After the end of the meeting, Tasha didn't go very far: just into her office. There she shut the door and set out to see just what she could manage with the markers. The first step was to summon them, which at least was easy now. She's got one in each hand without much of a thought, and they're in their original shapes. But there's a subtle difference that wasn't there before: the blue one feels warm, and the yellow one feels cool. Before, they didn't feel like anything.
Tasha wonders at the sensation; is it symbolic of something? Emotional-tactile? Some deeper aspect to the manifestations, such as a reflection of the beings she received them from? Luckily, it's just these sort of questions she's here to answer, starting with simple tests. She looks between the two, then walks to the far back of the room behind her desk and lays them down.
The first test will be about distance.
Tasha backs away, keeping eye contact, heading for the far opposite side of the room.
That isn't very far, but as long as she's looking at them, they stay in place it seems. Until she blinks, at which point they both vanish.
Tasha nods, though she hadn't expect any particular result, this result does follow what she's learned about the manifestations: That their appearance in reality depends heavily on her level of awareness they are there, and that removed from her immediate being -- perhaps her senses -- they return to her. There isn't much she can do with the knowledge, but it does suggest she might be able to throw or otherwise project them in space for as long as she can be aware of them, which means the limit of her senses, or so she suspects.
The next test is about shapes. Tasha recreates the blue Marker, as she suspects it's safer to wield, and sits down on the floor. She then first envisions a shield, followed by a bracer, a suit of armor, force shield bubble, and finally she tries to replicate the flowing shawl-like aura Persephone herself wore when she briefly occupied this universe.
The shield is easiest, in part because Tasha already knows how to position it on her arm. Trying the same tactic while picturing a bracer when the marker is already in its shield or normal shape doesn't work however. She can't be looking at it, apparently - the change always has to be when it's out of sight. The other problem is that it doesn't want to behave. For the shield, she never had to picture it, because she has a general abstract concept of what a shield is. Focusing on something specific (instead of doing it subconsciously) doesn't seem to be working. This is probably why Kainudy had her act on reflex. What's the reflexive response that would require a bracer though?
It's an easy enough decision: Getting hit on the arm. Tasha isn't willing to have living (or faux-living) beings attempt this, however -- what she needs is a robot. "Tasha to Gabriel. Gabriel, do we have in storage, or can we make, a humanoid robot about my size I can use as a sparring partner?" While that's underway Tasha puts the Marker down and looks away, considering her next move. If the bracer isn't working, something like a force field might be even harder, and she has no experience with Persephone's veils, she isn't even sure what they mean. On the other hand the Marker is connected somehow to Persephone, so perhaps she doesn't need to know the veils as well. She settles down in place and tries to manifest them.
"The closest thing we have is Shojo," Gabriel says. "Why a robot? I can spar with you, you know."
"I'm manifesting strange energies and might blow my sparring partner up, drive them mad, banish them in to my soul, or who-knows-what," admits the concentrating Tasha.
Tasha runs into the same problem as before: she doesn't know what the veils are for, or what would trigger them. They aren't even a physical thing, really, but more like auroral displays.
"Blowing up a robot is just as dangerous you realize," Gabriel replies over the com. "They have very energy-dense batteries. What about things thrown at you?"
Tasha wonders what use auroral displays are, suspecting they are some form of defense beyond her ken against dangers the level a Waymaker might encounter. Which, she supposes, are similar to the levels of danger she encounters these days, but the scale is different and Persephone is fantastically more intelligent, knowledgeable, and perceptive than she is. She supposes she'll just have to ask her. "I forgot about the batteries." Tasha rubs her chin. "Throwing things might work. They'll need to string a little, otherwise I won't think they're a threat."
"I know just the thing, but we'll need to be outdoors," Gabriel replies.
"We can go in to the woods, then." Tasha stands up and wills the Markers away just in case they had manifested out of her sight. "I'll get my sun hat."
Gabriel doesn't quite bring her to the woods, but to some sort of.. park? There's a robot attendant who asks, "Are you familiar with the safety equipment?" To which Gabriel replies, "Yes!" before Tasha can ask about it.
Tasha is wearing what can best be described as sporty but cute. There's a short skirt with concealed shorts,long socks, booties, a fitness-approved top, and her usual armbands which have been set to display as arm warmers. She's putting her hat somewhere safe when Gabriel over-rides the safety warning. "Are you sure it's okay for me to do this here?" She gives the surroundings a dubious look.
"It's perfect," Gabriel claims. "Trust me!" He then heads for a small building just beyond the entrance gate. "Just wait out here, I'll be back in a moment!"
Tasha gives a "I always do," vote of confidence before tucking her hands behind her back, putting her left hoof on its edge and turning it as she looks around uncertainly. It's not often she tries to manifest mysterious power in a city center, after all. Having worked in the shadows for a while now, it feels both perverse and dangerous.
The park appears to be empty, but has some trees and boulders that don't look quite like they are there naturally. And the ground cover is interrupted by flat gray areas as well. Aside from the gate they came through there's a high if flimsy-looking fence that seems to surround the space. Tasha can't see the far end of the park, due to rolling 'hills' and such that obscure the view, so she can't tell how large it is.
It's quiet, peaceful, and artificial. It makes Tasha not want to trust it, which she attributes to her time on the artificial world, at least before Hastur ate it. She looks around as she waits, eying the landscape and herself and wondering if her outfit choices are getting better or if she just thinks they are.
Gabriel emerges from the building, wearing head-to-toe body armor and a full-face visor. He's also got a weapon that seems to be halfway between a pistol and a rifle. "Ready?" he asks, and touches a control on his bracer, which causes the 'flat' gray patches to rise up and form barriers. Some tall enough to hide behind, other low enough that one would have to crouch down to get cover from there.
Tasha's ears, tail, and wings all go up, and it seems like she poofs out a little. "I-I think so?" She takes a step back, having at least a little idea what's going to happen, scooting towards the nearest cover.
"I'll give you a thirty-second head start," the wolf says, and grins.
Tasha is reminded of how she felt being Human in the idyllic garden within Charon, something she didn't think was possible when she wasn't Human at the time. She takes another step back, looks around, then sprints off behind the nearest cover to block Gabriel's line-of-sight so she can move to another bit of cover that's further away without being seen doing it.
Of course, once she's out of Gabriel's line-of-sight.. she has no idea where he is. And he's not doing a countdown or anything to give away his position either.
Tasha doesn't have a great deal of confidence in being able to escape an apex-Karnor who is also an apex-soldier and captain of more years experience than she's had in two lives, so she readies herself for the inevitable. At least she's smaller now, and she still has her sense of smell and her vision, not that the latter will help much at some hundred feet away. She ducks down and begins retreating, thinking she can at least have distance.
"Whatcha doin?" Molly asks from atop one of the barriers. "Hide-n-Seek?"
Tasha just sticks her tongue out at Molly, knowing he's trying to trick her in to revealing where she is and that Gabriel probably can't see him. She reminds herself she's supposed to be here to train, but then also reminds herself avoiding injury and going about things like she might in a real fight situation helps put her in the right mindset.
"Ah, so it's some sort of wolf-man courtship ritual," the faerie guesses. That's when Tasha gets stung in her left wing by something hard. At first she thinks it's an actual bullet, but since her blood isn't purple and glittery it must have been some sort of paint round.
It takes Tasha a moment more, still in shock, to remember her blood really isn't purple and glittery. With her new body, anything feels possible and often requires long exposure before she understands anything about herself reflexively -- it doesn't help that she's being shot at! "OW-" She clamps a hand over her muzzle and dives for cover, quickly assessing that running nor hiding will be of any further use, since Gabriel can just shoot her when she moves or walk up to where she is and shoot her all the more. She needs to face him.
This is where manifesting armor would be useful, but she still needs something to react to, which means she has to sense it (although being in a panic about being shot should probably make that easier).
"Probably should keep your back to the wall," Molly suggests.
Tasha resists the urge to throw things at Molly, and musters her courage. She calms herself, focusing, and after a deep breath stands up behind cover, ready to get shot, and hopefully ready to react. She aims to manifest armor, thinking trying to intercept a bullet-fast projectile with a shield would be daunting.
This time though, Gabriel also stands up from behind the low barrier he was hiding behind, and raises his gun. So Tasha has plenty of warning!
No one expects you to stand up and get shot, Tasha decides as she extends a hand in the classic 'stop' gesture, thinking about star ships and their energy shields, reactive barriers that pop up when the ship is in danger. She may not be a space ship, but her affinity to ships in general is very strong, and she hopes that's enough.
Pop! This time it doesn't hit her, but it does brush right past her ear, close enough to ruffle her hair before it bursts on the wall behind her.
Not certain if she shielded herself or Gabriel simply missed, Tasha steels herself again. Resistance, deflection, barriers; she repeats this mantra even as her hackles raise in anticipation of being shot -- again.
Nothing seems to pop up, at least nothing visible. The next shot isn't a warning though, and hits Tasha right between her breasts, nearly knocking the breath out of her.
This causes Tasha to stagger, reaching to clutch her chest with her non-extended arm. She doesn't quite right herself afterwards, but stands as tall as she is able and keeps her hand out. This time she thinks of nothing but the pain, teeth barred in a grimmace, ears back and tail hiding.
"Why aren't you putting up your shield?" Gabriel calls.
"It doesn't work like that!" Tasha rubs her chest, then extends her left arm and does create the shield, the blue light-like mass bubbling forward in to a round approximation of the idea of a shield. "I still need to know where it will hit me with an arm shield, and I can't predict bullets."
"We just need to see if it stops them at all," Gabriel calls, and brings the gun up again. Pop! There's a brief flash where it hits the shield before going through it. The shot grazes Tasha's shoulder before splatting against her wing. It might have be deflected slightly, at least.
Tasha winces, but shakes her head. "No good, that hit. Where did you aim?" She points up at her wing where the impact landed, showing where the shot hit.
"Your shoulder," Gabriel says. "Did the shield do anything?"
"It missed my shoulder and hit my wing," Tasha admits. She reaches to draw a line between where the shot brushed her shoulder and impacted her wing, wincing a bit as she touches it. "Otherwise it went right through."
"Well, it doesn't seem to work against physical objects.. or at least fast-moving physical objects," Gabriel says.
"It's a magic shield," Mollymauk notes. "So, would be good against magic? Or whatever you call magic in this world of yours."
"It's a magic shield, maybe it's only good against magic," Tasha suggests to Gabriel, giving Molly a glance. She doesn't quite look at Molly when she adds, "I don't think it'll be much use in conventional warfare. The sword may be, if I attack the mind rather than the body. I'll likely still need conventional body armor and defenses. Maybe weapons."
"Body armor is very handy," Gabriel notes, coming towards her with his gun pointed down now. "Can the shield block the sword?"
"Ehh," goes Tasha, uncertainly. She holds out a hand to indicate he shouldn't come any closer when she tries this, then manifests the sword in her right hand, looking rather like a modern young tennis player wielding unsettling holographic versions of a sword and shield. "Here .... goes ... " She holds her arms well away and then tries touching the sword to the shield.
The universe fails to implode! But there a definite sense of contact, even though neither the shield or sword have any mass to them. But there's resistance, even a sense of sliding.
"Resistance, I feel them sliding off each other like they're physical. I strongly suspect the sword and shield will also work against quasi-physical or wholly 'magical' beings, in the same way, plus their inherent natures." Tasha begins walking, and the yellow sword waves closer and closer to Molly in a lazy arc. "If only I had such a being to test it on."
The faerie's tail darts and taps against Tasha's shield without getting through it.
"What happens if you touch them to the barrier?" Gabriel asks.
Tasha decides that's more than enough participation from the fairy, especially since she didn't expect any help at all. "They can't pass through it," she informs Gabriel confidently. "Neither can magical attacks, which I already tested with my new mentor."
Gabriel then asks, "Have you tried with your eyes closed?"
"Nooo," goes Tasha, who holds out her shield and closes her eyes. She anticipates poking, or goosing, from one or both men.
"I meant, seeing if they pass through the barrier behind you," Gabriel says. "A physical barrier."
Tasha's eyes open. "Say that again? You mean, seeing if the magic passes through me out the other side?" She glances behind herself, uncertain.
"No," Gabriel says with a grin. "I mean turn around and try to stab the barrier with your sword, or strike it with your shield."
"Strike the barrier from the opposite side?" Tasha's ears go askew, but she does raise the sword and try to push it through the shield from the reverse side.
"No.. turn around, face the big gray physical barrier at your back," Gabriel says, making a spinning motion with his hand. "Not the shield, the barrier."
"Oh that barrier," Tasha says with a laugh, pointing the sword at it. "I thought you meant the one I'm holding. There are a few barriers in play, you know?" She wags her tail as she turns around. The shield is momentarily blocked by her body, intentionally so, and vanishes when her arm comes in to view. She grabs the sword with her other hand, raises it up, and tries to cleave the barrier.
The sword passes through it with no feeling of resistance. It looks like the sword just ends where the wall begins. Gabriel is already running around to the other side of it. "I see the tip!" he says.
"That's surprising," Tasha remarks, and is indeed surprised. She had though the sword would only manifest when visible to her, but she now sees it manifests like so, but as a whole construct or nothing at all. The form of its manifestation is protected in a sense; all or nothing, or so it seems. "I thought the tip would be gone, since I can't see it. But I see the rest, so the whole thing seems to be intact." That means ... something."
"You're still holding onto it right?" Gabriel asks from around the corner. "Maybe that's what matters, as far as it being a sword."
"Let me try something." Tasha lets go of the sword but leaves it in the wall, still staring at it. "Tell me if it moves!"
The sword doesn't move.. but it begins to turn back into the yellow Marker. "The tip vanished," Gabriel reports.
Tasha retakes the Marker and attempts to will it back to sword-form. "How about now?"
Once she's holding it, it becomes the sword again. "It's back," Gabriel reports.
"I stopped holding it." She walks around the barrier, showing the sword is back in her hands. "Want to see if I can throw it?"
"I could make a bad joke here about 'just the tip!' but I won't, because I'm classy," Molly says from atop the barrier, where's he still lounging.
"Do you know how to throw a knife?" Gabriel asks.
"No? I know some people can do that, but mostly I saw that used for street performances," Tasha admits. She looks at the sword, then tries willing it in to knife form. "Do you?"
It stubbornly remains a sword. "No," Gabriel says. "Which is why I'm wondering if it would useful to throw it, unless it's just a matter of touching your target. And given its nature, I wonder if that target has to be something it would want to hit."
"Something Mr. Yellow doesn't appreciate?" Tasha frowns at the sword, which does not become a knife. "It won't become a knife, anyway. Magic is weird."
"Or you need a special environment to work with it some more," Gabriel suggests. "Well, you might as well throw it at something inanimate."
"I'll as my new mentor about further exercises. You know," and here Tasha raises the sword, adjust her aim and arm, "Sam said it's not 'even a part of me,' so it seems like I'm channeling or redirecting the energies somehow. My mentor said it's a 'magic of my own,' so maybe 'my' magic is redirecting the energies of greater beings?" And then she hurls the sword at a nearby barrier.
The sword vanishes into it. There's no way to tell if it ended up on the other side or not.
"These powers are directly attached to you somehow," Gabriel says and goes to look behind the barrier. "I don't see anything."
"I figured it'd vanish the second neither of us could see it," Tasha admits, unsurprised. "And yes I believe they are. Attached to my soul on some level, because that's where I'm manifesting them from. They are direct manifestations of the soul." She puts her hands back behind her back and looks around, then reaches over and takes Gabriel's hand, because she had the urge to hold it. "Part but not part. And my soul is shielded now, which doesn't seem to impact the Markers. My mentor called them 'keys to my soul'."
"Keys are things you don't want falling into the wrong hands," Gabriel warns. "But nobody else has been able to handle the markers, except for Charon that one time, right?"
"Yes. Persephone can too, as can Mr. Yellow, I think. Mortals can hold them but I think that's more because I think they can and not because of any control others have over them. Or, or, because mortals have souls they 'float' on their hands because their own soul acts as a kind of surface, and the contact makes the Marker more real somehow." But Tasha shrugs; she isn't really sure. "Otherwise my soul should be shielded. My presence to magical beings and similar entities that are unaware of me should be greatly reduced, and their ability to assail my soul directly blocked. Or, so it's supposed to work."
"I don't know if I want you trying to test that shielding," Gabriel says. "But I know you have to to be certain." He then offers Tasha the paint gun. "Oh, you get to shoot me a few times now, fair's fair. This is called a marker by the way," he says, grinning madly.
"Oh, I guess I have a new one then!" Tasha laughs, but doesn't even raised the gun. Instead she encircles Gabriel's arm and hugs on to it, wagging her tail. "Hurting you doesn't ever make me feel better. Want to go clean up, and get something to eat? I found an outfit for you when I was looking at the uncatalogued, because I felt bad that I dodn't have any suggestions when you asked."
"Uh.. you're going dress me up?" Gabriel asks. "Are you sure you couldn't just shoot me a few times instead?" Said as a man who hates clothes shopping, apparently.
"You did ask," Tasha notes, waggling a finger and a tail at him as they walk back. "I'm going to let Katie dress me up later, so you'll get to see that too."
"Besides I'm an expensive Mezzode, don't you want to walk around with me and feel expensive, too?" Tasha's grin is wide.
After cleaning up in the changing room (the paint actually evaporates under a sonic shower) and going to get Gabriel's new outfit, Gabriel picks a floating cafe for lunch. It's on the lake, and each table is on its own floating platform, with orders delivered by flying drones as the platform (which is made to look like something called a lotus flower) drifts across the water.
Tasha is wearing a similar outfit, but the skirt lacks the same sports flare, and doesn't come with any shorts intended purely for outings such as this. Her blouse is modest but stylish, white with buttons and a bit of lack to the arms; even her tail gets a little lace bow. She brought her sun hat, which currently occupies an unused seat, and her (new) glasses are perched on her head.
Gabriel's outfit is very different. It's a six part affair, with semi-tight black pants, Karnor boots with silver trim, a similar real-leather belt, and a very tight near-black top that's a bit shiny, with breathable armpit webbing instead of the material the rest is made out of. Despite looking stiff and glossy it's relatively easy to move in, and the pants more so. The outfit comes with fingerless gloves of robust dark material and, to Tasha's great amusement, a big black collar.
"So.. did you like this top specifically because is it was shiny?" Gabriel asks once their platform as been launched out into the lake.
"That and it shows off your muscley chest," Tasha admits without reservation nor hesitation, grinning widely. "I might even recommend it to Lacci for Shojo. Do you not like it?" She leans forward, ears up.
"It does seem to grab attention," Gabriel notes. Then blinks. "For a moment I thought you said you wanted one for Lacci to wear. I think Hakeber and Katie could pull one off. The look that is, not literally pull it off.." He clamps his mouth shut before he can say anything else.
Tasha's grin just gets wider. "Dream all you want, Katie doesn't have any interest that way. Hake does, but that's not a surprise. And I don't think Lacci could wear that, her chest is too big, but she could wear something similar." And so Tasha makes a show of thinking about Lacci in said outfit, nodding slowly, head on her knuckles. "Maybe the bag girl look is a good look for her? What a juxtaposition that would be. Well," she waggles her free hand at Gabriel. "you know how she is. I see you avoided the collar, not that I was surprised, but it is funny isn't it?"
"It makes me think of my days as a pup," Gabriel admits. "A very long time ago." To change the subject, he summons the menu screen. "So.. what are you in the mood for?"
"Mostly, food," Tasha says with a smile. To show the joke wasn't just on Gabriel, she reaches over her sun hat, digs around, and pulls out a matching collar -- if much thinner and more feminine -- which she spins around a finger. "You did say something about 'collaring me,' it's only fair." She winks and puts the object aside. "How about seafood? Fresh seafood is hard to keep on ship, or at least hard with Phins around."
"Let's see then.. they have Stygian Calamari, Treble Bass, Lobstrosities, Fish and Chips.." he rattles off, after pulling up the appropriate menu option. "Goysters, Clambs.. and sushi."
"I think someone mentioned sushi once? I'll have that, one of those Abyssal Calamaris, and some fish and chips. And wine," Tasha decides, tapping the side of her cheek in thought. "Sam talks about squid and octopi sometimes, I'd like to see one. Then eat it."
"You'll have to see if your shield works against Sam," Gabriel says as he puts in the order. "I can never remember which sort of wine pairs with seafood. So.. rose it is. Or violet? Hmm, there are lot more blends than I remember. What is orange wine?"
"I thought you were about to say 'against seafood'. He did hit me with that paper, so at least my inner shield doesn't stop that." She rubs her muzzle self-consciously; no canine enjoys a newspaper beating. "And don't ask me, my experience with culture is very narrow and specialized. I'll go with rose, too. Maybe orange is from oranges?"
"Could be an alien vintage, or something local," Gabriel notes. "I don't think you can ferment oranges, but maybe that's changed." He finishes the order, and is informed it will be ready in five minutes.
Tasha finishes as well; everything is fish or calamari, including the sushi which is rice, seaweed, and a variety of fish in roll-form. Even the chips are fish, using a fish-and-batter style recipe. She sends the order ands then settles back. "So, I never did quite ask, but how do you like the new me? Not too strange? Don't miss the old one? It's taken a lot of getting used to, being shorter and slighter. And ruffier."
"You're much cuter and less scary," Gabriel claims. "I think I can take you in arm wrestling now. But on the other hand, you can carry me around."
"I was scary before? Were you scared of me?" Tasha's earsgo up, but her head plops on her hands and she looks innocent. Too innocent. "And I'm not sure about carrying anyone, anymore. I'm sure I'm stronger than most Humans, but I'm not as strong as I was. I'll have to think of answer other than 'hit them' now, which is probably good."
"Well, when I first saw you I was a naked invalid on a medbay bed," Gabriel recalls. "Of course, you were less scary than the giant rabbits."
"They are terrifying in their own fuzzy, gigantic way, aren't they? I remember you thought I was Nora," Tasha says, wiggling her fingers. "Not that I'm not entirely not Nora, but mostly I am myself, and all of me is me now, if that makes sense. I am integrated. Solid-state-soul, EM-shielded." She grins again. "You're looking a lot better than you were, with a much better safety record. I still don't think what happened to the Fenris is your fault, either, no more than what's happened to us since then is ours, exactly. These are mighty forces. And like Hake, I think you still have some demons to fight."
"Well, that is our job now, after all," Gabriel notes, as the flying robots bring their meals and wine to them.
"I mean the internal kind." Tasha's tail wags at the appearance of food, showing she may be more Human now, but she's still Karnor for a meal. "I suspect Hake's issue has something to do with her unwillingness to face her own problems and simply run away from them, or let them accumulate. A kind of darkness of avoidance. Where there's no light, there's darkness, and I think Hake's suppressing a lot." Then she looks up and over. "I worry you are, too."
"A few thousand years to mull over your mistakes can do that," Gabriel admits. "Do you want me to talk to Dr. Sen then?"
"I think you should. I will come along if you like, but I think you should do it without me. We can't afford to let our old demons sneak up on us when new ones abound, it can be a back door in to the soul, or at least the mind." Tasha reaches over and dips some of her potato-fish 'chips' in to sauce, then munches them down before adding, "Besides, did you really make a mistake that could have been corrected for? Was there prior knowledge you overlooked? Even back then you weren't prone to making rash decisions, I've never heard even a single complaint about your leadership from anyone."
"That's not how second-guessing works," Gabriel says. "It doesn't matter what the realities of the situation where. Are you going to talk to her about your demon with big black wings?"
"Oh, her. And I know how it works, I do it a lot, and it's no more productive when I do it." Tasha spreads her hands in a shrug, then begins cutting up her chips in to bite sized pieces. "Her story is just a tragedy all around, the example of how cruel the universe can be, and what it does to people. I killed her and it needed to be done, and she thanked me for it, but I reserve the right to blame the universe for how it enabled such a person to come to be. I've seen enough of the universe to know while we have choices, sometimes those are limited, awful, and that being a monster can be a better choice than working with society, especially if it doesn't work with you. I do think she went too far, even so, and I blame her for that part." And so Tasha shrugs with her shoulders now, pupping some fish in her muzzle, staring in to her cup as she follows the food with drink. "But you'll forgive me if I'm not eager to hurt the people I love again, even for 'fun'."
"Which means you'll have to find someone you hate to test the sword on," Gabriel notes.
"Which is hard because I'm so nice now." Tasha fluffs up her mane and neck ruff, which somehow correlates to how nice she is now. "Perhaps on our next outing, we'll come across someone or something that could use a swording. I'm sure there will be all kinds of opposition this time, it might even be refreshing."