Infinite Potential

Turning slowly to face Callum, Akira-As-Arsene quietly folded his wings a bit tighter to his back, observing the hand postition - A rune mid-scribe. A metaphorical hand on his weapon, ready to attack the potential threat.

Smart.

Akira didn't blame him.

In response, Akira carefully, slowly, raised his hands in a calming gesture - not facing his hands towards Callum, but so that his palms faced the ground. Akira knew enough of rune-casting to assume that such a hand position - in the air and not near any sigil-shaping - would probably be appreciated.

"Akira. Your mirror friend. You might... well. Okay, you probably won't remember me, not like this." He chuckled, gesturing vaguely at himself, hands still precisely where Callum could see them. "It's a... It not quite a spell, but close enough to, that I figured out how to do so I could visit. Heard a rumor of attacks or demons, that made me a little worried - so I wanted to pop by to see if they were true." One hand moved this time, gesturing at the room around them. "Given this place isn't coated in a liberal amount of rubble and dust, I'd wager those rumors weren't true."

Rumors were fly here better than 'I saw an alternate world of this place in the future'.

Akira? ...He hadn't mentioned the mirror to anyone, much less about his little 'mirror friend' that disappeared one day. Though he couldn't hide how he felt about that from Ezran at the time. But still.

It was a name he wasn't expecting to hear again, nor someone to hear from again.

Kind of like her-

While he was still uncertain if he should drop it, Callum let his hand fall to his side. The mid-scribed rune's energy fizzled out, with not much more than a momentary crackle signaling anything was there at all. "I know people don't like them much, but isn't it harsh to call Zubeia and Zym 'demons'?"

Those 'rumors' must've been either old, or from the edges of Katolis.

"But, no. Everything's fine. Where did you hear those rumors?"

'Not dark magic', huh. Callum gave a look somewhere between concerned and that he didn't quite believe Akira's statement. Though he couldn't remember any Dark Magic spells that did do something like this. The closest he could think of was maybe some Star Spells, and even then. With almost no research on the matter, it was more guesswork than anything, along with the few sightings of Star-aspected creatures that was written down.

He couldn't think of any reason Akira would come using Moon Magic, either, to give a form that screamed "I'm some type of monster, fear me.".

...For a moment, he does wonder about that 'other Callum' from when he first used Dark Magic. He hasn't seen or heard from him since then (a good thing, he tells himself).

She listened to the wood wailers apologize profusely to V'iolata like they had just made some major mistake. To be fair this was the warrior of light and her resume was incredibly impressive. She was the primal/eikon slayer, Emissary for the city states, the one who took the ultima weapon down, the one who went through the crystal tower, the one who helped end the dragonsong war. And in the future was going to be the one who helped liberate Ala Mhigo and Doma.

So you know

just a few accolades.

She listened to the wood wailers then tell the ones who they had locked in this room that it was the warrior of light that they were speaking to and that she demanded their attention and respect. V'iolata just lightly rolled her eyes at that as she shooed them out of the room fully, keeping the door open in the event that they were stupid enough to try to lock the door behind them.

That would almost guarantee them time in a cell for treason basically.

"Warrior of light huh?" Johnny remarked, walking in front of V'iolata and taking a look at her as he passed through her form. "What is she going to do? Shine a fucking flashlight at us? Blind us with the power of the sun? Nice bow though. Very old school. Though even when I was around and new a bow was just seen as a novelty."

V was actually very amused at the comment. Like incredibly amused and she couldn't help but to lightly, audibly chuckle. "Warrior of light is one hell of a status to have. What are you going to do, shine a flashlight at us?" She had to say what Johnny said, minus the cursing and other comments.

"....What?"

"Don't worry about it. Just a bad joke. So, what's your name, ol Miss Warrior of light?"

"V'iolata. V'iolata Spahrl. Please just refer to me as that and not the warrior of light." V'iolata's ears flattened momentarily before she saw that they had been fed some sort of vegetable stew. Probably not even bothering to add much spices or anything like that in it. It was probably the blandest stuff imaginable because Wood wailers and gridanians in general could be extremely xenophobic.

"Anyways, like I said, neither of you look like you are part of the Garleans, voluntarily or otherwise. The clothing doesn't match. And whilst I have a bunch of questions about the stuff on your body, well...this is going to be much more interesting than I originally thought it was going to be.

And indeed it was going to be.

"Now tell me the truth. You all aren't from around here, are you? I would say possibly another realm given what I have recently learned but...are you?"

"If she demands our attention and respect so badly, she can do so herself." What a sorry lot.

Now, granted, Al wouldn't give her any demanded respect. He didn't know her and she has done nothing to show she was worthy or not of "respect". But damn, did he hate these bootlicker types so, so much.

Bad joke or not, it did get Al to start chuckling a little. He did wonder for a moment if it was one V made first, or Johnny, but it didn't matter who.

...Hm. Was this a common occurrence, or were they extremely lucky again to find someone even remotely familiar with other worlds? Al expected Minori to once again butt in, not caring if that was information that shouldn't be uttered with what little they knew. He knows that piqued Minori's interest.

But for whatever reason, Minori didn't. Finally, the idiot learns.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened. It wasn't a scion or a warrior of light, at least not yet anyway. It was a wood wailer with two bowls in hand. And some water. Looked to be some sort of vegetable soup from the looks of it. It was hot, which was a surprise. With the way they treated them, it could've been cold...but it was something, at the very least.

She got herself up, graciously took a bowl of soup as the wood wailer walked off, and sat back down at the couch and tried it. To some people this would be considered incredibly bland and needed more spices to have what would be considered good flavor. But given the food that was available in Night City for regular people? This was such a step up.

For one, there was actual real vegetables in this! The broth wasn't some synthetic crap. It was true, actual vegetables in a broth and it was....really good. And this was stuff that was getting handed to them. People that the wood wailers were considering scum. Well, it was probably just that her standards were very low.

Oh well.

"Wow, I..." V took another sip of the broth and then took a bite of a carrot. A real carrot. "I don't think I've ever actually had real vegetables before. I've had the synthetic stuff but never actual real vegetables. Now I see why they are so coveted." Truly, something so simple would be so coveted in the dystopian capitalistic hell that was Night CIty.

She found herself getting emotional a little. This was great. Really great.

And she was feeling a bit hungry, so she greedily ate the soup as fast as possible. If this was the cuisine, minus the fact that she was still actively dying and being suspected of being imperial scum? This could be something that she could get used to.

"Well at any rate, we need to stick to the we fell from the sky thing at the very least." She said between sips of the soup. "We can probably add amnesia to that. And that we're from somewhere that the culture and all that is different. Hence why we're wearing different clothing and such. I'm still working on an excuse for my cyberware."

The door opened again, unexpectedly and a pair of wood wailers walked through and stood on one side of the entrance, and someone walked in. A violet haired, violet eye Miqo'te. It was V'iolata Spahrl.

"So, these are the ones that you currently have jailed up for being infused with magitek, huh?" She had a smile, as fake as it probably was, and she took a quick look at them. First at V and then at Minori. She looked at them for a bit and yes, their outfits were definitely out of place for gridania and the shroud. And V looked out of place body wise but...

"Really?" Her cheerful tone quickly turned to being annoyed. "I have to deal with the border wall possibly being attacked and you are dragging me out for two individuals who look absolutely nothing like garleans or have the telltale signs of being infused with magitek? You lot are idiots and should be ashamed of yourselves."

Al watched V get up, and against his better judgement perhaps, smiled at her reaction. If asked about it, he'd claim it was because clearly the food was fine.

Not because V got to see what actual food was like. Nope.

With that, he got up and grabbed his own bowl and a water. Drinking the water first - actual hydration!

He listened and thought about it, though she'd probably be forgiven for thinking Al wasn't listening with him gulping down water. Not even pausing in-between. With that, he gave a small hum. "We don't have to give a statement of amnesia, necessarily. It should be clear we don't know anything once we're talking long enough." But he clearly didn't have complaints about falling from the sky, or the culture. It was true - even if Al was sure this was far, far out of the realm of possibility for this world.

But, maybe, it wasn't, as long as a closer look wasn't given or they tried to figure out the materials of their current clothes. Even if he was currently going with that idea that the empire was similar to the British Empire.

The only thing of issue was her cyberware. If it was possible that she was seen as an experiment...

There wasn't enough time, however, to fully mull that over. He didn't like the probably-fake smile on the newcomer's face. Oh lord, she's one of those people, is she. Insufferable civilian types, but satisfying to take down when they were a criminal.

He waited for a moment, or maybe two, before

Snickering. A held back laugh, not of his own will. Here Al thought Minori being quiet meant they left, but he wasn't surprised.

"That's assuming of course these scions, whatever group they are anyway, are more competent than these guards." She stated flatly. What a mess. What a god damn mess this all was and they weren’t helping with their current behavior. She lay down on the couch and put her hands behind her head, and she was going over in her head what they knew.

1: They were in another world. There was no refuting that at this point. 2: They were at at significant disadvantage. They didn't have any information beyond what they were gathering. 3: They were heavily out of place. V more so thanks to her visible cybernetics. 4: Warrior of Light was one hell of a title, and the scions of the seventh dawn could possibly be their ticket to at least understanding how to get back to night city. Or another world depending on how things went. 5: They had to choose every word carefully from now on. 6: One bad attack could be her death sentence.

Upon that last realization she checked how many pills that she had to suppress her symptoms. 5. That was how many that she had. Who knew how long that was going to last for her at this point. And right on cue she coughed a few times and felt that trickle of iron on her tongue and teeth and lips. Lovely, just lovely. Just the new norm made worse by being in an unfamiliar land.

"V, I would very much suggest not using those unless absolutely necessary." Johnny said with a serious tone.

"Gee, what gave that away." V spoke back in her mind, an agitated mind tone clearly there. "Unless I have a massive attack these aren't getting used. I'm smart enough to know better than that."

"Eh, given your back history so far? I don't know about that."

V just physically waved away the hologram of Johnny before speaking up again after wiping the bit of blood on her hand onto her outfit. "I don't think refusing to talk to anyone who isn't a scion or a warrior of light is a good idea. And Amnesia? We need to come up with a consistent story for everything before we find ourselves in a cell or lined up to be executed. Simple as that."

She knew that she was right. They could get angry about it all they wanted but they needed to get their ducks in a row so to speak and start to work together properly in order to get anywhere in this new world they found themselves. Lest they get killed or something. She sighed and closed her eyes. Hopefully things start to turn around from here.

Meanwhile....

In the RIsing Stones, the Scions were just off the heels of dealing with the warriors of darkness and finding out that Minfilia, their leader was unable to be rescued as she was merely a talking figure for Hydaelyn now. They had discussed the future of how things were going to work organizationally wise, and now had to deal with the griffin and what he was planning on doing.

No time to grieve a lost comrade, yet another lost comrade. It was just so annoying but V'iolata Spahrl, the warrior of light, just swallowed whatever she was feeling in the moment before looking normal. She knew what she had to do. But then something unexpected happened.

"Kupo! Priority communique from the Quarry mill, Kupo! Addressed to the scions and the warrior of light!"

"Hmm? What's this all about? The Griffin isn't suddenly going into the shroud, are they?"

Tataru took the letter and started to read it. "We have intercepted two individuals who claim they have fallen from the sky. One looks like they are infused with Magitek and has strange clothing and armed. The other we aren't so sure about currently. We have them in a room in the mill. Please send the Warrior of light."

Silence permeated the Rising stones for a moment before they all just looked at V'iolata who just let off a sigh. Sure, she had very important things to do but well, what's another little side thing. If it was this important that she arrive well, what's her to say no? "Guess I have another thing to do.

Quest Started: Let the bodies fall from the sky

"Well, I guess I'll be heading there real quick. I doubt it's anything that important." With that she made her way out to quickly teleport to the quarry mill. Surely this wasn't going to lead towards something that would change anything, right?

"They must be, otherwise they wouldn't openly acknowledge - in front a suspected imperial, no less - that they're escalating the case to them, if not this Warrior. People they already said are hard to contact." Or at the very least, are so busy they might as well be impossible to contact under normal conditions. In Al's mind, these "Scions" were - at least - two whole ranks over the Wood Wailers.

Well, at least someone was using their head. "Exactly why I called them a fucking idiot. That's the oldest excuse in the book."

And in Japanese, Minori responded: "I didn't see you give any suggestions."

"Oh please, you acted on your own accord." To say nothing of the fact Minori actively suppressed Al from contributing until the guards left.

Did they really have that little faith in him? Minori was around enough to know Al was the one that got the criminals. Back room of all back rooms their current office was, surely the damn fool had some understanding of what they did in the Mystery Room.

The woodwailers would surround V and Minori and basically yell at them to walk forward. As if they weren't going to do so.

Good grief what a hassle.

With each step, they made their way into the small settlement of Quarrymill. She was pretty sure a tiny segment of the megabuilding she lived in contained more people than this place. But then again, the technological level here was pretty primitive, even though they talked about magitek. Something something magic and technology combined?

There was a lot of words that she was going to have to learn, and slang as well. Not that Night City's slang wasn't silly and dumb at times. In fact it was absolutely hard to keep up with at times, even with someone who grew up in the streets.

Walking down the path, they were lead to a building that she presumed was the holding cell. Once inside, they saw it was just an ordinary building and lacked any cells. But there was a room in there where they were told to go into. "You will be in there for now. Quarry mill does not have cells per say, but this room will do for now until we get someone to properly interrogate you."

"Do you think the warrior of light will get involved in this?" Another wood wailer brought up.

"Do you know how much of a hassle it is to get the scions involved?" The first one said as they got V and Minori into the room. "Although, this is strange enough that they might get involved. The Warrior of Light is a busy woman though."

"Just saying....she would probably be able to handle this more than we can, or even the grand companies...."

"Well whatever. Anyways, you two, you will be fed standard rations for now until someone arrives. For now, you will stay here and not leave. Any attempt at escaping will be seen as an excuse to kill." They closed the door behind them and locked it.

And now V and Minori were in a room that was sparsely furniture. There was a couch, a table and chair, and a few other things. "Warrior of light is definitely a title I wouldn't have expected. Sounds like from some fantasy brain dance. Scions is another interesting term. Some group it sounds like.

She sat on the couch and sighed. "Minori, now that we can talk...what the hell have we gotten ourselves into? Are we seriously in another world?"

"Seems like it V. Unless this is a very deep brain dance that you're stuck in with no way out."

An eyebrow twitched at the treatment they were being shown, and Minori had to suppress a growl. Idiots, these guards. They were already walking along, no need to yell.

Must've been some very, very bored guards.

Like V, Minori also kept their hands up and in sight. At times, they curled their fingers into their palm, mildly scratching at it. And it seemed like they made it a point not to look at any of the guards. Not for long, anyways.

Once they were there, while the guards spoke, they remained quiet. A task that took a lot more effort than wanted. Once the door closed, it became apparent why when he walked to a wall and punched it with all the force he could muster.

"You fucking idiot!" Though it clearly wasn't targeted to V. Oh no, not yet. Her question had him turn his attention to her. He gestured around with his free hand, scoffing. "Clearly, you stupi-"

A sudden rush of head pressure cut Al off. With a grunt of pain, he held at his head. After a moment, he first leaned against the wall, then slowly - and carefully - slid down. Taking deep breaths.

"Calm"- huff. -"down, Al-Alfendi."

Their head hurt, so much.

Minori took a bit more time to try to stabilize. Though it probably didn't seem like they were the one in control, with how the body trembled from Al's rage. Hands almost closed into fists, as Al stared at his own hands, growling inbetween huffs. Cleaner air did not necessarily make this easier.

"...Yes, V, I do. Think that we are." Slowly, Minori got up, then made their way to the closest seat available. Pity it wasn't the couch, they'd have completely crashed out on it.

One hand pinching the bridge of their nose, their other hand twirled about. "Mnh, corpos don't exist here. The empire, so it's probably...equivalent to the Roman or British Empires. British, most likely..."

Another growl. The twirling hand closed into a fist. "Is that really your utmost priority?"

"It's important to know. I was thinking...amnesia, as a way to explain things. Maybe refugees..."

Al scoffed, now leaning back into the chair and crossing his legs. "Idiot. I, for one, am not planning on talking to any of them unless they're at least a "scion". I don't talk to incompetent fools.

Who was prepared to go into another world?

Her dark red eyes, shaded by her sunglasses, were taken off and put away. In any other case she'd keep them on. She hoped by taking them off and allowing these people to see her eyes that they would feel a little bit more trusting of her. Maybe, maybe not.

But she also knew that Minori was wanting her to play along with what he had planned. Hopefully he was getting what he was putting out there right. "Maybe. My head is killing me right now. Didn't exactly expect to suddenly fall from the sky like that and all." Which wasn't wrong. She really didn't expect it.

"Well, you say that but she has all the markings of someone who has infused themselves with magitek!" One of the wood wailers exclaimed, not going along with the ruse at all. "And her clothing does not match the area at all. Explain that!"

Hoo boy.

These guards definitely didn't like people standing out, huh? They even mentioned that Minori stood out as well. And basically accused Minori of bringing in a magitek experimented individual into the shroud. The tension was building up like a bottle about to explode. Something had to happen at this point.

"...Let's not make things any worse than they have to." V began, a heavily serious expression on her face. "If you need to question us, take us wherever, we will follow. But the moment that you strike at us, it will go very poorly for you. And right now, I don't want to do that but I will defend myself if necessary. I don't know where I am, I don't know why I'm here, but I do know how to defend myself."

The wood wailers didn't know what to do in the moment, and were looking at each other. They didn't want to get into an all out brawl. There was no way they could handle someone that was made stronger with magitek. But since they both seemed to be willing to cooperate, one of them nodded at that.

"In that case, you will follow us. You will be placed in a temporary holding cell until someone can come in and figure out what's going on. And if you are found to be someone part of the garlean empire you will be put into a highly secure facility indefinitely. Understood?!"

...That went about as well as Minori expected, to be honest. Of course their clothes stood out, and most of the Wood Wailers looked like elves. Though Minori wasn't sure if some of them were part cat at the moment, but honestly, profiling what species was here was the least of their concerns right now.

But. It brought up some interesting points.

One: They weren't refuting the idea that she did fall from the sky. Although that'd have mean the empire was flying overhead, wouldn't it? (questions for later, it'd be risky to try to divert their attention since they hadn't seen any flying object)

Two: Experimented, so not common. It seemed the level of tech they could expect is in the range of the 1900s to 2000s. Maybe.

It still wasn't enough data to say for sure, but at least now there was a range of what to think they knew of. Although Minori would be stupid to assume they had any of that tech, considering.

Three: Magitech. Magic technology? It'd make sense. So they do have magic here.

Four: They weren't really friendly to outsiders, hm. Question was: was it exasperated by them being so obviously strange, or was this just a thing the nearest settlement was like?

Would this world even know of other worlds? That was a big question that Minori wished they could find out without asking. Or looking crazy, if the people didn't know of that.

Either tell the truth, or lie. A gamble either way.

They glanced to V when she spoke, internally thankful that was it. It was too thin a line for their liking, especially since Minori couldn't fight for long. Not only defenseless, but they physically couldn't. If the Wood Wailers was competent, they'd be able to pick up Minori being an unfortunately easy target pretty easy.

So they were grateful the guards agreed to something more peaceful.

Even if they still had a target on their backs.

Her clothes were slightly tattered, she was covered in a few leaves, and she was bruised. But she didn't fall down at full speed. That would result in heavy bruising and possible broken bones. Even with her cyberware making her body much stronger than it was before.

She let out a small groan as she pushed herself off the ground. Where was she? Somewhere in the south shroud. Not that she would know where that was. As her vision got adjusted to things, she saw Johnny in her vision asking if everything was alright and where the hell they were.

This wasn't a braindance loop then if he was saying that. That was her first thought anyway. Lke a premature awakening loop but in brain dance form.

Regardless, this just raised more questions than it did answers as she brushed off the dirt and leaves off her. "How the hell am I supposed to know that, Johnny?!" She yelled in her head. "I'm just as fucking confused as you are, dumbass."

What she didn't know was that her fall through the sky alerted some wood wailers that were guarding the quarry mill, and they rushed to approach her. At first there was a bit of concern on their expressions. "Halt! Are you alright ma'am?"

And then they noticed the weird marks on her body and the cybernetics.

"Are you an imperial?! If so, put down any weapons you have and surrender yourself immediately, imperial scum!"

Imperial? What the hell were they talking about? She didn't get any results from scanning them. In fact she couldn't connect to any NC database or anything like that. And she already knew that this couldn't be a braindance. With that said, the weapons they had weren't anything she couldn't handle.

Not that she was planning on getting in any battles with whoever these locals were.

She put up her hands to show that she didn't have a weapon in her hands. Though that wasn't true. She had her monowires that she could use. Plus she had her pistol with her at the very least. Not in hand though. Her eyes scanned back and forth as she looked at these unknown individuals. "Woah there fellows, I'm not here to cause trouble. I literally fell out of the sky after all. I'm not imperial, or whatever corporation you are referring to..."

Shit...! Fast enough to slow her fall, but not fast enough to actually catch her. Dammit.

Regardless, not having an answer to what happened, Minori sped off in the direction V should've - and evidentially was - in. Looked like V was surrounded - oh, people that were taller than they were, for once. ...Were those pointy ears? Was those fucking elves?

Fantasy world, then. Probably Middle Earth? Minori didn't know, they never read Lord of the Rings, or much fantasy in the first place. Assumptions wouldn't work here save the broadest of strokes (and even then, perhaps, not as well as they'd like) - and unfortunately Minori wouldn't be able to scout anything like this.

But, imperial. Imperial. The elves must be against an empire, then. An empire with comparatively similar tech, judging by their reaction.

...No, not entirely. 'Are you' implied they didn't know. But it was safe to say this empire was the most technologically advanced - enough that Cyberware was enough to signal a possible allegiance.

If they weren't side eyeing her pistol, they might've relaxed. Another bit of info with where this world was, tech wise, that they at least seemed to recognize the weapon.

"Wait-" Minori began, stepping out with both of their hands raised. And unlike V, they actually were defenseless. Hopefully it was enough. They walked to V, slow, then once with her, placed a hand on her shoulder. The other still towards the Wood Wailers.

They made a point to keep V from her pistol as much as possible - at least a show of it. Don't give the guards any reason to attack. If they were lucky, the guards'd only use force if force was used on them.

But Minori wasn't sure if they counted an unarmed pistol as that.

She wouldn't part with it. So the next best thing: try to show they won't use it at all.

"We mean no harm. We're not of the empire." That free hand went to rub through their hair, wincing slightly. "Mhn, apologies if we seem weird - I think we hit our heads too hard."