[Wingardia] No. 921

[Misao]

For the most part, Rachel ignored Graymalk's reassurances about her power, trusting that getting more comfortable with it would be something she would have to work out on her own. Thankfully, he started into the actual explanation of the card and its associated powers so that she would have something else to focus on. Listening intently to his explanation, she nodded every so often to signal that she understood everything he was telling her.

Hmm... this is more than I was bargaining for when I signed up for this whole magical partner thing, she thought to herself as Graymalk explained the power-boosting function of the card, making sure to lie hers down in front of her so she didn't accidentally project her private musings. I guess I underestimated what he was capable of.

She smiled inscrutably to herself, picking up the card again and looking back at Graymalk for a few seconds before nodding. "All right, let's try this out..." she said, holding the card out in front of her. "Adeat!" she called out, purposely sounding a little dramatic in her curiosity.

As the magic began to work, there was a momentary flash around Rachel's wrists and neck. When the light receded, she was left wearing a pair of bracelets and a necklace woven from white and yellow gold. The two colors were woven around one another in what resembled a double helix, and a faint silvery aura shimmered around them as the light glinted off of the metallic sheen of the jewelry. There were also runes lightly traced along the sides of the bracelets, reading something in a language Rachel herself could not understand.

Turning her hands over and looking at the bracelets, Rachel examined them closely. Eventually she gave a sort of approving nod. "Well, they're very pretty, at least," she finally said. "So what exactly is it that they do? The function should be related to the picture on my card, right?"  

[Stephen Pact]

"Hmmm. Good question. abeat let's see" said Graymalk, producing his copy of Rachel's card.

"There really don't seem to be too many clues that I can see on this card, though I will say that I'm rather pleased with the detail on the picture. It really does look like you. Did you notice how the picture changes slightly when you tilt the card? Your face changes slightly, the things you're holding change, and even the number of arms changes! This sort of movement is highly unusual for these cards, but it doesn't really tell me all that much about what your item does, I'm afraid.

"Here, show me the bracelet, would you? The words on the artefact usually have something to do with what it does. If that doesn't help us, you might just have to experiment to figure it out. I'm sorry, but with something as personalized as this, that's usually how it goes. Even if I could use a spell to determine what it was capable of, there are usually several different effects to something like this which can only be unlocked with practice. We'll look for a clue, and then we'll just have to work at it, I'm afraid." Graymalk gave a wry grin, probably lost in his cat's mouth. "What can I say; even magic has limits." he finished.  

[Misao]

Rachel furrowed her brow a little at this. She had been expecting a bit of an easier time figuring out what all of this business about the card and her artifact would be. It seemed somewhat counterproductive not to be able to tell what one's own artifact did right away... but then again, no one ever said magic had to make any sense. Leaning down toward Graymalk, she held out her wrists, the golden bangles jingling slightly as they clanged gently against each other.

"All right, then," she said, waiting for some sort of expert analysis. "What do the inscriptions say?" As she waited for Graymalk's answer, she moved her head back and forth slightly, looking at her own copy of the card and watching the image on it shift and change with the angle of the light.  

[Stephen Pact]

Graymalk looked carefully at the bracelets Rachel held out to him. "Apparatus Centiplex," he read. "Hundredfold equipment, near enough. Sounds a lot like the card descriptor's reference to your multiple hands, but this almost makes the bracelet seem like some sort of Swiss Army knife. Puzzling.

"Adeat!" said Graymalk, concealing his own card again. "I think, if you don't object, that we should do a few experiments. The artifact doesn't draw upon my powers, so it should be relatively safe. Let's see... OK, how about this: concentrate on your bracelets. Let's see if we can maybe manifest something useful from them - say, grow something, like you did the hands, maybe. If that doesn't work, then maybe we can try something else. I know your powers bother you, but what do you say; it's just us here, after all."  

[Misao]

Rachel nodded, lifting her hands up again and inspecting the bracelets curiously, looking at the inscriptions for a few moments before trying anything. Furrowing her brow and half-frowning in concentration, she closed her eyes. Visualizing the bracelets in her mind, she tried to recreate the same sensation she felt when using her power, except this time envisioned daggers growing up from the floor instead of extra arms. The bracelets flashed somewhat as she maintained her concentration, but ultimately, she only managed to grow the usual set of arms from the floor - nothing different from every time she'd used her power before. Opening her eyes to see this, she scratched her head.

"I don't think that's it..." she said, dismissing the arms with a wave of her hand. "I'm just getting the same effect I usually do. Maybe I have to be holding something already?" she questioned, looking around the room for a likely candidate for a test run.  

[Stephen Pact]

"Huh. Holding something, you say? I suppose that sounds logical enough." said Graymalk, thoughtfully. "The bracelets are intended to sync naturally with your own native abilities and proclivities, so your instincts are actually more likely to be accurate than mine are where something like this is concerned." Graymalk paused, momentarily indecisive, but he would have to ask eventually; best to get it overwith.

"While we're on the subject... I hate to pry, but just what are these "powers" of yours, anyway? Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed by the hand trick - it's truly remarkable - but just how do you do it? It's no magic I've ever seen or read about, I can tell you that. Honestly, it's more like that bit about fooling reality when it's not looking thing we were talking about the other day. Heh! And what a slight-of-hand trick it would be, if that's how you're doing it. I know this is painful for you, but it might be important later on. Can you tell me?"  

[Misao]

Rachel sighed a little, but nodded back at Graymalk anyway. Honestly, it was the power itself that bothered her. Talking about where it came from wasn't really that big a problem. Granted, she did have to reference her weird family situation, but that was almost more of a source of wry amusement than irritation lately. Perhaps the time away really had done her some good. But those were thoughts for later.

"Sure, I don't mind talking about that. And you're right, it's not magic. What I manipulate is popularly called quantum," she explained, raising a finger in a pedantic fashion. "Only people who are born with a special structure in their brain called an M-R node are able to manipulate it, and everyones' quantum signature manifests itself differently. I suppose in layman's terms, you could just call them 'superpowers.'"

Standing up and walking over to the shelf above her desk, she took down the pictures of her family to show them to Graymalk. "These are my parents, and this is my older brother Joseph. My mother has the ability to talk to and control plants and animals, as well as healing powers. She's also who I inherited my appearance-based abilities from. Dad is a shapeshifter with heightened perception and supernatural charisma. Joey got that power, as well as the ability to transform his body into solid tree bark - it gives him armor, plantlike regenerative ability, and enhanced strength," she explained, pointing at each picture as she referenced them in turn. "And my ability, I guess as some weird hybrid between my father's shapeshifting and my mother's growing things, is what I showed you before."

Taking the pictures, she walked back over to the shelf, placing them back where she had gotten them before. Stopping at her desk on the way back, she grabbed a ballpoint pen, bringing it back over to the bed with her. "Okay, then... should I try it again? Maybe something will happen with what I'm holding this time."  

[Stephen Pact]

Graymalk looked as Rachel; what else could he do? "Superpowers?" he said, simply. "Like in a comic book human children read? I had a friend whose human was into stuff like that, but to actually meet one... and here I thought you were a relatively normal girl for this place! I should know better than to judge on appearances. My Schrodingar comments must have seemed kind of silly to you, I guess, though I still maintain that the cat counts as an observer, dead or not. Still, an honest-to-goodness superhero, and from a family of them at that; even I seem normal by those standards. Who knew!

"OK," said Graymalk, gathering his composure "so you have this superpower to grow your hands out of the ground like plants, and now you're going to try it with that pencil. Fair enough. Let's see if it works. I'm not sure that copying a pencil will be of great use for anything other than copying notes quickly, but if th eprinciple's sound we could be on to something impressive indeed. It's your show, Rachel; let's see what you can do, superhero! Make that pencil grow!"  

[Misao]

Rachel gave a sort of wry half-smile at Graymalk's overenthusiasm. It really was odd to see him getting so excited over something silly like her family's quantum powers. She'd just always accepted them as a fact of life, not really thinking much of them one way or the other. Shrugging, she nodded and began to concentrate just as she did before. This time, she pictured the pen she was holding as she focused her energy on the bracelets. They flashed once again, and just like before, two arms came sprouting up from the floor of the room. This time, however, they were each also holding an exact copy of the pen. As Rachel opened her eyes, they widened slightly in surprise as she looked at what she had done.

"Well, that certainly is interesting..." she mused, standing up and walking over to her clone-arms, poking at one of the cloned pens with the one she was holding. "I've never been able to duplicate something I was holding before..." She turned back to Graymalk, jerking a finger at the twin arms holding twin pens. "I suppose this is probably how the bracelets have expanded my power, then, huh?" Rachel couldn't help but smile a little - even she had to admit that duplicating items was pretty cool.  

[Stephen Pact]

Graymalk studied the pens, pawing at them and examining them carefully. "This is new, eh? So a power which normally only copies your body can now copy an item you're holding... interesting... OK, I've got a few questions I think we should explore here.

"First question: do these copied pens actually write? If so, you should probably take these down, incidentally; wouldn't want to forget anything!

"Second question: can you drop the pen, and if so, what happens to it?

"Third question: do you have to copy something held by your natural hands, or can you copy things held by one of the copies?

"Fourth question: can you copy other things, varying by size, type, or complexity?

"Fifth question: can you grow a copy of an item you're holding without copying the hand holding it?

"Hmmm. That's about it, I think, unless you have some other powers or ideas you want to try out. What do you think? Does that seem like a pretty exhaustive list to you? Always bearing in mind that you don't want to exhaust yourself trying these things, of course! Any thoughts, Rachel?"  

[Misao]

"Well, there's an easy way to find out the answer to the first question..." Rachel said, moving over to her desk again and taking out a few loose sheets of paper. Setting them down in front of the copied hands, she manipulated them to write down her name on the paper. Just as she had expected, both pens did indeed write her name. "Okay, so, the answer to our first question is yes."

Next, she dropped the pen she herself was holding. The clones continued holding onto their respective pens, as she had not yet caused them to do anything. "Okay, so at least we know the item behavior isn't linked, but that was to be expected, since my arms can all act independently of one another." This time, however, she had one of her cloned limbs drop the pen it was holding. The pen clattered to the floor, simply lying there. Even after a few seconds, it remained. Rachel nodded, having the other hand jot down notes. "All right, so with this we can probably conclude that the cloned limb and the item are a matched set - as long as one is around, the other stays in existence as well."

To answer the third question, she fetched a red Sharpie marker from her desk drawer, handing it to the first limb that had dropped the pen previously. Concentrating, she sprouted another arm up from the ground, holding a copy of the marker. "Answer number three: yes, I can clone items from copies. As for number four, I'd imagine that answer will come with active experimentation. I'll try that out on my own later - there are a lot of potential things in here for me to attempt it with. As far as the last question..."

Rachel concentrated, trying this time to only copy the original ballpoint pen, which she was still holding onto. In response, a fourth arm sprouted up from the floor, holding a third copy of the pen. She shook her head. "Looks like it's a package deal, like I guessed before. You get both or neither."

She turned back to Graymalk. "Not bad, though, on the whole. I'd say it's a pretty useful ability to have around."  

[Stephen Pact]

"Very nice indeed!" Said Graymalk, pleased with the results of their work. "That was actually a lot easier than I expected it to be. Unless you have some other powers you haven't mentioned, I think we can safely say we understand the basic nature of your artefact now, and it's a good one. You're already proficient, so when the time comes we should be more than ready to deal with whatever shows up."

Graymalk's good mood fell at that thought, remembering the situation which had brought them to this point in the first place. He couldn't ask Rachel to deal with that again, whatever it was, no matter how brave she was. "That said..." he added "I don't want you to worry about that girl Nobara, OK? Whatever happened, I'll deal with it. We're partners, after all. I'll see that she's taken care of as soon as I've recovered my strength." he finished carefully. No one hurt HIS human.  

[Misao]

"...Deal with it?" Rachel quirked an eyebrow at this, wondering if Graymalk had gotten the wrong idea about Nobara. "There's nothing to deal with. It wasn't her fault that my hands got burned. We entered this thing called a star test together, and it was a team fight against a monster," she explained. "We just had some bad luck with the random draw, I guess. We had to fight an ooze, and it beat us up pretty badly before Nobara killed it with some fire arrows. It seemed like she manifested the new power right there and then - looking back on it, it almost seemed like it grew out of a desire to save me." Rachel smiled a little to herself at this thought. "So anyway, don't worry about Nobara. She's my best friend, and I probably would've been in a lot worse shape today if she hadn't saved me at the last second."  

[Stephen Pact]

Graymalk was momentarily taken aback. This was unexpected; he had assumed this Nobara girl was responsible for Rachel's injuries, but it would seem that it was, of all things, an academic accident. What kind of school was this, anyway? It was pretty bizarre, whatever else it might be.

"... Perhaps you'd better explain this from the beginning. You say you fought this thing for a class?!?" stuttered Graymalk. "Don't tell me you chose to fight this thing? Where did they even get a cave ooze? I mean, really, it's not like... I just don't know what to say! Do your parents know what you're up to here? You were seriously hurt! Hand burns... I... I don't know what to say!" Graymalk hopped to the bed, trying to regain his composure. At this rate he might lose another human even without dangerous magic, and - NO! THAT WOULD NOT HAPPEN! Rachel was HIS partner now. He might not be able to keep her out of danger, but he WOULD see her protected. He was NOT going to let what happened to Jill... Graymalk clamped down on his emotions, all too aware that it was too late. He'd been focused on Rachel while thinking those thoughts, and it was all too likely that she'd sensed some of his emotional turmoil through the card. He trusted Rachel, maybe even loved her a bit, but... calm.

"I'm a cat, and you're a lot like one. I know what it is to be free, so I won't try to tell you what to do or forbid you doing something dangerous. I'm asking you. Warn me, next time. I don't want you in danger unprepared again."  

[Misao]

Rachel couldn't help but laugh a little to herself at all of this. It was really kind of touching to see that Graymalk was so concerned about her, but she was also a little irritated with how severely he seemed to be fussing over it. She knew why, of course - the incident with Jill must still have been weighing on his mind rather heavily. Giving her new partner a serious look, she nodded back to him, waving a hand as she dismissed the arms from the floor, the pens and markers disappearing along with them.

"Ria High is far from a normal school. I thought you already knew that," she said calmly, pushing her glasses up. "Truth be told, we sort of just got thrown into the whole fight randomly, but we were far from the only pair involved. I heard one girl got eaten by a giant sandworm or something halfway through her battle - she made it out alive, though." Realizing that this explanation probably wasn't helping matters, she made a fist, coughing into it briefly as she changed topics. "I appreciate your willing lack of presumption in dictating my actions, as I'm sure you know I wouldn't put up with that," she said flatly. "I'll be sure to keep you informed of what I'm up to from now on, though, if that's what you want. Don't worry, I'm tougher than I look."