After fortnight of travel along Kaa's 'river' though the Maelstrom, nerves are a bit frayed. While the trip time is reduced, the negative effects seem to be amplified. This makes it hard to focus in general, so the crew seem to spend more and more time in other pursuits. For Katie and Modo, this means working with tools on the Grunt suit. Hera seems to have fallen into a fugue involving her monitoring equipment, and has even dragged Jonas into staring and little squiggles and equations.
Hakeber has spent more time with the Phins and Jotoki - in the Phin's quarters, making her always seem a bit damp. She also spends large amounts of time deep in research. Since the Phins aren't affected by the flat space phenomena, and are generally cheerful, others have begun to gravitate towards them, including Lacci and Shojo. Liza and Aaron return to their usual duties, but one of them always seems to be with Yue, who still only makes the occasional public appearance.
Professor Stanislav has been monopolizing a lot of Thoth's time, discussing how to deal with what he's learned. The Confederates are usually around, or else spending time down in the Tadpole bay or working with Hera. And there are still the meditation exercises and other focus training (which is not helped by the environment), but Gabriel also spends more time with Tasha than on the flight out. There are a few Karnor piles in Tasha's bed where they all get together for comfort and contact.
"We've contacted a hyperwave relay," Moka announces over the intercom. "Realtime uplink is not available, but mail is working. Please use your personal devices to access or send messages. Don't forget your encryption protocols."
For Tasha, she can at least boast some mild productivity over the course of the unpleasant stretch. For one, she made great strides in to the fabrication of her own Tarot-styled deck as per Thoth's task for her. She's even created several cards and done introduced what she hopes is a clever new way to arrange them, creating an internal system she's rather proud of. By this point three cards -- or capital C Cards as she refers to them -- have been finished, with several other sin various states of consideration or paintwork. Many Cards are only ideas which she doens't feel confident enough to render, leaving them for when her knowledge reaches some nebulous threshold that she assumes she'll realize, to complete them.
When the notice comes in, she brings up her mail system and, while not expecting anything, can't resist the urge to check.
There is a message from Dr. Zerachiel, so the relay they planted near Abaddon must be working. Although it also seems to have gone through their office on Caltrop first.
Tasha makes the Karnor equivilent to "huh," which is a grunted bark-snort sort of noise. She pushes her box of cards -- unfinished ant so not crowned with capitalization -- and brings up the mail. Her head goes on her hand, and as things appear she wonder how he's going to handle her response mail when she gets around to that.
There is a series of images. Somewhat grainy from the compression, but still in color. The first one is of a little Karnor girl wearing an oversized shirt as a dress and smiling shyly at the camera. A stick-on nametag on the shirt says 'Mariel' written in a child-like hand, with a big heart dotting the 'i' in the name.
Tasha's next noise is a squeal so piercing it is a medical victory that no one was within earshot to need Jonas's immediate life saving attention. She clasps her hands under her muzzle and smiles widely, tail flicking like a drunken snake. "Mariel's back!" she announces to no one, too caught up to remember she's alone. This is followed by bouncing, then a hurried tap to the 'next' button.
The next image shows Viceroy Villem Vasterlion at the 'Crab Lab', posing next to the hovering, Earth-magic-controlled artifact from Sinai with the Incursion Stator Crystal embedded in it. There's a lab coat draped over it an Eeee mannequin head perched on top, wearing sunglasses.
"So they finally made those weird crystals work ... " It then startles Tasha to realize that she'd been wearing one around as jewelry for a week or more, the details being fuzzy, but she knows she had one. Knowing what she knows now about the universe, she wonders how she survived this long -- or well, as long as she did anyway. She decides to review the uses of the materials later with Gabriel and the others. After grinning at the display, she heads on to the next.
The third is from inside the massive Winged Citadel hangar. One of Bellerophon's wings is in view, because it's a wide shot. There's a sturdy scaffolding shown, with the partially restored frame of the Themis-Skoll within. In the foreground, however, is a remote-controlled environment suit painted in Nora's colors. The left hand is pointing back at the Gryphon, while the right hand is posed in the Silent Sign for 'mine'.
"Well I can't argue with that," Tasha admits. A flash of memory brings back the awful dream of the Empress, which she wrinkles her muzzle at, but she distinctly remembers Nora's Titan had been remodeled with the crystals from the crab-like entity. She just hopes that the rest of the dream stays a dream. At least, she wasn't nearly as adorable in the dream, so she's probably safe now.
Probably.
Tasha wonders if the next time she returns from where-ever she ends up if it'll be Nora with the oversized shirt and name tag, though she doesn't expect there'll be any hearts. She hits next.
A smiling clockwork doppleganger waves to the camera from one of Harmonia's hangars in the next one. She's probably the one that handled sending the message.
Tasha waves back to the image, caught in the spirit of things. Katie had explained how she sometimes handed out mail to people in distant bases or troops in the field and how important that was, and now she understand it as well as believes it.
Tasha decides she'll have to respond to each one individually, none of that fiasco where she didn't respond to Gabriel after her traumatic brain injury. It's time to redeem herself. She hits next.
The rest is a report from Zerachiel. Amidst the ever-expanding shopping list of needed parts are some odd little notes. There haven't been any daikaiju attacks, the Pit has successfully grown a crop of soybeans, Captain Frane got a minor promotion but is still a Captain, Rapatia broke her foot in an incident she is not willing to talk about, Neesa is pregnant and she and Dr. Caravelli are getting married. Fred has started a relationship with one of the engineering interns.. somehow.
"Leave it to engineering to find a way." Tasha taps a finger on the side of her muzzle, thinking as she reads. Once she's sure she has it all she makes a quick note in another window and then ponders her responses. At length she has it, and so rises to get what she needs.
Roughly a half an hour later Tasha is back and begins typing, activating her camera and syncing her datapad to her terminal.
The first response is to Nora, just because it's also the first thing she did and the rest requires more preparation. She's doing them out of order because of this, and will arrange them later. The image shows Tasha and a, if not bewildered because Thoth only looks one way: Thoth, present and accounted for ex-diety. She signs, "Thoth" with one hand and what roughly translates to, "The maker," with the other, a sign with religious overtones of both 'to make' and 'to create (in a divine sense)". She decides it's suitably clever and files it.
For several others she sends written replies, since her current form would just draw confusion and she isn't sure what to take a picture of. She eventually decides some picture is needed so she takes a picture of Creamsicle as he sneaks around her desk. She congratulates Zerachiel and 'Fudgy,' appreciates the progress on the crystals, says postivite things about developments and saves her guesses about broken feet for herself. Finally, she's on to Mariel, who will actually be the first image and response people see back on Abaddon.
There's a chime at Tasha's door, and the intercom identifies the visitor as Gabriel.
After all that, Tasha gathers up her special arrangements, makes sure her hair doens't look stupid, adjusts her outfit -- such as they are these days -- and makes sure her camera is fully centered and adjust. Once all that's done and slaps the sticker she made on her chest, which reads, "Tasha," with a heart on both ends.
"So, um, hi Mariel! I missed you!" It strikes Tasha maybe that's coming on too strong, so she puts her hands in her lap, looks down, thinks, and then tries, "That is to say, I've been missing you ever since we parted for a time. When I think back, you were really the first friend I ever had that I could count on, who was there for me, and who understood some of what I was dealing with. I know that maybe I didn't visit as much as I should have -- wanted to -- but that's only because I wasn't used to the ... The intensity of emotions. I've never had a friend hurt or, well, what happened, and I missed you, and you were so cute and ... " She inhales, her tail doing a little spin to indicate her oversized state, " ... I wasn't very good with that sort of thing back then. I like to think I'm a little better now, but maybe you can be the judge of that?" She looks up and arches her brows.
Then her brows go her and her eyes wide. "But you're probably thinking, "Who is this weird space fairy?" Well it's me," she points to her sticker, "Tasha, I'm just a lot like you are now, that is, new. Reborn. This may come as a shock but I'm really not very good at being safe. Lucky for me, a very thankful being helped me out. Now you get to be friends with one of the youngest alien species in the Galaxy! I'm a Tasha, we're-- Oh it's Gabriel. I'll be right back." She pauses the recording and opens the door.
"Did you see the pictures?" Gabriel asks with a big grin.
"I did," Tasha replies, tail wagging above her head like an antenna in a hurricane, "I was just in the process of replying to Mariel and Nora in detail. It's a relief to know things are going well back home."
"And a wedding, to boot," Gabriel says, shaking his head. "They must be terribly bored without us."
"What must life be like without constant aliens, threats from outer beings, incessant injuries, startling new discoveries and dramatic interpersonal intrigues?" Tasha shakes her head and throws up her hands, her tail going question mark; it's unfathomable. "They're going to be so shocked when I tell them I'm backing off from the front line and trying to be more cautious."
"There was a letter from Mr. Invention too," Gabriel says. "I may have to have Katie interpret it for me, since I'm pretty sure it's in some sort of spy code."
Tasha nods to this, hands coming together. "I'm not going to even try and penetrate that mystery. Mr. I is on another level." She leans across her desk and pats the chair in front of it, sitting back. "Should I call Katie in?"
"Finish your message first," Gabriel says. "I can stand next to you to show how dainty you are now," he offers with a grin.
"Might help the others believe I'm actually me," Tasha agrees. She waves Gabriel over to her side and then snatches up his right hand with her left, her own right resuming the message. "I'm back!" She beams, then angles the camera up, "So see? Gabriel came to assure you I am Tasha, and look how tiny I am compared to him now! Did I mention I can have children now? I can. Maybe next message you get and I'll be following Remy and Fudgy." She squeezes the man's hand. "What else? We've found lots of mysteries and solved a few -- but I don't want to worry you about those. I'm just glad you're safe and healthy, and that you're back. There were many -- many -- times when I was alone and thought, "I wish Mariel was here," because I did! And, whatever else has happened or might happen, and want you to know this: I will always be your friend and here for you, even if I'm far away." She then looks up at Gabriel and perks her ears. "Right? Have anything to say?"
"There are lots of times you would not want to have been here," Gabriel says. "So run around and play, and build up a nice charge of happiness to rub off on us when we get back. And the message didn't say who was looking after you? Is it Neesa? I hope it's Neesa."
"Oh, we have a baby spaceship that will be visiting soon too. Relatively soon. Time is weird when you travel," he finishes.
Tasha looks back at the camera and nods. "Yes, I'm glad you weren't here for this journey, for your sake. Whatever you do, I hope you're safe and happy. I can't send you a hug so you'll have to imagine it. I'll bring you gifts -- don't let Nora steal them if she gets reborn too." She then nods again. "The Tadpole will be along after we return. We all need a break after this trip so we'll be resting before we resting more, so don't worry about us! As weird as things may seem everyone is recovering and should be well soon. Oh and I made a new friend," she adds the image of Lacci, " ... she's stuffy but I think she'll get over it sooner or later. Be well, Mariel, hopefully we'll be back within a year and then you can ask me whatever you want! Until then I'll try to write." She then blows a kiss and closes the message, dropping back and going, "Whew. I'm not good at these things, but I really have missed her."
"You can probably send something to your mother if you want," Gabriel says. "It's not fast, but the Templars of Abaddon and Sinai keep in touch."
This elicits a groan out of Tasha. "Hi mom, I died a big fish who controls little dragons made me in to a spirit who copies herself. I'm also a mage now who makes cards so I can fight demon gods." She rolls her eyes until they settle on Gabriel, then she then gestures to herself with her hands; how do I explain this. "It migth be better if I wait to visit."
"When you're pregnant," Gabriel suggests. "Your mother won't mind the rest in that situation."
"That'll be a surprise for everyone." Tasha then reaches over to poke Gabriel teasingly. "Someone growled at me." Then she grins.
"It was a friendly growl," Gabriel says. "I don't get to growl very often, you know. A commander isn't supposed to do things like that. So I have to same them up for you. This has been a very growl-inducing journey, too."
"Well I like it," Tasha insists, pushing her chair back with her hooves until she can rest her head against Gabriel's leg. "And just how do you intend to collar me?"
"I figured I would have Katie forge something out of chain," Gabriel claims. "I bet Hakeber knows something about collars too. But I promise not to ask the Lapis for input. Aaron is Amazonian after all. And Liza is scary."
"Yes she is. I think I'm her enemy somehow now," Tasha agrees, face contorting in confusion. "I'm not sure what I did to deserve that. Was it making her clean up after Charon? Maybe being too much of a disaster? Well, Mr. I may replace her, so I suppose scary assistants are how things will be going from now on. Maybe the next god I meet will give me another along side a Marker."
"Maybe pregnancy makes Lapi moody, or she's still a bit confused about your.. reconstruction," Gabriel suggests. "Or that you didn't stay human. More makeover opportunities."
"I wonder what everyone thinks about all of that. Even i'm not sure what to make of all of that." Tasha raps her left hand knuckles against gabriel's legs. "Would you prefer I stayed as a Human?"
"Only if I got to keep you as this one too," Gabriel claims with a grin. "A harem of Tashas. Well, two, anyway."
"What does that mean?" Tasha spins her chair and perks her ears. "Or did I not tell you about Katie's hunting expedition?"
"Because every man wants twins," Gabriel claims. "And you were so timid and vulnerable, it was cute. What did Katie do to you?" He looks curious about the answer.
"I won't share her secrets, but you're not the only one who likes timid and vulnerable Humans." Tasha waggles her eyebrows, then spins her chair around. "Not that I was faking it, being Human makes everything more intimidating, and there's so much self-doubt and the feeling of vulnerability. I'm not surprised Yue is still recovering."
"Well, at least you didn't spend time as a bunny," Gabriel says. "That would have been awkward. But I could see you doing fine as a Phin."
"Don't give me nightmares, being a Lapi would ruin my brain." Tasha self-consciously reaches up to rub her ears, glancing upward. When she's sure they haven't suddenly grown she grins. "I think so too. Maybe I should ask my magic-mentors if I can try it some time. You have to have the right mindset, but if you think I can maybe I can."
"Well, you'd like it for at least an hour, I'm sure," Gabriel says. "Kaa would be rather.. forward.. probably. You wouldn't fall for a rogue like him if you were a Phin would you?" he asks.
"I probably would have tried it already if not for my solemn vows," Tasha admits, laying a hand over her heart, ears back, and assuming a pose of innocence. "But I do have experience turning men -- and women! -- down, contrary to what people may think." But then she shrugs with her hands, spreading them, "I will admit to being curious."
"Oh?" Gabriel asks, and sits on the edge of the desk. "Have you turned down anyone I know?"
"Well of course Kaa has suggested. Shojo clearly thinks about it, and several of the Silent-Ones Titans pilots had made suggestions, even our favorite in the shiny old toy. Rahab would ahve in a heartbeat. I think Captain Frane was thinking it, too." Tasha taps the side of her muzzle, head tilted as she considers. "Horus suggested the Vril-ya might become very interested if I can breed with them. There's Sam too, he's tried casually trying to get me in bed. I think Captain Rushfighter would have, too. I may or may not have slept with his mother." More tapping. "I think that's everyone."
"Shojo?" Gabriel asks, looking surprised. "I'd have expected Aaron. But you and Shojo were together for awhile on Sinai for some pretty stressful situations. Wait.. do you mean Bumper, the pirate queen?"
"Oh Aaron has too, I thought that was obvious. There was also some Lapis in Amazonia, but I thought you knew about them, too." Tasha tilts her head back and forth, thinking. "I got very drunk so I don't remember but maybe. Three days, couldn't-wake-up-Neesa-thought-I-was-dead drunk."
"Three days?" Gabriel asks, eyebrows raised. "You.. probably shouldn't drink like that again."
"Once was enough for two lifetimes," Tasha promises, hand back over her heart. "Titanians were too robust for me even when I was closer to being a Vartan, now I'd probably have to beg Persephone for another new body and I'd come back a pink two foot tall bunny or something."
"You're a little pink now," Gabriel points out. "But that could be my eyes. Early generation and all, color acuity was still being worked on."
"Antique, like all of the things I like to wear." Tasha winks, then spins in her chair, grinning and brows up. "So does this mean you have an interest in a Phin me? In Phins? Has anyone tried with you?" She mock-gasps. "Is it Lacci? Has she fooled us all and is really a master seducer and predator?"
"Well, Hakeber you know about," Gabriel says. "And.. I don't remember any of the names. There were those priestesses in Amazonia that were looking after us. Some guardswomen on Rephidim. Rapatia, Riddle.. what I think might have been some Vartan schoolgirls. A few people on Caltrop. And on the beach during our vacation. And Liza offered to help me out while you were in the recovery tank."
"Hmm," goes Tasha, going over the names. "That all sounds right. I'd be surprised if you said no one, and offended if there was no one." She tsks, then sits up, leaning forward. "If you do see anyone, you can tell me. Maybe we can see what we can do?"
"What?" Gabriel asks, looking shocked.
Tasha blinks at this, leaning back and spreading her hands. "I think we've decided we're going to be together and I've decided I'm yours, so I don't mind if we share someone now and then. Not all the time, but on special occasions? You haven't looked at a Human on the beech and thought, I wish I could lick her?" Her grin is very wicked, which makes it that much worse on such a fae, large-eyed face. A fairy up to mischief. "I know things about Humans, I could lick her."
"Right now, when you say that, I can only think of Yue," Gabriel admits. "The only other interesting human woman I know that isn't already in a relationship is Riddle Smith." He then admits, "It's not like Miss Necessity would throw over Mr. Invention for us."
"And Smith is.. like Liza, but bigger and drunk," Gabriel notes.
"And gods help us if she did, because we'd probably need their help." Tasha nods slowly. "So no one then. I see you like deeper, more mature and interesting women, and I won't compare that to myself." Her wicked expression returns to placid amusement. "I will admit I had no interest in Humans at all until I was one. Now, I don't know, maaaybe? Yue and Riddle are too intimating, but I don;t want to deal with another Lacci either. Well, who knows? I have Katie and Hake, though I do worry if I'm giving Katie enough attention or if she prefers distance. I know she's not comfortable with all of us together. I'm sure now she doesn't like men in that way."
"I was sure of that early on," Gabriel notes. "I suspect there's some sort of trauma in her past too that may or may not be related. Most likely a forced relationship of some sort. The Public Relations sort. And I'm not specifically interested in mature women.. I was just noting the only two human women I actually know. I feel protective of Yue. She's small. It disturbs me a bit that she's so out of sorts that she's wallowing in Lapi."
"It disturbs me too, but if Yue needed help I feel like she'd have instructed us directly in how to assist her. As much as I'm used to dealing with beings with special and unusual powers, I don't really know how to help them when those powers go awry. All I know from talking to her is that she was able to psionically sense and hear the fragmented existences -- existence fragments -- that composed Sam. Sam is his boundary, he is what he knows, and his kind can consume the very essence of a being's soul in to themselves. He even showed the 'where' in him that he did it. And Yue felt them burn away. Sam told me it was the most horrible thing you can do to a being, and Yue felt the echo," Tasha says, letting her expression turn somber. "I of course suspected this but I didn't and don't know how to deal with it. She said she can get proper help when we return, but I don't know what that entails. It's not even something I've felt myself, just have been close to and am aware of."
"She is the closest we have to a psychiatrist, and none of us are qualified to help her," Gabriel agrees. "I haven't seen Sam at all. I think he's trying to avoid some of us, either to spare us or to spare himself. He's probably the only able to understand what Yue is going through too."
"Yue said she could feel Sam's memories, and even all of us -- all of you," Tasha smiles self-consciously, having the decency to look guilty. "That she was connected to everyone, briefly. And I don't know what to do for Sam either. He says he'll recover, and Yue says she will, too. That will have to be enough unless we suddenly need a better solution. My own powers amount to little more than a kind of flashlight attached to my skull, I can just sense the Shadow's presence, not contents or influence it."
"I hate to imagine what is involved in Sam's recovery," Gabriel says. "I wanted to die after the ritual. Really wanted to. But also felt like I wouldn't be allowed to somehow. If Yue was going through that, plus all of us going through it, then being confined in a room with soft things that could also restrain her is probably the best solution we could hope for."
"No dying." Tasha leans over to poke Gabriel several times, and with no small amount of effort. "Neither one of us are allowed to die anymore." She then nods, satisfied, and leans back again. Her muzzle goes thin, and at length she nods. "You might have been feeling Thotep's control over Sam, or Sam's control over you. Ingested demonic essence allows a Shadow being to control the one who ingested it, Sam told me that himself. So it was either his master's call or Sam himself trying to prevent people from destroying themselves, for which I am thankful for."
"He still scares me," Gabriel says, and rubs Tasha's ears for no apparent reason. "I really shouldn't be scared of so many people under my watch. Nora scared me too, you know. But I also wonder how many are just putting on an act."
"They won't get longer," Tasha says of her ears; at least, she hopes they won't. She doesn't really know how her body works and no one except Persephone does either. "And Nora scares everyone, including Nora. Deep down, Nora is both very self-conscious and desperate in a way that's dangerous. Like me, really. Or like I used to be?" She shrugs; it hasn't been decided yet. "And that hunger is a powerful drive, look what it drove me to do. There are dead demigods in our wake. As for Sam, he scares me too, but I try to give him a chance. The best advice I have is to respect what he is and never lose sight of it, but don't let it blind you either. Sam's horrible in a lot of ways, but we all have something in us that can be horrible. Look at Hake, somehow she made it to the Wizard when no one else except me and Yue did. Yue had her mental shielding, but what was in Hake to allow her to pass?"
Gabriel taps his head. "I think she has something like how Sam can make himself ignored if he doesn't want to be noticed. Only her's works on them. Katha-hem put something into her."
Tasha nods slowly. "That would make sense. Hake's got her own struggles with who she is, but I don't think she has some crushing darkness in her, or the drive to push through what we did just to talk to a grumpy polygon." She snorts a laugh, Wizards just aren't a group she seems to be able to get on with. She hopes some distant legend of her's doesn't involve people believing she fights geometric objects with magical powers. "The Vril-ya are similar, did you know that? But the nature of their essence is different somehow. I feel like if I know how, maybe I can figure out what Thoth has been missing."
"Missing? As in failing to understand?" Gabriel asks. "He's had plenty of time to try and figure out the problem, but I think may be incapable of seeing that there might not be a solution."
"Or that he's incapable of seeing the solution. The Vril-ya are by nature very set in their ways, they see everything in terms of logic and miss emotion entirely. Every one of the powers I've spoken to including Atum have agreed on this. And Sam, our beautiful demon, told me that it was emotion, the fear of the night and the desire to be the night, which the Vril-ya could never understand. That means Vril is made from something that is not that, but may require it to be created. If Sam's made up of horrible and agonized memories, then what memories are the Vril-ya made of?" Tasha takes her two hands and brings her pointer fingers together Mariel-style. "I think the answer is in each other. Sam might be the best answer but they'd never ask him. It's like searching for what something is, I thought I'd search for what it is not."
"So, twilight instead of day or night?" Gabriel asks. "That does seem to be where mortal would live. But we can't handle Vril energy, according the claims about Eve and 'the first humans' - whatever that means."
"Most of us can't handle Vril-energy. Not all. There were a few who could, and did. Experiments who still live to this day." Tasha spreads her hands again. "And some of the First Humans are probably amongst them. I saw Eve's statue, they were probably like her. Tall, multi-eyed. The Vril-ya take on the forms of their charges. And she said they 'destroyed themselves,' but also that the souls are incompatible. That means there's something in it different from our souls. I want to know what that is."
"Well, whatever our 'souls' are, they aren't an energy source," Gabriel claims. "Sam would be the expert, moreso than Thoth. I suspect it's more that the Vril-ya do not understand souls any more than we do."
"It's definitely a complex topic. I asked Persephone about it and she was vague, but either she'd prefer not to tell me or I may be unable to comprehend it. Mathematically unable to do so, or some other limitation not of the soul but of storage of knowledge and processing power. Maybe even Mel and I may not be enough. But I'll keep trying to know until I know I can't ... um, know." Tasha's ears go askew, then she shakes her head out. "Thoth said magic comes from the soul, so it's some kind of catalyst for change. We just don't know enough yet."
"Well.. have we seen real magic?" Gabriel asks. "That is, something that is definitely supernatural and not just sufficiently-advanced-technology?"
"Samael. The Markers. Tatha-hem can violate causality by moving an object faster than the speed of light in real space. T'throgga-hem could reweave timelines. Thoth slapped Sam in to a statue. Technology relies on reality, and reality is made of rules. So there's two kinds of magic: The type that understands the rules so well it can effect changes at a deep level or even change the rules, and influences that use rules from outside our reality to cheat. A will of some sort is needed for both, and the specifics vary once you get in to the act of accomplishing these things. There's probably overlap." Tasha taps her nose. "Thoth says there's different schools. Wizardry is advanced understanding of the fundamentals of reality. Sorcery is using another being's powerful influence. I don't know how alchemy works yet. There's also transcendence, which I think is related to generating Vril or Shadow energies."
"Well, the Ogdru-hem cheat by being partly extra-dimensional," Gabriel says. "The Markers, I would say, are the same. The Trumpet of Urgo-hem though.. that I'm not sure of. Sam isn't exactly magical, because he's partly outside the rules. I can pick up a bug from a tree and quickly transport it to another one, without it being able to really perceive what I am or what I'm doing. To that bug, was it magic? Altering reality from within reality, without instrumentation, I would call magic."
"So without circumvention and without special rules. I'll have to ask Thoth if that's possible. he definitely calls it magic and not advanced scientific studies, but then alchemy lead to Terran science so ... So I should ask him." Tasha scrunches up her muzzle. "The line is very slight, but maybe that's the point. There were mages back home, but also people who faked magic to trick others. I know Nora saw both kinds as magic, or least her definitions for both used the word magic. There's probably room for all kinds in what we do."
"We could fix some of that by picking a different term," Gabriel suggests. "Like.. manipulation. But more specific, since that can be a lot of things, from physical to emotional to psionic."
"Transcendental manipulation, for changing reality from outside of reality? Meta ... cendental for changing it inside reality without using reality or external tricks. And wizardry is just hyper-advanced science, science so advanced it doesn't need to work on abstracted levels, it can just work with the rules themselves. Like playing cards, you can play all the right cards and win or else you can change the value of the cards and win no matter what the other players have because you control the higher abstracted reality from the lower one." tasha raises her brows to see if Gabriel approves.
"This is a three cups of coffee discussion," Gabriel claims, blinking his eyes a few times. "So I'm going to get some. Be sure to write to Mr. I about your security team wants."
"I need to get to Nora's mail as well." Tasha sucks in a breath, exhales and drops back in her chair. "Enough talking about work, it's back to work. At least writing Nora will be fun, I need to decide if I should be self-disparaging, teasing, or competitive. I'm not sure I want us to get in a 'who can die the best and come back' competition though, and she's going to see it that way no matter what happens. She rubs her hand, then settles in to start writing.