tushanshu_logs | catchall, early November

Characters: Raine Sage and OPEN
Date: first week of November mostly, some flex if necessary
Location: various around Keeliai, including her suite (Tu-Gai)
Situation: also various, mostly involving catching people up to the situation as it stands and seeking possibilities for dealing with things under the shell.
Warnings/Rating: violence/gore in Anton's thread; probably all-over discussions of mind control etc.

While the suspicion of someone willingly working with Malicant is something that never quite leaves her mind, for the most part Raine's of the opinion that dispersing information can only help right now. Not via the network, of course, but she spends much of the first week of November seeking out people she knows to catch them up to how bad things are, to make sure the vision Wan and Valdis had gets shared out, and to see if anyone has any helpful input at all. She's done about as much as she can within her own head; now it's time to get outside points of view.

When she's not busy doing that, she can mostly be found in the Earth sector, either at her suite, which she hasn't made a significant effort to hide, or in one of the assorted nearby parks, running through artes over and over in an effort to improve her casting time and focus or simply swinging her staff in the most basic of forms.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Once the vision has had a little time to sink in, one of Raine's first priorities is to talk to Gene. She doesn't know for sure how far the powers of his rings extend, but if there's any possibility that the one they were testing a few months ago could help provide answers, it's worth following up on. While she touches base with him briefly via the network to arrange a time and place to talk to him she doesn't provide any details on what it's about, beyond 'important.'

When she turns up to meet him she's about as put-together as ever and alert, but there are faint shadows under her eyes that suggest perhaps she hasn't quite been sleeping enough.

Raine's not the only one looking a little haggard these days. Gene's been running himself down taking care of both Kalliel (as a single parent now) and Tony (since the dumbass had accidentally left a backdoor for Malicant to get in and burn out his 'bots for a week).

But the dark circles under his eyes are concealed readily enough by his green-lensed glasses, and he tries to smile at Raine when he sees her, but it seems he's forgotten how.

"Hi, Raine. What's going on?" he asks, not meaning to be brusque but wanting to get right to the point.

"Hello, Gene." Raine's not particularly offended either by lack of pleasantries or by sub-par smiles. It hasn't been much of a month for either, and the smile she returns is not wholly a happy one, either. "I had a few questions," she says. "Mostly pertaining to your capabilities with the rings, and possibly regarding what information you can gain from them. Has one of the children passed you the vision from Wan and Valdis yet?"

Gene nods. "Kalliel showed me. I had to tell him it wasn't that bad, but I don't know how good a job I did reassuring him. It's...enlightening. But disturbing." He shrugs. "As for the rings - theoretically, nearly anything. Teleportation, elemental control, matter manipulation...what did you want to know?"

Enlightening but disturbing. That's an accurate assessment. "I don't think Ryder would believe me if I tried," she says, rueful. "All right. The area under the shell is inhospitable to living beings, in that it exerts some kind of psychic pressure. I'm sure it's neither magical nor physical, or I'd be able to mitigate it somehow. Is there something you can do to defend against it?" A pause, then, thoughtfully, "And can you confirm its exact nature, or is that beyond your scope?"

Gene thinks about it for a moment. "I'm not sure," he says. "I've never had to defend against psychic attack, but I'm certain that I could try."

Raine, please. Nothing is beyond the scope of the Mandarin! Though, given the last time he'd tried to use the crimson ring he nearly gave himself a brain hemorrhage - which Raine had been present for - he's a little bit wary of trying it again.

"I could take a look," he says, cautiously. He's got the other rings to stabilize it, so even if it goes bad, it probably won't go bad quite so catastrophically.

She does recall what happened the last time, as well. Between his seizure and Tony's panic, it isn't something she'll be forgetting any time soon. "It may be necessary to try," she says. "If you're comfortable with asking the ring, please do so. Last time shouldn't repeat itself, and if by some chance it does, I know how to help." She doesn't sound all that concerned, honestly, just serious.

"All right," he says, and closes his eyes, probing with the ring. It's difficult - he's running into interference, which is practically unheard of! - but he gets as much information out of it as he dares.

When he's done, he opens his eyes. "It appears to be psychic in nature, you're right. Some side-effect of our enemy's hold on Asti, like a...corruption of the peace that used to be at the turtle's head." But had even that been a manipulation, a trick of Malicant's to keep them compliant?

That's about what she thought. Damn. It makes sense, but even so... "A side-effect?" she says, interestedly. "Not an intentional barrier?"

Well, even if it hadn't been intentional, Malicant was certainly making good use of it. "Does that also tell you if you can successfully defend against it?" she asks next, because knowing for sure now is preferable to accidentally getting Gene killed.

"Intentional or not, our enemy's making use of it quite effectively." At her next question, he frowns, deep in thought. "That, I don't know. It's causing some kind of...interference. Possibly because of our enemy's will - it seems to be on guard more after the possession attempt. I'm going to have to try again later."

"Of course our enemy's making use of it," she says, and shakes her head. Malicant's an opportunist. She's still interested in the intent -- a sign of an actual magical error on its part is promising -- but there's no good way to tell. "All right. Thank you. If you find out anything more, please let me know." She doesn't think she needs to reiterate how important it might be, if the stone's down there.

"If anything comes up, you'll be among the first," Gene says, nodding. Raine's good people. And she's smart and knows what she's doing. If Malicant's made an error, it would benefit them all to know about it.

catchall, early November

Gene; actually a little earlier than November, aka one or two days post-possession attempt;

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