They shove into their seats, and without her magic Valerie would never have the wherewithal to hold on. Her power controls the rocket with grace, her divine power flowing clean and perfect here.

It's an amazing feeling.

Landing on the side of the solar station, she finds to no surprise that gravity is towards the sun. The delicate golden network twists in a geometric net below.

"..phew, oh Mary." They're both a bit wobbly as they get out.

The equator is a multi-faceted cathedral rich with gardens and flowering vines, a blend of science and superstition, of the natural and the built, a harmonious union of Matter and Life through Prime and Forces.

When they reach it, Ashlyn yelps and jumps back as an enormous pterodactyl flies overhead and lands. Arielle is standing on its back, her long dark hair blowing in the breeze as she guides it into a landing with vines fashioned into a bridle.

"I think you did." Arielle grins and hops off. "Nice ride back at you."

She turns to the dinosaur and strokes his sensitive skin, the dusting of feathers covering him. Unhooking his bridle, she nudges him. "Go on. Back home. You're part of me, too."

The pterodactyl warks - Trucida is fairly sure that isn't accurate, even if the feathers are - and dives back... down?

Their world is weird. Awesome, but weird.

Ari waves at Ashlyn and hugs her sister. "It's good to see you moving." She looks up at the cathedral. "Let's go."

Stepping inside, they find the space filled with rays of sunlight. It feels... good.

As they go, they find a person waiting for them. Golden wings shine from her back, and she... well, she looks like them. Beautiful, perfect, though her skin is covered with strange little lines.

Plants grow at her feet, lovely blooms of perfected metals.

The hair style is partway between theirs, too.

"Hello," she returns, smiling. When she steps forward, the sunlight around her stays, and the little lines on her body open now and again, revealing carved eyes of sapphire.

"...wow." Always physical Arielle reaches out and feels at her limbs. She pokes an eye with a tapping sound. "We're actually an angel. Probably."

"Really." She nudges Arielle back, rubbing the spot on her arm with a bemused smile. "I suppose that's what I should expect from myself~"

Their Daemon pulls them in, squeezing.

"I wish I knew. I'm as much in the dark as the two of you. Maybe we can figure that out as you two climb - I just know how I feel."

She looks to Arielle. "You need to stop. I know you hurt, but you won't find peace trying to disappear into Valerie. It's possible, yes, but look at us - We're beautiful. We aren't hurting for being separate."

"Aren't we?" Arielle rubs her arm, the lightning scar. "We only have one wing. Valerie's body..."

-----GM-----
---------------------
Ashlyn watches from the back, picking a techno-flower after the combined soul doesn't object.

"Boy, sure is a lot of manhandling going on here," their daemon says as she's moved into place, but she takes it in good humor, wanting this as much as Valerie.

Turning her face to meet Valerie's eyes, Arielle struggles for a time - before she suddenly starts laughing. And crying. Laughing and crying at the same time. She grips Valerie's arms, about to fall over, she's laughing so hard.

-----Valerie-----
That's not quite the reaction she expected from it, her brows raising up. She takes her sister's arms in turn, and then despite herself, begins to laugh as well for reasons unknown, besides the obvious that this is absurd.

-----GM-----
Then the oversoul starts to giggle, and they're all laughing, and Ashlyn is just so confused.

Eventually, Arielle sniffs and stops, rubbing her face.

"...you know, I was... was just thinking..."

-----GM-----
"If I did become one with you again... I'd never see you look so enthusiastic giving one of your silly speeches." She hiccups

-----GM-----
"An-and that made me really sad."

-----Valerie-----
She smiles and pulls her in. "Aww... I've got them in droves, Ari. Stick by me and I'll have pep talks for the rest of our lives."

-----GM-----
She chokes and sniffles a little more, and then she's okay. They're both wrapped up in golden wings, and Valerie feels her shoulder stir

-----Valerie-----
She doesn't look right away, for a time just holding onto her. But then she raises her head up, glancing first to see if they're being hugged by their daemon, then looking to her own shoulder.

-----GM-----
They appear to be hugging each other, their mirrored wings crossed one over the other

-----GM-----
First glowing together, then this.

-----GM-----
It feels strange, at first, to have a second set of shoulders beneath the first

-----GM-----
but not that strange

-----GM-----
...mostly

-----Valerie-----
...it's pretty sweet, she has to admit, and she flutters it a little.

-----GM-----
"...I am literally freaking out now. I wish I could take a picture that would keep," Ashlyn says

-----Valerie-----
"I'm sure we can figure out how to make it happen outside of here, without expansive initiations anyway."

-----GM-----
Arival - Valari? - pulls Arielle in as they pull back.
"I know it's hard, I know you feel inadequate. I want you to know, though... it's okay. There was something here, in your side of the dream space. I believe it was an abyssal spirit."

-----GM-----
"Once we Awoke, I cast it out."

-----GM-----
"But it left its marks on you."

-----GM-----
"It was all I could do to keep it from sliding into Valerie's space."

-----GM-----
"And it hated that."

-----GM-----
"It did everything it could to make you destroy your sister, your whole family."

-----GM-----
Arielle stares at her, dumbfounded

-----GM-----
Briefly, her sister's eyes flick with Prime sight, testing the truth of her

-----GM-----
just in case it's the spirit pretending to be a demon

-----Valerie-----
Val watches quietly, arms lightly crossed over herself. That... would explain a lot... She thought it could have been a Fae or something, with a dark contract. ...it was darker than that, a literal soul-poison...

-----GM-----
"We all grow together, the soul shining brightly. As your gnosis of the world swells, so too do I.

-----GM-----
Arielle presses into her, squeezing tightly

-----GM-----
"Thank you."

-----GM-----
"I... god."

-----GM-----
"You'll be strong someday, Ari. It's not your fault. Look at me, and know."

-----Valerie-----
Val doesn't even know what might have happened if it did go into her own soul... They would have been pretty badly off, if not a threat. "I'll keep working at it," she promises.

-----GM-----
It certainly would have tainted their daemon. How she beat it off to begin with - maybe some fragment of nature from their divine origins.

-----GM-----
"I'm glad."

-----GM-----
"Well! You two are welcome to explore as long as you'd like. This is your home, too, after all."

-----GM-----
"If you'd like to move on, I can send you on your way."

-----GM-----
"Still, you know where to go if you need advice, or to confront something - or just to dig up old ideas~"

-----GM-----
"I'll always be speaking to you, even if you can't hear it."

-----Valerie-----
She smiles at her and nods. "We will. Thanks, uh..." She looks at her, then to Ari, then back at her.

-----GM-----
Arielle nods, sliding back

-----GM-----
"I think I'm ready to move on. I'd like to see the Temenos."

-----Valerie-----
"I kinda want to meet Wire Nest while we're there."

-----GM-----
"In that case, it's quite simple - follow the path that took us to the Watchtower. I can point you on your way, though meditating over the theshold will be up to you two."

-----Valerie-----
She nods her head. "We'll manage once there."

-----GM-----
She gestures behind them, and a new stairway is present, leaping up into the sunlight.

-----GM-----
Ashlyn gets up, excited to be moving again, while the Daemon embraces both twins

-----GM-----
"I'm you, so I'll be right with you in spirit."

-----GM-----
"Good luck~"

-----Valerie-----
She squeezes her and grins up at her. "Thanks. This was great, and I'm glad to have you on our side, Arival."

-----GM-----
Her many eyes open, shining with knowledge.

-----GM-----
And she beams right back

-----GM-----
It is in a way unsettling, but beautiful as well

-----GM-----
Some echo of who they were

-----GM-----
Arielle leads the way, looking more invigorated than she has in a long time.

-----GM-----
Getting told by yourself to shape up makes a big deal

-----Valerie-----
Varielle steps out after her, glancing back one last time at the angel, then jogging to catch up to her sister. "I could do without the eyes, even if they look cool."

-----GM-----
"I actually like them~"

-----Valerie-----
"An acquired taste."

-----GM-----
Ashlyn giggles, and they begin the journey through the sun.

Scenes pass them by, recollections of their memories of the events that led to their Awakening. In a way, they're glad Ashlyn is here, because she was part of this, and, though she winces to see her bedraggled, emaciated self from those awful days, she's excited, too.

-----Valerie-----
It was a dark time, really... Ashlyn coming to her for help and hijacking her 3D printer. How she then fixed up the generated file and printed it into a model of her distorted room. Bringing Ashlyn back, putting webcams up so she could wander the apartment and eat actual food made with thought and sympathy just for her, the server threatening her, telling her sister, Lethe joining them, and the lead up to the confrontation on the rooftop.

What a wild ride from start to finish.

-----GM-----
When they reach the top, they find a door waiting for them, and open it to find - their old room.

Looking back, they see the stairway back to their twinned Oneiros, but ahead it's just the room. The window is shuttered, but most relevant is that Valerie's wheelchair is there, and so is her very first camera. It's the exact same as it was as the first day she started making videos, right down to the scratches on the desk

-----Valerie-----
Valerie pauses, looking inside, as if there's some sort of mistake or they took a wrong turn, but it's not like there's a lot of different places to go.

She didn't even have a script. She had tinkered up a few rotary doodads for fun, attached motors, and then recorded herself explaining the mechanical principles behind them and how she got them to work, and the troubles she faced doing it. That it exploded surprised her just as much.

-----GM-----
"Mm. I guess this is the threshold?" Arielle goes to peek out the window, opening the shutters.

"...void."

-----GM-----
Ashlyn plops on Val's bed

-----Valerie-----
"I guess this is where we'll have to figure out how to close and re-open the door so that it points somewhere else."

-----Valerie-----
She pokes her wheelchair. It's the old one, with the dark gray aluminum frame. The axle was getting stuck, and the seat was flaking. She hated this one. She hates her current one, but less.

-----GM-----
"It may not be quite that rational," Ashlyn says thoughtfully, tapping her chin

-----GM-----
"I mean..."

-----GM-----
"Consider this."

-----GM-----
"The Temenos is humanity's collective dreams, a'ight?"

-----GM-----
"Every thought and story that's shared."

-----GM-----
She points at the camera, the computer.

"Isn't that how you got there, then, putting yourself out there in the world?"

-----Valerie-----
"I guess so... Imgur liked my smiles, and people started watching." She looks over at the camera. Curious, she tugs the viewfinder out to check what's on the memory card.

-----GM-----
Nothing. It's empty - she hasn't even started.

-----Valerie-----
"So you're saying we should be making a video."

-----GM-----
"Why not?" She beams.

-----Valerie-----
"Well, I don't have anything better, so, why not, right? Wire Nest, the redux." She turns the camera towards her desk. This is a really shit recording setup.

-----GM-----
She can feel the embarrassment she felt

-----GM-----
As real as if it were happening all over again

-----GM-----
Arielle pulls her bed closer so she's in frame, and Ashlyn sits next to hre

-----GM-----
"Are we part of your experimental film now~?"

-----Valerie-----
She still tried to make a good presentation. She had her hair short and bleached then too, wearing a tanktop... She hid her wheelchair in that, to try and appear normal because she was sure people wouldn't have liked a crippled girl.

When she outed herself as wheelchair bound, she got close to 10,000 new subscribers almost overnight, so... What the fuck did she know? Then the production value went up and suddenly she was making enough to live by off of ad revenues and patreon.

"The special oneiros edition, yeah." She snickers, then hits record. "Welcome to the new and improved redux of the first episode of the Wire Nest, magical edition," she announces brightly. "Today, we're going to be exploring the concepts related to the realm of angels: Aether, and how it feeds the arcana of Forces and Prime. It wouldn't be a Wire Nest episode without some mechanical or electronic doodad, though, so luckily, I have my old projects nearby I can experiment with to show you.

"Joining me will be my sister Phoenix, and my close friend Sirona."

-----GM-----
"Hey all!"
"Hey," Arielle brushes her hair back, knowing she's hot

-----Valerie-----
She begins to go over the basics of magic - she really is considering starting a mage-only channel, just make the videos require some mystery digging to access, opening with newbie topics, so this is a good test run - and, in particular, how to use it to make electronics move with electricity, and how to view the resulting spells through Prime.

-----GM-----
Arielle chimes in now and then, and Ashlyn shows off that she's been reading the primer materials, even holding a spell for them, and time seems to fly. It doesn't feel like several hours of editing, it feels like a dream does, and then they have their finished product up on YouTube - or something like it - and the video, ready to click.

With bated anticipation, she does - and the air in front of her zips open

-----GM-----
The monitor expands well beyond full screen

-----GM-----
becoming a gateway

-----GM-----
...they're definitely out of Valerie's rational dreams that make perfect sense

-----Valerie-----
This is no longer about well ordered robot arms moving stuff around with evenly etched notes in dry eraser, that's for sure. "I didn't expect that," she admits, looking around the edges of the monitor.

-----GM-----
"Are we... are we literally entering YouTube?" Ashlyn asks, looking up at the big red logo. Inside they pass, and find themselves in a sort of sound stage, one wall brick, another covered in various panes of glass, and each window is a frozen YouTube HTML5 window. There's doors, shut.

One is slightly open, and peeking in, she finds a large room filled with various bits of electronics. This looks promising - she recognizes her work, though there's a lot here

-----Valerie-----
"Looks pretty quaint for a 30 million viewer a day lodge, don't you think?" She giggles, walking along curiously. It would take ages to look for youtubers she knows about... Five hundred million doors like this? Luckily, they seem to have emerged pretty close to the right one, and she peeks inside the door.

"That looks familiar."

-----GM-----
She suspects the interconnections are messier, once one gets into reblogs and response videos and collabs. The doors must be like, hte browse feature - maybe there's a search function?

"Whoa - this is bigger than I thought." Arielle joins her. It's a large place with ramps everywhere, and many, many copies of things she made - and of course, she knows what that is. Her own smiling face told people to try at home, and their ideas and actual attempts are here, proudly pinned up.

There's a soft squeak from above.

Arielle stares up. "...oh my god." Her face splits in a wide grin.

-----GM-----
The Wire Nest of Wire Nest, the codification of her viewers' ideal of her is coming down the ramps from above, on a control-driven wheelchair, and she is the cutest thing in the world.
"Oh, hey everyone," she calls down in a sweet voice. "I'll be right down!"

-----Valerie-----
Whaaaaaaat. She's shorter than Val, for sure, and looks a few years younger at least, like she's freshly 18 or 21 all over again. ...she's a bit prettier than Val, she thinks, too. And she sounds like sugar and candy. "Well then."

-----GM-----
Arielle is clearly trying not to burst out laughing as lil Wire wheels down the ramp. She glides up to them, her remote-controlled wheelchair shockingly responsive.

"Hi! Oh, hey sis - and appraently me! And friend!"

-----GM-----
Ashlyn covers her mouth.

-----GM-----
"Hi Wire."

-----GM-----
Interestingly, she does have her rod, too

-----GM-----
Tucked into a little holder

-----GM-----
Because of course, she's known to Mages now, too

-----GM-----
It's kind of an irrelevant detail versus the - rest of her

-----Valerie-----
...interesting. It likely comes from the likes of Ala, Ikenga, and whoever else decided to peek in on her videos and know it's her tool. "Hey. Wow.. you're cute like a button. Cuter than I really am." She snickers.

-----GM-----
"I know! People just squeal all over me. It's a broad part of my appeal!" She giggles. "So what can I do for you~?"

-----Valerie-----
"Pretty confident, too." She smiles, a bit embarrassed, but rather amused all in all. "Nothing too specific, honestly. We came here to find Lethe, since none of us have seen her in a while, and decided to come in and peek because, well, I was really curious."

-----GM-----
"Oh gosh... she dropped by here a while ago, but I haven't seen her since - and Hurrin came poking around looking for her, too."

-----Valerie-----
"Did she say where she was going?"

-----GM-----
"She said she was looking for your Ethan, but didn't seem to know where to go. Hurrin actually wasn't here that long ago - I guess he's worried she's gone and disappeared like Tear, Marcus, and Caelia have."

-----GM-----
"I think he went off to poke through some Forgotten fan channels."

-----Valerie-----
"Ethan made it back a little while ago, thankfully, but you know that much, given the recent video."

-----Valerie-----
...youtuber Noway with youtuber Wire must be the most saccharine thing ever, and they're already cloyingly sweet in real life.

-----GM-----
She blushes and squirms, which only makes Ashlyn squeal a little at how precious she is. "Yeah, we uhm - " she giggles. "Yeah I know! It's been ah - interesting!"

"I bet," Arielle grins.

"SO! WOW! I can guide you guys around, if you'd like - I know the area pretty well, I hang out with a lot of makers and Noway with the gamers."

-----Valerie-----
Even Val has to blush, because... she does know. There's fan art of her. Some of it is so well made she's not even upset.

"If you're offering, can't really say no. That'd be pretty sweet."

-----GM-----
"Great!"

She zips around, actually surprisingly fast in her little chair.
"This place has gotten so big since we started, and I keep getting more projects from people in the mail!"

-----Valerie-----
"That reminds me that I need to finish editing that compilation of people making stuff based on my ideas." She follows her on out. ...she never did take to electric chairs, cause they're dumb and slow and clumsy, when she can go faster and be accurate with her hands. Though she'd have liked this one.

Thankfully, it's going to be moot soon.

-----Valerie-----
That this Wire will stand will be pretty cool, too.

-----GM-----
She'll probably mature with her, too, as she matures as a creator, and then start adding in more and more magic parts. Right now, she reflects mostly the young, inexperienced Wire, and a lot of her appeal was based on how cute she is, but like any content creator she will grow and find new ways to appeal.

"I don't know if I can contain myself," Ari says, "I just want to scoop her up and nuzzle her to death."

They reach a walkway, looking out over a dizzying expanse of other walkways in a vast space dominated by different 'themes' - this area has video game controllers dangling from trees like fruit, that one has explosions popping off. ALong the walkways and plazas are more doors - it would take forever without a guide. As they go, Bagheera steps out of a nearby , her cat boyfriend looking bemused, and then bouncing out after him is an exciteable pre-Awakening Ethan, his face split in a giant grin

-----GM-----
"Honey!"
"Sweetheart!"

"Oh god," Ashlyn laughs as the two astral forms race towards one another.

-----GM-----
NowayHome hops onto the chair, and the two begin to kiss in wholly unrealistic fashion

-----GM-----
A few youtube avatars look down - there's the white cartoons of Jaiden Animations and Odd1sout up on a branch above, drawing together.

-----Valerie-----
...snrk... That breaks her into a fit of laughter. "Hahahaha It's worse than I thought what the hell," she gasps to Arielle. She does calm down, standing up and looking over at her kitten. Then she breaks into a wide shit-eating grin. "Sweetheart!" she exclaims, opening her arms.

-----Valerie-----
...though seeing those artists up there reminds her to avoid the Cyanide and Happiness channel.

-----GM-----
Bagheera grins. "Honey~!"
He leaps into her and smooches her, dipping her over.

-----GM-----
In his case, his kiss is a lot more - real, and passionate

-----GM-----
also mm

-----Valerie-----
She laughs, grabbing onto him for support, then coos, sharing a few moments enjoying it. She doesn't let it go too far, though, since they're on a mission, and she raises back up and fixes her hair. "Heh... By the way! Me and Ari are totally a single real literal aether angel." She tries to focus on bringing her wing out with a bit of thought.

-----GM-----
With a moment's thought, it shines into being, and Ari grins and flashes her own out

-----GM-----
"...that's way cool."

-----Valerie-----
"Should see our communal daemon. She's like, both of us into one, and she has the telltale angel eyes, but they're gemstones."

-----Valerie-----
She twines her wing with her sister's. "I still don't have the story, I'm afraid, so we'll be digging in deeper. But at least we know and have as starting point."

-----Valerie-----
"Will be high time to summon an angel, probably, in not too long..."

-----GM-----
Arielle smiles at her, and, for once, Valerie doesn't feel she's faking it

-----GM-----
"I should probably summon that Anachronism to thank him, since he was instrumental to saving me."

-----GM-----
"You look good like this, Val - I like you mobile."

-----Valerie-----
"In a few months, I should be like this in perpetuity."

-----GM-----
"Cute as your avatar over there is, the happier and healthier you are, the better."

-----Valerie-----
"After the walker phase and a lot of physio." She beams at him, folding her hands behind her. But then she does turn a bit more serious. "Any news on your end?"

-----GM-----
"My daimon is my mother, which is kind of hilarious - apparently that's pretty common, you get someone who represents the best part of you, or someone who is there to give you advice."

"Sometimes, it's someone who criticizes you," Arielle says, "like a pregnant woman for a man who sleeps around."

-----GM-----
"Mostly, I encountered a lot of - stories I guess."

-----GM-----
"Recollections of my time in Arcadia, or big moments back here on earth."

-----Valerie-----
"If anyone can make sense of those and translate them into memories and events, it'd be an Acanthus." She smiles at him.

-----GM-----
He takes her hand, smiling, and Ashlyn gives them a warm look.

"I'll admit, I like your version better - it's more honest."

-----GM-----
"Though, you know, realllly wish I could tape the others."

-----GM-----
Online Wire zooms back over with Ethan riding on the back of her wheelchair

-----GM-----
something that should by rights unbalance it

-----GM-----
"...also I can see what you mean now about Noway being a cat. It's really clear here," Ashlyn adds

-----Valerie-----
"I know, right?" She reaches up to brush at his ears. "He wears it handsomely."

-----GM-----
He gives a little purr for her.

"Wonder if I'll become a cat! That'd be cool, I'd get so many views if I had actual cat ears."

"Don't be silly, Noway, the Abyss will eat up things like that."

D'aww, Wire has inklings of mage knowledge.

-----Valerie-----
"Well, if the NoWay channel gets enough views from people who can see him for who he is, I think there's a good chance you'll get some of those features, abyss or not."

-----GM-----
"That's true - I've already gotten some PMs from people who are changelings."

-----GM-----
"I might have forgotten to mention, busy as things have been."

-----GM-----
"But yeah, they saw me in one video, and then the next I was a cat, so out came the floodgates."

-----GM-----
"People asked me if I was having trouble with my memories and so on, if I needed any help - it was pretty nice, actually."

-----Valerie-----
"Aww." She smiles. "That's really touching."

-----GM-----
"Someone also asked if I'd killed my 'fetch' which is something I thankfully don't have to thnik about!"

-----Valerie-----
"What's a fetch and why would you have to kill it?"

-----GM-----
"I think it's something fae leave behind when they kidnap you, but I don't know the details exactly."

There's a crash down below

-----GM-----
and shouting

-----GM-----
"You can't do this to me, man!"

-----Valerie-----
Val blinks and heads over to the railing, leaning over to peek down.

-----GM-----
"Oh man... another DMCA?" Wire sighs.

There's robots wearing business suits down there, pulling a cart with video windows lashed down with chains. A youtuber pops out, a friend of Ethan's - Jason Smith, aka Smithy.

"Seriously, it's fair use, FAIR USE!"

-----Valerie-----
"What the fuck."

-----GM-----
He tries to grab one but a robot lifts an arm and stuns him with a taser.

"These videos are the property of Nintendo, Nintendo North America, and Nintendo Japan."

-----GM-----
Ethan frowns, his tail lashing irritably

-----GM-----
Arielle flexes her fists

-----GM-----
Climbing up on the rail with perfect balance.

-----Valerie-----
Val frowns and tugs her rod out.

-----GM-----
"We good?" Phoenix looks to Bagheera, who nods. "We good."

"Uhm, you guys might want to - " Wire squeaks, but it's too late. Arielle's already leaping down

-----GM-----
She lands with a roll, coming up in front of the robots while Smithy rolls on the ground, groaning

-----GM-----
"Hey," she puts her hands on her hips. Bagheera slides down the bannister.

-----GM-----
"You two," she points at them, "are going to put those videos back - or I'm going to take you apart and do it anyway. Your choice, boys~"

-----GM-----
"Is Wire normally that buff?" another channeler asks.
"l'unno, she looks the same."

-----Valerie-----
Valerie remains up above, but does navigate to get a better view. She doesn't really do melee or short range.

-----Valerie-----
Magic sniper position is the better deal.

-----GM-----
"I don't know if this will actually work. You'd have to - attack the concept of it, maybe?" Ashlyn scratches her head. "The primer wasn't really clear. I guess it might work."

-----Valerie-----
"So, like... counter-claim with magic?"

-----GM-----
"Kinda, maybe!"

-----GM-----
"You are interfering with agents of copyright-"

Arielle roundhouse kicks the first droid so hard its head flies off.

-----Valerie-----
Valerie frowns, thinking how she'd go about that. It's kinda like a dream, and dreams are usually her jam, so maybe with some concentration and willpower, and a touch of gnostic self-awareness, she can call on the YouTube fair use protection system and nip this in the bud before back up shows up.

-----GM-----
The second one charges, swinging its taser-prod around, and Ari dances with it, her hair flying as she dodges acrobatically

A deep-voiced youtube singer pops out of a higher balcony, starting to add their own soundtrack.

Oh god, this is the most ridiculous thing.

-----GM-----
Alarms go off along the balconies, and they hear the tromp of robotic feet.

-----GM-----
"...that's what I was worried about," lil Wire pouts

-----Valerie-----
"I'm working on it," she answers back. She looks around the walls around the doors, looking for signs of ..something she can do, or maybe change. Could she matter herself a fair-use button and ... fucking, hack temenos youtube? She heads over to a nearby wall. "You got some components on you?" she looks to Wire Nest.

-----GM-----
"...you're asking me?" she raises a brow, and grins. She lifts her rod, tapping it against her chair, and blanks float up from storage compartments around it, spooling out as she shapes them. "Wha'd'ya need?"

-----GM-----
Bagheera considers the situation, and gestures like a Jedi - a robot slips, and a multidroid pile-up results, blocking one of the upper walkways. YouTubers start to throw things at them, shouting out the robots' sirens.

Arielle, of course, is a threshing machine, cutting through them with her kinetically-enhanced fists and feet

-----Valerie-----
...she needed that for her chair. "Do people really think I can just do that?" She shakes her head. "No matter. Button, a LAN card, and something that has a CPU on it."

-----Valerie-----
She looks around the wall, hoping for a panel she can remove that will have wires connecting this whole... place together.

-----Valerie-----
Failing that, she'll just Shape herself a hole.

-----GM-----
"It's a sort of 3d printing thing mixed with your newfound magic," Noway says brightly.

There's lots of those, thankfully. she's able to pry one off with a little effort - blinking lights and confusing circuits greet her, but there's a logic to it.

Quickly, Wire starts printing up a small computer out of particle board, copper, and plastic, with a little LCD screen that apparently she just makes happen

-----GM-----
"Noway, honeybuns, could you rustle up some big help?"

-----GM-----
"I think we may need it."

-----GM-----
"On it, babycakes~"

-----GM-----
Oh my GOD

-----GM-----
that is not them

-----GM-----
...is there a fanfiction of her and him out there talking like that?

-----GM-----
Is it popular?

-----Valerie-----
She is going to have to track it the fuck down and read it, because this is weirdly entertaining.

-----GM-----
She needs to correct this when she gets back, immediately.

-----Valerie-----
...also she'll have to act loving to Ethan on camera and nip this in the bud before it gets too far.

-----GM-----
He certainly has catlike agility, springing up

-----GM-----
Lasers start to blast around the room, one zapping the wall right next to her

-----GM-----
blowing it off its panel

-----Valerie-----
Maybe a live stream. Anyway! "Jesus, fuck..! Right, okay." She concentrates for a moment to bring up her Forces shield.

-----GM-----
Bagheera continues to do his Fate-based misfortune thing, trying to slow them down, but there's a lot of robots. The faceless menace of corporatism.

-----Valerie-----
She grabs a bundle of wires from inside, checking them over until she finds a LAN one. "Wire cutter, Wire." She holds her hand out.

-----GM-----
She finds some ethernet cables, that'll have to do!

Wire passes her tools like a surgeon's assistant, watching nervously as the battle rages on.

From somewhere above, light shines, and a beefy Asian man with a clearly fake mustache descends from on high. Oh, gods, this is getting even more insane.

-----Valerie-----
She really needs to get this thing done and over with, because she's going to lose track soon. She strips the wire, then twines them with an Ethernet plug, and takes Wire's little computer to plug it in. Then, with rod in hand, she points and calls out in high speech, calling on her praxis of Influence Electricity.

Time to put a stop to this party, and no amount of passwords and security is going to stand in her way.

-----GM-----
Her awareness is flooded with the bizarre inner workings of the Temenos' idea of the internet, or at least the YouTube part of it.

One wonders if this connects at all to the world Ashlyn was imprisoned in. Speaking of, Ashlyn is actually pretty chill with this, mostly because it's kind of crazy.

She fakes passwords and authentication keys, no mundane security able to stand in her way, and finds herself looking over a list of copyright claims. Filtering, she finds thousands leveled against content creators like Smithy and others. Most don't even have fair-use claims leveled against them.

-----Valerie-----
...jeez, corporations are kind of sick like that. Everything for a few extra pennies, it seems. She doesn't really have time to filter by people she thinks might be innocent or guilty, so for now, she just wipes it clean to 0. It'll buy time, anyway.

-----GM-----
They should be doing due diligence anyway, and they aren't, so it's their problem, innit.

-----GM-----
As she does, she feels the ground under her begin to shake

-----GM-----
The wall buckles

-----Valerie-----
"Erk..!" She glances around, surprised. Oops.

-----GM-----
Robots blink out and fall over, limp, and everyone stares as the rumbling grows

-----GM-----
and then, from panels all over the bizarre space, that seems to go on forever, videos begin to burst out

-----GM-----
they rain like snowflakes, finding their way back home, a glittering storm

-----GM-----
Wire looks up, her eyes welling up

-----GM-----
"...it's beautiful."

-----Valerie-----
"It's absurd... but kind of cool." She stands up, running a hand through her hair. "Also absurd that there's so many. Wow."

-----GM-----
Phoenix and Bagheera return, looking up at the sky. A few zip into NowayHome's hole, and Ethan smiles, giving her a peck on the cheek

-----GM-----
"Nicely done~"

-----Valerie-----
"It's a bit of a stop gap, I suppose, since corporations are still around. But I don't mind them having to start over, y'know?" She smiles at him. "It does look cool, though."

-----GM-----
He hooks his arm with hers.

After the initial awe, a few Youtube bands start up in celebration, and Arielle grins

-----GM-----
"Hey, I should come around sometime and firebomb a few Alt-Right channels."

-----GM-----
"That'd be sweet."

-----GM-----
Wire giggles nervously

-----GM-----
"Oh sis, you're so - violent."

-----Valerie-----
Val laughs. "I'm sure Sargon is nicely flammable."

-----Valerie-----
"That was certainly more eventful than I anticipated it to be, but weirdly fun." She snickers. "I think we can carry on, though, so we don't forget what we're here for. Last thing I want to do is end up just sitting and watching youtube videos in person all day, which seems like a real possibility here."

-----GM-----
"I know I do when I'm not working on new ideas."

-----GM-----
Wire beams. NowayHome bounces up, grinning.
"Did you see that? I got Markiplier and Jacksepticeye and stuff!"

-----GM-----
"Wow, I am not that dim," Ethan laughs

-----GM-----
"I guess it's the persona I present, all cheer."

-----Valerie-----
"Hah, it's easy to forget the braininess is there when you mostly make jokes on camera." She laughs.

-----GM-----
"Well! Let's go hunting. Maybe someone's seen Lethe?" Wire asks. Ashlyn grins, coming up.
"I'm super glad I came."

-----Valerie-----
"That was really weird," she admits to her. "It's one for the memory scrapbook, for sure." She begins to step along with Wire.

-----GM-----
She zips along with Noway riding along. They're both shorter and cuter, both incredibly silly, but she knows now that the core of them comes from her and Ethan both. Wire was scared, but she did her job and did it well. Their people believe in them.

The search for Lethe and Hurrin isn't quick. They go through different Forgotten fan channels, where OC characters and different versions of the main cast try to help them out. A few take offense at not being called the 'real' ones, but Wire knows better. The Forgotten cast have emotional significance and staying power.

Following Hurrin's tracks, they find that he's apparently gone off to Hollywood.

-----GM-----
Which fits with some of Lethe's plans

-----Valerie-----
"She must have gone after those who have been keeping Tear under contract," she reasons to the others. "To free her, likely."

-----Valerie-----
"And may have gotten caught herself, or is sieging.."

-----GM-----
"Maybe. Do we even know for sure that's what happened?" He frowns, thoughtful.

"I've seen Caelia showing up in commercials lately," Ashlyn offers.

-----GM-----
"I think that probably means something, right?"

-----Valerie-----
"Only one real way to figure it out would be to head there, find one of them, and get the whole story."

-----GM-----
"How long have we been down here, Bagheera?" Arielle asks

-----GM-----
"..mm.. about four hours."

-----Valerie-----
"Already? Wow."

-----GM-----
"We spent more time than we thought, then." She frowns

-----GM-----
"We'll be fine - Xihe's keeping an eye on us, and we slotted the whole day for this," Bagheera says

-----Valerie-----
"Yeah, we're good for a bit longer, but it's worth keeping in mind."

-----GM-----
"We'll need to figure out what connections it'll take to bring us from here to Hollywood to wherever they're holding Caelia - you can work that last one out, right, Bagheera?"

He nods. "Yes. So - from what I've read about astral traveling, to get anywhere you have to find a connection between two places. The more tenuous the connection, the longer it takes."

-----GM-----
"Like, we might bounce from the Forgotten to the Studio that made it to Hollywood."

-----GM-----
"Or maybe some conenction that's not obvious."

-----Valerie-----
"The publisher most likely has a channel."

-----GM-----
"Oh hey, that's true!"

Everyone looks to the wheelchair-bound Wire hopefully. She beams, because Video!Wire never gets sad or needs to take a break. That al happens off-screen.

-----GM-----
"Right this way~"
------------------------

Val hadn't been the deepest fan of the show. She enjoyed it, but didn't consider it much of a tragedy that it had ended early. A shame, but not the gut wrenching heartbreak many of its fanbase had underwent. She cosplayed or made props as tribute, especially for Ethan's sake, but it was fanservice.

...though now that she knows the truth of the matter, and that it put the real characters' lives in limbo and led them down troubling paths, well, it is kind of a tragedy. It's also a tragedy that no works of fiction can really be maintained forever just to continue a daimon's life without suffering in quality for it, hitting fatigue, or figuring a reasonable conclusion has been reached - writers are only human, even mages. The Simpsons' life must be hell, despite continued public eye, as proof of concept.

"For all that it was animated, it took itself seriously," she reasons, stepping in after them. "More than enough to feel real to many. ...Just like I wouldn't really expect to see the 90's animated Batman as a cartoon if we met him here, honestly."

She runs her hand along a tree. "Still uncanny, though."

"We're going to have to show how we actually treat one another on camera for a few videos, I think," she asides to her boyfriend. "Maybe make a few 'let's get real' videos, or streams, or something, where we show some of our true colors.

"Because that... As adorable and amusing as it was, is pretty embarrassing." She points her thumb back at the door they just left back through.

"That aside, though. We should get looking."

She pokes her tongue out at her sister before they carry on. Up over the hill, past the trees, to finally come up top to look down at the township. That's when the theme song starts doing the cool synthesizer 'ooo eee' thing before it goes into the hook. It looks really cool to see it in person. It's like stepping onto a live action interpretation.

Except it's totally real, and it looks even better because of that. Maybe she should have been a bigger fan after all.

"It shows. This is way bigger than it was in the show, and that's a lot of love for a franchise." She begins to approach it, following the road in. "I'd say we should look for the group's lodgings. If any of them are going to be found and decide to take a rest, then it'll probably be there, right?"

She laces her arm with his, laying a hand on it. "It was part of your soul, to relate to these people. It was a major theme to your awakening..." She looks out at the town. "It's only natural that it would seem so closely in line with you, even before. It wasn't mine, that's why I only 'liked' it, I suppose, but now that I know, I can really see what these people have been through, or are going through."

"Come... We still have a job to do." She smiles at him. "That's what they do here. They keep going with each other."

She looks a little sadly at the posters. All of them save one... This is really terrible. Could she make another contract with Dean to find them? He might know something. For now, though, she'd like to do as much as she can with her and her friends.

"Actually," she raises a hand to halt him. "We're hoping to be of assistance."

"We're friends of Lethe's. This is Ethan - she had been in contact with him over a new idea for a re-interpretation of the characters and premise." She puts a hand on his shoulder. "And recently, she helped us get this young lady out of a magical predicament." She puts a hand on Ashlyn's shoulder. "But, yeah, we haven't heard from her in a while, and we followed the trail here looking for her."

Val crosses her arms with a frown. This is what she talked with Lakshmi about... total disregard for the fact that these people are people, not just... spirits and tools to be used without their permission, or through trickery and deceit. _{..also wow, Hasbro is owned by mages. That would explain so much.}

"Maybe, but it does afford us some advantages and political leverage to deal with that when we reach it. ...we owe her, Hurrin. We want to help."

Valerie sips at her tea, listening quietly for the most part to get a feel for the situation. ...though Lethe's sudden change of heart, she isn't entirely sure about. Sure, she befriended them, but what prompted her to believe that Tear's idea would work so well? Clearly, she saw something that Val hasn't, or it inspired her somehow with an idea or other... She really doesn't know. She'll have to ask her.

Though it does bring a to do list... She'll need to buy out Caelia's contract, somehow, from the LA consilium, for instance, and whoever else ended up in unfair contracts, to declare them null and void and rip them up. Then pen an alternate contract offering them 'legal' protections from further contractual obligations, maybe...

"And she went after Tear after that?" Val wonders, glancing up.

Valerie leans back slowly, mulling over it. "Seeing our souls careening through to the supernal realms. Right as we opened a literal rift in space time, too." She frowns, tapping her finger on the edge of her cup.

"But getting to witness the greatness of those realms for herself... I wouldn't be surprised that it'd illicit a bit of hunger in anyone, daimon or mortal or otherwise. But mages have been striving for them for millenia without recorded successes. What did she see to make her perspective different?"

"...It has to be something that would have shaken things up hard if she was this certain."

She looks to Arielle for a moment, and a frown gently comes to her. "...maybe us?" She sits up in a bit of realization. "Maybe she wants to become human? Like us, I mean, like what mom did for us."