics that ended in disaster, and stewing in anger at his Author for making him poorly, his personality changed drastically and he suddenly became much more likable. In this new state, Rebus set out to make friends with many people and to gather several magical weapons to prepare for conflict, giving out a great number of quasi-Plotblades (which can be retconned into the possession of characters who missed the opportunity, but are unfortunately cursed). He did several other things as well, but most of it is already mentioned under either relationships or possessions.

The ball of darkness wanders around, looking for something to do. “@Halcyon The Only @NameIess,” Rebus says under his breath, looking at Ruia and Malevolence’s frozen forms. “Do you two want to keep going?”

“Perhaps. What do you need?” The standing shadowy figure ignores the furniture, as the Ghost is actually sitting down.

Rebus’s eyes go wide. “Interesting… Narration itself messes up any attempts to learn about this on my own. It’s a candle next to a roaring bonfire, and even if it self ignites, it’s hard to disregard sparks as a cause.” He pauses. “That was a weird metaphor. Regardless, I need to actually speak with a scholar to learn something, because I accidentally modify books to match what I know.”

Rebus grins, inwardly wracking his brain for who this man could possibly be, given his backstory was effectively him appearing in a library as a blob of Narration. Perhaps it had happened offscreen? He’d have to use Abstract and retcon the event into reality. “I agree! When I touched the crystal nothing happened - perhaps I could do it now that I know.” “Hmm. Can you move me? The man - Rebus - tried to push me and his hand was destroyed. He says the ions I am making did that.”

Rebus watches, intrigued. He briefly considers enacting the teleportation shielding right then, but decides to watch and wait. “Yes. I am the Ghost, and I lead it.”

As you may remember, all these people have at least one cybernetic vital organ. Among the group were a women in power armor, who had opened the gate; a grey man whose eyes had been replaced with lenses of some sort; a man almost entirely robotic, with sky blue crystals embedded in a set of sharp-looking wings, and a man in a cloak, with a bandoleer of several wands, crystals, guns, and grenades. The mercenaries sit down or stays standing and loom. Rebus nods to them, looking much happier now that the Ghost is gone.

Rebus begins drafting some experiment proposals and hypotheses for once Balitan become familiar with the substances. Xino's description of Prismitite is rather vague. Do you know much about it? Right on queue, a portal opens and several mercenaries file out. You can each run a couple if you want. I'm thinking of giving personality to around three, then keeping the others as semi-faceless.

"Not anymore. At least some of the members attending your lessons will get personality and more power, so they'll be able to take him on."

The orb is very dark grey, seems about the size of a basketball and perfectly round, has lightning leaping at it, and is continuously Ennulling several things, including gravity and electromagnetism affecting itself. "Good. I need to learn my powers. How do I move?"

Hehehehehe Also he said something to her in that post, by the way.

His organization is a travesty, though it does fulfill a niche story-wise. And my Author is spending too much time thinking about them without doing anything about it. Like your brother - I heard they attacked him and got shredded. They’re minions - story wise they are expendable and thus cannot defeat anyone significant alone. What are you talking about? Rebus is completely trustworthy! Though he would quite willingly help do something about Ruia, at least if problems like disintegrating Narrators start to occur. I’m kind of sad Atredies didn’t make any guesses about the Plotblade, actually. I’m thinking I made it a little too frustrating.

The sword gleams once more, then dissolves. Atreides can still hear it laughing in his mind for a moment.