Real & Half-Real: Chapter 1 - The Portal and the Plan

[unsheathedfromreality]

Who: The Committee to Rescue Illarion from His Very Stupid Mistake
What: Building a portal to bust into a pocket dimension and strategizing what to do once they get there. All extremely advisable science.
When: Early-mid April
Where: Throughout Trench, and in parts beyond it

It's been weeks since Illarion's disappearance in the fight against Leviathan, and scarcely fewer weeks since his Omen Iskierka began papering Trench with notes on his whereabouts. The shrike's friends and loved ones have not been idle during that time, and now their plans begin coming to fruition.

It's time to get him out of the nightmare he's trapped in--but first, they've got to break their way in, and they've got to have a plan.

[[ Part of the Real & Half-Real player plot! Navigate to other plot posts: [OOC] Interest Check | [IC] Prologue | [IC] Iskierka's Notes ]]

Comments

[eudaimonikos]

Michael clicks his tongue thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair as he reads over the notes available. "Swan Lady sounds fun," he comments dryly. What a basic playbook. He went through that phase too, sure, but it turns out that manipulating everybody is a shitty way to live your life.

He could manage that, he thinks. He knows those tricks. But there's plenty of people who can handle a little trickery, and fewer with his more unique talents. Best to focus on what he, and he specifically, can do. Illarion's world isn't too much like his own. Their demons sound extremely different. But he's seen Illarion - actually seen him properly - so he thinks he's got a good understanding of how their higher-dimensional beings operate. It really doesn't seem that different from back home.

"I'll go after these shrike people," he concludes. "I'm not going to go insane or whatever when I see them." Despite being, to all outward appearances, a normal human? He does not provide any further explanation!

[forwantofahorse]

Sayo nods along with Michael's assessment of the Swan Lady, face twisted with distaste. "I don't say this lightly, especially with what Trench has made all of us, but she's a monster. Given my stake in this, my grudge against her is... of a more personal nature, but it's still true." She grinds her teeth thinking of the sick dance she put her thralls through, what Illarion told her of what she did to his child, the slick, oily words that had nearly seeped their way past her ears and into her mind; every part of Domnika seemed to be designed with malicious intent to get under Sayo's skin.

"Although the island will naturally be on higher alert due to the size of our party if nothing else, assassination will likely be our best strategy against her. The same strategies may not work, but... my own talents will still likely be useful in infiltrating her estate and killing her quietly. It'll be one of the few arenas where I'll be directly useful in a 'sacrifice.'" That, and Sayo really, really wants to do the deed herself, and make it stick this time.

She nods when Michael volunteers his capabilities. If nothing else, she knows not to judge by appearance by now. "Now here's an important question: how well can you handle being shot? Repeatedly, in all likelihood?"

[eudaimonikos]

"Pfffft." Michael waves a hand dismissively. "I'll be fine. If I lose enough blood, I might lose this human shape, but I can survive that. This isn't even my final form."

Now, is he excited about going squid mode in front of a bunch of virtual strangers? Of course not! But here in Trench, it feels slightly safer - they've all got squid shapes somewhere deep down. He'll just play it off as something to do with that, or some weird quirk of the mindscape. No big deal.

"I'm not whatever the hell these guys are, but I'm also an extradimensional being. This is all fairly standard where I'm from."

[forwantofahorse]

Sayo just... looks at Michael. He has almost definitely received more deadly deadpan stares, but this is impressive for a mortal human. It could probably kill adorable bunnies on the spot.

"Does it not occur to you that it may help me leverage your expertise if you actually shared what, exactly, your capabilities are instead of making jokes about them?"

[eudaimonikos]

"I just did," Michael replies, shrugging. That's plenty of information to go off of, in his opinion; he doesn't see the point in baring his soul. "Human form goes splat, I get more extradimensional. My powers are pretty much the same then, I'm just bigger and...a little more consistently on fire. Easier to wrestle other weird monsters that way."

[forwantofahorse]

"So in case of an emergency, I should put a bullet through your skull to expedite the process. Understood."

There is an uncomfortably long pause.

"I'm joking."

Was she? Was she, really?

Another pause.

"Because my weaponry would probably negate that property of your... whatever it is. I don't want to be down a competent fighter."

[eudaimonikos]

Michael just laughs. "Better not to risk it, then. But in theory, if anyone's got normal weapons - sure." It would be pretty quick, enough so to not risk too much pain, and since this is in a mindscape he's only partially sure that the damage would carry over to his real suit anyway.

"I can do it at will, though, so don't worry about setting me off."

[forwantofahorse]

"That's good to know. If nothing else, you should feel right at home among the shrikes. ...which I suppose was the point of your suggestion."

Sayo pauses, almost leaving it at that, then frowns as she remembers an important detail that she'd found sifting through Illarion's rambling both in-person and through Iskierka's letters.

"We need to make sure not to overuse your other form, though. It's low risk, but I don't want to attract attention from the Pillars... we need to plan where, when, and how to activate it as precisely as we can."

[eudaimonikos]

"Ah, right, the funky Time Knife." Michael nods thoughtfully. Best not to tangle with something like that - even back home, you've gotta be careful with outside realities generally. "Well, there's really no reason to be popping in and out of it. It'll take me a second to...you know, get out of this form, but I can do it whenever. We can just do a quick tactical strike, once I get close enough to grab enough guys."

[forwantofahorse]

"That's the plan, then."

Sayo pauses, realizing that she's probably going to regret asking this question, but unable to resist her curiosity anyways.

"...what's a time knife, by the by?"

[eudaimonikos]

"Oh! That's - there's a place in my universe where, if you look out, you can see millions upon millions of parallel universes layering over each other to sort of form a multidimensional razor's edge of space and time." Michael gestures idly with his hands as he describes this. "We've all seen it. Best not to go near it, though."

wrap soon?

[forwantofahorse]

"I have to admit, I'm curious..." Sayo sighs. "But unfortunately, I need to stay sane enough to plan properly for for this operation, so I'll save letting my mind disintegrate under the weight of the cosmos for later."

sure!

[eudaimonikos]

"Oh, I know a human who saw it! He was fine."

Michael considers, then waves a hand. "Mostly fine. He got over it - honestly, I've seen him have like a hundred panic attacks about almond milk, it doesn't tell you that much."