Endless (Nicky)

[Anonymous]

Rafe did not approve.

It was one of his disapproving moods.  He did not approve generally.  He did not approve, in this particular case.  He had been issued a new silver headband.  His last, well, they had been picking bits of it out of his scalp for days.  He turned it over in his hands, following its slickly curved contours, its variegated reflections, and thought of the wedding ring he and Laelia had, over twenty-seven years, seven weeks, and six hours ago, exchanged.  

And he did not approve.

His classes were done for the day, his students gone home.  He had rolled up the tactics sheets and charts and put the proofs for his manuscript New Techniques for Ground and Space Combat in a carefully kept drawer.  He slid open the file Command had sent over.

Name: Louhi
Held at: Cell N7, code rtH94L
Date of Birth: unknown, age approx. 12
Place of Birth: unknown
.
.
.
.

He scanned.  A good deal of data was missing.  

Injuries: spiral break of the leg, complic., status: subhealed
Magical Aptitude: present but uncertain

Lovely.  A PBU.  Every Mordecai's dream.  

Notes: Discovered in Region 414, spontaneous teleportation assumed.

Why would they give him a young one?  The creature would certainly outlive him.  He did not, however, particularly care about the logistics.  A PBU; that was the answer, then.  It took a certain kind of skill for a Mordecai to work with Mages of different powers, or to awaken power in them.  Rafe had studied technique for years.  He excelled at control, was considered one of the best at using the power without touching the vessel, as one might put it.  

Not that it mattered, in the long run.  He set the file aside with a sigh and stood up, stretching an aching back.  All the injuries he had sustained and it was still his back that pained him the most after long hours spent in a chair, of all things.

He made his way to the holding area, swiped in, and went to find Cell N7.  Louhi.  They should have outfitted her with her band already.  He held his between fingers and palm, in the small, sensitive indent of skin; he held it there while he keyed in the code that would open the door.

"Louhi?"

[Anonymous]

Louhi had been quivering ever since they put the band on her head. It had been extremely unpleasant, but at least she was back in her own clothes for the time being, after all, no sense in wasting any that belonged to someone else when her own Mordecai would be providing her with whatever uniform he saw fit.

She was somewhat small, thin and exceedingly pale, though in general, she was ether pale, or very sunburned, there was no tan for her. The dress she wore was positively ancient, dating back well before the earth started dying. It had always been what she was most comfortable in, even after her brief stint in the 'modern' world.

She at least knew a little about things such as lights, stoves, dishwashers, though their forms and buttons had changed quite a bit and she always seemed to need a walk through on how to operate anything remotely technological.

Hearing her name, she rose, clutching her staff and making her way forward. "Yes, sir?" She asked softly, not sure what to expect anymore. No one really told her anything, they just put her where they wanted, but that didn't much surprise her. She was just glad they hadn't had to shave her head. Oddly enough, that had been one of her biggest fears about the whole thing, was that they would shave her bald and she'd be disgraced.

[Anonymous]

He looked the Mage up and down.  Her clothing was unusual.  At length, he sighed, stepped back, and settled his own band on his head.  It settled about the scars and twinged cold for a moment before that sank away.

At least this one seemed obedient.  But she was a small, malformed specimen.  He sometimes--however he tried not to--found himself comparing the creatures to his own children.  She was thinner, whiter, as if she'd grown in a cave.  He would have to feed her and exercise her more.  She was timid, or appeared so, but he had learned not to trust that.  At least she had addressed him properly.

"I will be your Mordecai."  At least she spoke Common.  Where had she come from?  Her voice sounded strange.  He beckoned her forward and bent to examine her, all the while reaching out tentatively across the slowly-forming beginning of their bond.  He got a strange sort of staticky feel, and frowned; something off with her leg.  Status: subhealed.  Right...  

Otherwise she seemed relatively whole.  "Open your mouth."  He peered inside.  Still anemic; he could tell from the hue around her teeth.  And the hygiene left something to be desired.  He would get Utho to check her out more thoroughly.  There was no need to bother the Fortress doctors.  "Well," he said, standing back up.  He refused to groan at the twinge in his lower back.  "Well, Louhi, where do you come from?"  Might as well start there.  He would need to figure out her power somehow, and the feeling he was getting was--strange.  "Do you understand what a Mordecai is."



[[ >< Sorry, this post is kind of... eh.]]

[Anonymous]

Louhi flinched as he put the band on his head. It had been a very long while since she'd had anyone in her mind, and she wasn't so sure she liked him there for fear he'd see something he didn't like, and she'd be punished for memories she couldn't help. Being mind linked to a master was a rather unsettling experience.

"I'm from...earth" She said quietly, maintaining a submissive posture. "But before it is was like it is now." No need to go into great detail about trying to figure out precisely which country her Mistress' manor had been in. From what she'd learned recently, earth as she knew it was no more, and all their countries were gone anyhow.

"I understand a Mordecai to be a master and also a teacher of the ways wit...Mages should be" She corrected herself, trying not to shift self consciously. She'd nearly been burned at the stake for being a 'witch' and she almost felt this was a similar situation. Mages were often feared just like the witches had been, only now, instead of destroying all of them, they were harnessing them and using them for something. "Though I suspect there is more to it." She admitted, allowing a flicker of a glance up towards his face. She was curious what her master looked like, but knew better than to boldly look at him.

((You worry too much. The post is fine *huggles post* besides, any post makes me gleefully happy!))

[Anonymous]

She suspected there was more to it.  They were always crafty, these Mages, and always full of doubletalk.  Maybe she'd come from the past--what he saw in her mind indicated that it was so.  Her mind was, of course, horribly jumbled, all childish and lurid impressions.  He sometimes wondered what someone would see if they looked inside of his head.  But that wonder was immaterial.  Certainly--nothing like this.

Some Mordecai attached themselves too much to what was in their Mages heads.  They became nearly as bad.  It was less so a matter of native dishonesty than a matter of native pliability of mind.  They bent every which way.  That was why the Gods had made it so that the Mordecai could control them.

"We are your masters," he said, frowning down at her.  "There need be nothing more to it.  It's quite simple.  We harness your power.  Yours, now, isn't behaving quite..."  He frowned, trying to delve deeper, but she had distracting ledges and crevasses all through the mental landscape.  Maybe it was the difference in era.  What sort of a thing could skip someone through time?  It unsettled him.  Such a power was quite rare--spatiotemporal magic less so, but it almost always inclined toward the spatial...


[[OOC:  Um.... yeah, gonna need some help with what her power is exactly!]]

[Anonymous]

Louhi seemed to shrink. "Yes Sir" She said softly.She was afraid it would happen all over again, only modernized. Images flashed through her head. There was an angry mob of servants shouting for her death. She recalled being twisted in impossible directions while being dragged/carried to the stake until her leg snapped under the force. They tied her to the post and lit the wood around her. She could still feel the flames licking their way up her leg while her mother did nothing but watch for the few minutes before the world went haywire and the servants fled in fear. She tried to brush the thoughts aside. He wouldn't want to see any of that. No one cared what the witch thought.

She had questions, there were always questions, but it didn't seem she had the permission to ask questions. It was more like the old days: speak when spoken to, be seen and not heard. She could remain silent, if he so wished. She just wished he would give her some clue to what was expected of her. Without knowing that, she was set up for so much failure, she almost felt she couldn't function for the anxiety of it. Despite her taste of freedom, she still had an earnest desire to do well, to please the masters she was required to serve.


{OOC: She can enhance fire and light, move stuff with her mind (sorry, drawing a blank on the name for it.) She has teleported herself, though never intentionally, and she has turned invisible a few times. Mostly, her powers come as she needs them, but the moving stuff would probably be her most harness-able power. Oh, and some warlock/sorcerer dude was the one who threw her through time. She can't mess with time.}

[Anonymous]

Rafe sensed the mage's curiosity and the chaotic discomfort of her memories, but he sensed them distantly, as the watershed off the solid connection he was fast establishing.  He scoured the corners of her mind, isolating magical apparati.  It was not too difficult.  His particular brand of control allowed him to diagnose quickly, even in the case of a PBU.

Telekinesis.  That was spatial.  He searched for a temporal correlative and found none, but added telekinetic potential to his new toolbox.  Now this he had missed.  He had missed the sense of rightness, the sense of control, that mastering a Mage provided.  He rummaged further.  Inchoate beads of magic flashed at him, and he snorted to himself.  Completely undisciplined.  Getting this creature in order, molding her into a useful component of the universe, would be a pleasure like the pleasure of compulsion.

"I live at home," he said abruptly.  Best to keep the Mage with him, as he had done with his last.  He had a room made up for the purpose anyway.  "Not at the Fortress.  You'll have to come with me for now, and clear out this cell for someone else."  He looked her over.  She didn't need a collar--she was lame, where would she go?  And a collar wouldn't stop teleportation, anyway, if that particular nervous tic should arise.  It very well might.  He would need to keep a close eye--a mind's eye--on her.  "Come on.  And don't cringe, I won't hurt you, just do as you're told."  He beckoned to her.

[Anonymous]

It was uncomfortable to have him digging around in her mind, but she did not flinch, though she grasped a little tighter to her staff. "Yes, sir" She replied softly, limping the first couple steps before managing to smooth out her gait. The leg would probably never be right, but she had learned to mask the limp to some degree or another, knowing that appearing lame was likely a bad thing, even if the master already knew about it.

She was nervous, but so far, nothing was happening. The lighting wasn't doing anything drastic enough to blame on her, though her eyes had changed to a stormcloud grey.

At least doing what she was told was simple enough for the most part. The trouble came when she didn't know if she was allowed to ask permission for things, or had to wait until he offered permission for things. She'd seen both, and it was all a matter of the master's preference.

She wondered briefly if he knew about the vitamins she had been injected with. She had been feeling a great deal better since the shots began and hadn't had any cravings at all, for which she was quite glad, but she didn't linger, she simply made sure she was keeping up with him as best she could. After all, she as not very big to start with, so her strides were short.

[Anonymous]

"That leg isn't acceptable, but don't hide it," he said abruptly, waiting for her as they wound their way to the door.  He keyed out, then entered her code as well, so the system would track her departure.  They kept a close watch on Mages, as they ought.  He had already filled out the paperwork online and keying out now would finalize it.  Damn and damn.  So he had a Mage again.

He found he was looking forward to what he could do with this one.  Telekinesis was a plus.  He would have his son look at her leg, or perhaps get her a cart of some kind--she needed to be portable.  

Rafe led the way slowly to the Tube station, a closed-in system of hydrogen-fueled transport.  Its plastic windows would afford a view out onto fields of waving wheatwhen they neared his home stop.  He never wanted to stop growing grain, even if the engineered stuff was better.  You lost your connection to the land, you became just like Aedolis.  He waited, beside his new Mage, for the next car--it would be some minutes.  

"Maybe I'll get you a cart."  The same sort of soft touch he used with some animals came off the underside of the words; she seemed uneasy.  He glanced down at her and reached out, once again, with his mind, trying to sort her magic.  If he was lucky, he could use her own healing magic.  But that amalgam was rare; he couldn't pick out quite the combination of power that would allow it.  Better luck to go to the hospital and see what they said.  He'd focus first on telekinesis; then he would draw out whatever dormancies remained.  Rafe was quite good at wielding power through a Mage.  She would need to do very little.  If Laelia had still been alive, she'd have spoiled her, treated her like a favorite pet or another child.  

The Tube car slid soundlessly to a stop.  Its doors opened with a hiss of air.  Rafe steadied the Mage with his mind, aware she might find the experience overwhelming.  No need to have her panicking on a Tube car.  "Come on, let's go."

[Anonymous]

Louhi nodded "Yes sir" She replied yet again. It seemed to be the only thing she was able to say. She'd been masking her limp for so long, it was difficult to remember not to mask it. She waited silently for whatever contraption was coming to pick them up. So far, even the most terrifying looking transportation device had not caused her harm, so if her master wanted her to go onto the hissing thing, she would go and do her best not to cause a scene. She was afraid of the consequences losing control of herself might bring down on her. "A...cart, sir?" She dared to speak, wanting to understand what he meant by a cart. She knew carts to be contraptions for carrying things from one place to another. She was not accustomed to the idea of a wheelchair or anything of that sort. She'd never known anyone that handicapped.

The lights flickered as she stepped onto the tube car, and she involuntarily cringed. She had come to accept that when the lights flickered, she was to blame, and she had no idea what affects it might have on the tube car itself. She didn't want to break it, then she'd really be in trouble.

She steadied her breath as best she could, keeping a straight face as she glanced briefly around them. This was likely to be an interesting experience. At least she had not been prone to motion sickness so far.

[Anonymous]

Rafe leaned against the cool, transparent plastic and watched as grass whooshed by, then gave way to fields of bare red rock.  Pebbles chinked and clattered in the Tube car's windy wake.  He braced his face on his forearm and shut his eyes.

"Yes, something for getting around," he mumbled, half to himself, half to the little Mage next to him.  

When the car slid to a stop at its first destination Rafe jerked upright.  He became aware of some nasty looks from entering riders, he ushered Louhi over to his side.  People didn't like to see unattended Mages.  The bare rock had turned back to tufty grass, dusted with rust speckles from the car's movement.  They set off again.  Soon enough, Rafe made out the waving wheat around the outskirts of his settlement.

Rafe had gotten the setup out in the territories years ago, a gift for his work terraforming the area, along with his cousin Ilae, her husband and family, and her husband's brother Benyun.  They grew natural wheat and raised horses, cattle, and ganfit*.  Rafe stayed there because he liked the animals and he liked growing his vegetable garden, even though he hadn't had a Mage capable of terraforming in years.  He liked the place.  It was close enough to Tynova for Tube commute.  Most of the settlements weren't.  When they got there, he'd put Louhi in with the other Mages to sleep.  

The doors slid open into their transparent sleeves, and Rafe reached into Louhi's mind to 'suggest' her out of the car.  


*a kind of large, flightless bird

[Anonymous]

As he hid his face, Louhi watched him a little curiously, wondering if perhaps he felt ill, but she didn't speak, instead maintaining her balance as best she could in the rocking car and clinging to her staff as if her life depended upon it.

When the tube stopped, she glanced up, shrinking slightly under the looks she was getting, not understanding them at first, but scurried to stand beside her master as beckoned. Maybe she was supposed to be on a leash or something. She'd seen slaves kept on chains before.

Wheat. She was familiar with wheat. That made her feel a little better. It was perhaps the first familiar thing she'd seen since she managed to get dropped into this century.

Louhi watched as the doors open, waiting for her master to either go first so she could follow, or instruct her out. She was not expecting him to do it mentally. She gasped softly, lurching out the door. It reminded her of being grabbed by the ear and pulled. Surely unpleasant, but then, she'd never actually had anyone manipulating her mind before, so her mind was rather 'tender' in many ways. She'd had people read it, and while unsettling, it was brief. It was nothing like being tethered to another person's mind. Her brain was also overworked. There were always processes going, battles between control and powers she didn't understand, trying to focus on the present and push the memories far away, though they never seemed to be more than just below the surface.

She waited a little anxiously outside the car, hoping he didn't intend to steer her the entire way home. She was quite capable of following. She could even run if he needed her to.