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RESPITE GENERATOR, MID-MORNING
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Elizabeth walks to the door, having waffled and hesitated over her decision to help power up the new generator for pretty much all of last night and this morning. She looks tired... well, more than she usually does, anyway. The skunk knocks softly, some part of her still just wanting to say 'I won't do it', but she forces those thoughts to the background. She's doing this.
Maybelline opens the door moments later, dressed in her jumpsuit, complete with thick steel-toed boots that seem specially made to fit her, along with heavy gloves. She grins at Elizabeth. "Ah! You're here! We're just finishing up the sixth test iteration, so I'd say we're good to go! Err, sorry, Elizabeth, hi!"
Brunilda glances up from her polishing the outside of the generator, nodding at the skunk with a smile.
Elizabeth gives Maybelline and Brunilda a wary smile: "Y-yeah... wait, sixth? Am I late?"
Maybelline chuckles, shaking her head, "Oh, haha, no. I've just been... up early. Been running testing on it for a few days now just to be sure..." She rubs her side, "Just to be sure!"
Brunilda gives Maybelline a friendly smile: "I was pretty certain we were all set after the third set, but you know best."
Elizabeth looks between the two, then shakes her head slightly: "...fair enough. I guess the question is, where do you want me to channel my magic to? Point me to the right place and probably steer clear."
Maybelline points the way, leading Elizabeth inside towards the newly built section of the generator, a largely squarish looking structure about the size the skunk heightwise, handholds along one side lead up to a second level just above her head, upon which is a cylindrical housing that seems in part to be sunken into the bottom. "Right this way! Now, then, let me explain."
Elizabeth nods as she follows the stoat, more curious than her usually-jaded exterior shows.
Brunilda leans aside, knowing by this point exactly what the plan is and only having met Elizabeth in passing.
Maybelline clears her throat, clearly a bit excited at this entire process. "Common magitechnology utilizes crystals to store magic, but this fails on a larger scale! Magic is chaotic in nature, it's always moving and in a small crystalline cell that movement is dampened making it safe to carry or use in low tier magitech devices. But higher scale devices like our generator need much greater quantities of magic, which would shatter a crystal or if not properly contained, well, I've got the scars to prove you don't want that to happen!" She takes a breath.
Maybelline claps her hands. "So. ICEE generators take a huge portion of magic and put it in a protected little box, sunken into the center of the main distribution chamber, which is what we have here. Brunilda and I, however, have constructed a ICEE-Hybrid generator using preliminary AMP Tech to create a 'spin-cycle' for the magic which should both increase output while decreasing the danger of a leak or breach! All my math seems to prove it out. I'm very excited to see it in action, honestly."
Elizabeth listens attentively, understanding at least some of all that: "So... where exactly do you want me to channel to?"
Brunilda lets an amused snerk under her breath, but keeps a (mostly) poker face.
Maybelline blinks. "Oh! Uh, right! You'll be standing right over here." She points to rather strange looking area that looks like someone took a slice of cake out of the side of the structure. "Hands to each side, there are handles to grasp, as per Mage Guild specifications. And then you uh... do your thing? Brunilda will be right there monitoring the equipment stability." She points up towards the catwalk that rings around the cylindrical housing. "And I will be up there, monitoring the containment percentages. Which is also why I'll be wearing full protective gear."
Elizabeth nods slowly, taking it in. "Sounds... good. I think. As I told you before, I have not actually done this before, but I do know that I possess the capability to." She frowns slightly, looking at Brunilda expectantly: "I am not certain I will stay conscious when we are done."
Brunilda blinks, jolting slightly in attention: "Oh. Yes, Ma'am. I will be there if you need me, physically. No worries." This wasn't part of her script for today, but... she thinks back to Strix and shoves her doubts away. Doing the right thing.
Maybelline frowns. "Do... do you need a pillow or anything? Like I said... the Mage's Guild is very secretive about this process. The section you'll be stepping into is usually within a sealed door in the larger generators. The old one here was exposed to the side, so I assume the magician or mages who did the last generator just locked down the whole building."
Elizabeth looks at the generator, then slowly shakes her head: "I... I think I will be fine. Just be aware during this."
Brunilda looks at Elizabeth a bit uncertainly, but steps to her place, ready to begin when she is. And now mentally preparing for another run to the clinic for some reason...
Maybelline looks at Brun, raising an eyebrow to make sure she can handle that, very aware that the stoat herself couldn't. "Well... if you're good then, Brunilda and I will get in position and we'll count down from five. Once we hit zero... just start whenever you're comfortable. Sound good?"
Elizabeth nods, stepping onto her place and starting to feel her magic, slow purple swirls building about her hands and arms as she does. "Let us just be done with this... I have worried enough about what might happen."
Maybelline climbs up the side and reaches the second level, getting herself into place. She begins to prime the generator, calling out a few technical commands to Brun and responding in kind as they go through the process they practiced a few times during testing. At last, when everything is ready, she counts down, "Generator is ready in... five... four... three... two... one... zero. Containment at zero percent."
Elizabeth nods deeply. No going back now. She then looks up at the core of the generator, holding her hands to the handles to begin channeling. Her whole arms are soon covered in her signature purple swirls, resembling a thick smoke. She slowly at first, then faster as she gets the grip on it, feeds her magic into the generator, trying to ignore the rather unnatural feeling of her power siphoning away from her body and into the generator.
Maybelline 's eyes are glued to the monitors, as she ironically misses the magical show behind her. She grins as the needle beings to climb. "Siphon is optimal. Nine percent storage and climbing."
Elizabeth continues forcing her magic into the machine, even as she starts feeling herself weakening from the effects of it. She grits her teeth; she wants to let go of the handles and quit, but doesn't. The swirl around her grows bigger and more menacing, starting to obscure the old skunk from view.
Maybelline continues to watch the power rise. She calls out to confirm status with Brun, hearing only positive responses, increasing the stoat's excitement. "Eighty-six percent. Almost there!"
Brunilda looks at Elizabeth, or what she can see of her, and frowns a bit. She mutters to herself: "That's... uh huh."
Elizabeth starts shaking at the expenditure of her power, and the cloud around her starts fraying and sparking in turn. She's giving this her all, but it doesn't quite feel enough. "Just... a bit... more...!"
Maybelline nods. "Ninety-seven... ninety-eight... Ninety-Nine!" She waits for that last agonizing second of anticipation. "We're at Max Capicity! Killing the siphon now!" She sets back to work, cutting off the process that is drawing magic from Elizabeth, or at least, drawing magic into the generator...
Elizabeth lets out a whimpering scream as she's completely lost control of the magic siphoning, and is only at the edges of her consciousness. The cloud around her sparks and tears, whipping against the machine and then loudly splitting around the room, bouncing off the walls before whipping to wherever before seemingly dissipating. The skunk collapses to her knees, tears in her eyes as she feels weaker than she has ever been, as though a part of her whole being has just been torn from her. She's conscious, but just barely, as she breathes hard.
Brunilda looks at Elizabeth, then yells at Maybelline: "Not good!" She hesitates at the dissipating energy clouds before diving in, wanting to make sure the old lady is okay.
Maybelline cusses loudly, trying to ensure the equipment isn't contributing. She hears Brun yell as she flips the emergency shut-offs, then turns back, grasping the hand rail and looking down to see Brun rush into the wild magical cloud. "BRUN! Shit shit shit!" Her jaw clenches up, not really sure what to do. There's no mechancial cause here. This is just magical in nature.
Elizabeth coughs up fiercely as Brunilda steps next to her: "It's... ow." She attempts to lift a hand to her head, but can't find even that in herself. She feels frail and older than she was just minutes ago. She looks up at the generator and at the vague image of the engineer stoat above her, giving a small smile: "T-think I succeeded." And with that, she passes out, her magical and physical energy entirely spent.
Brunilda reaches to hold Elizabeth as she falls, keeping the very light-feeling skunk in her arms. At least the smoke dissipated quickly. She sighs, calling out to Maybelline: "She's out of it, May."
Maybelline calls back, staring at the two figures as best she can through the smoke. "Is she okay? I shut everything down! Generator is secure... get her to the Doc's if you can, Brun!"
Brunilda carefully lifts the old lady in her arms. Unconscious, but breathing. She gives a solid nod: "I will. Make sure everything's right here, I'll get her to the Clinic." She steps through and away from the smoke, getting a funny feeling about it in her gut but not giving that train of thought any further room.
Maybelline nods. "I... Yeah, will do. Once I make sure everything is good here I'll meet you there... make sure you're okay too, alright?"
Brunilda gives Maybelline a smile: "I will. It happened so quickly, but... I think I'm fine." She shakes her head: "I'll get her there. Who knows what that... thing... did to her."
Maybelline frowns, "Yeah... Can't say. Maybe this is just why the Mage's Guild keeps this whole thing a secret?"
Brunilda nods slowly: "Maybe. I have no idea, but that didn't look right." She rolls her shoulders, making sure she's holding Elizabeth firmly.
Maybelline sighs, "Not right at all... stay safe, Brun."
Brunilda gives Maybelline another nod, then turns towards the door, intent on bringing Elizabeth to the Clinic as fast as she can. Definitely wasn't part of today's expected script. How ridiculously dangerous are powerful magic users if that sort of thing is just charging a generator?
Maybelline watches Brun leave, worry gnawing at the pit of her stomach as she feels pretty helpless. At last, she turns back to the generator panel, making sure that at least whatever happened didn't cause any new leak or stress. If Elizabeth managed to power the generator up, at least, she needs to make sure it's not going to explode again.
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RESPITE FALLS GENERATOR SQUARE - MOMENTS LATER
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Gareth strolls around the square with Fiora, having met up with her as she came back from her usual morning jog. He's not really got anything else planned at the moment, what with the ongoing investigation into Hatnay's death and him being a potential suspect. "Anyway... that's where it stands, right now. Hatnay got killed by someone a bit after we'd left. Yer in the clear, because ye'd left well before he'd died, but I'm still a suspect because o' the circumstances."
Fiora crosses her eyes, her ribs still wrapped up, but otherwise she's dress pretty casually, her morning jog more of a 'morning stroll' now, just listening in as he explains all the crap they've gotten in. "Blah. That's a shame. Maybe this town is cursed for bounty hunters or something. Damn. I saw that guy. I was almost wishing he'd tried to stop us before we got to that kobold so I could've tried him out, one-on-one, you know?"
Gareth sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know about cursed, but there's been enough misfortune fer me to wonder." He chuckles after a moment and grins, "He looked like a fierce fighter, but he said he'd been startin' to slow down a bit because o' age. Ye might get a better fight out o' Louma now that she's got that spear."
Fiora chuckles, "Guess that's a possibility now. Well, not 'now' now. But later, now. You know what I mean."
Gareth smirks and gently prods Fiora on the side with a finger. "Aye, I know what ye mean, lass. I-- hm...?" He's about to level a joke at her when a low rumble catches his ear and he looks past Fiora towards the generator building with a raised eyebrow.
Fiora tilts her head at Gareth, "Eh? Hm? Hm what?" She cranes her neck around as she starts to hear the rumble as well. "The hell is that?"
Narrator: The rumbling subsides after a few moments, but as soon as it does, several bolts of some smoky, dark-colored something spray out from the generator building, heading every which way over town, one of which happens to fly right at the giraffe and wolf walking together nearby.
Gareth reacts quickly, his arm wrapping around Fiora's midsection to try and sweep her out of the way. Naturally, the difference in height and weight means he doesn't accomplish more than just moving himself into the way of the bolt, moments before it strikes.
Gareth takes the hit to the chest, the bolt dissipating into inconsequential wisps as the energy fades into his body, causing him to stagger back a couple of steps and bump rather heavily into Fiora.
Fiora flails a bit as Gareth grabs her and like, dances with her? The hell is he doing? Before she can react, she sees him take the strange bolt to the chest. She grabs him in a rush of adrenaline and pulls him out of the line of sight of the generator building, though too little to late. "Gareth!? GARETH! You okay?!"
Gareth hangs rather limply in Fiora's grasp for a moment, before he seems to regain his balance. He's able to keep his feet under him and support a little bit of his weight once Fiora lets go, but it seems to be more just reflex than actual, conscious effort. His movements sluggish, a hand slowly drifts up to his chest where the bolt struck, before he staggers, tries to adjust his footing to match, then collapses to the ground.
Fiora looks down at the generator, trying to discern who attacked them, cautiously stepping back, keep an eye out. She inches back towards Gareth, putting a hand on his chest, "Come on, buddy. You've taken worse hits then that. Some kinda freakin' sniper or something, but you're fine. Right? You're fine!"
Gareth groans, already regaining his senses as Fiora scoots over to check on him. He remains on the ground, but he seems... okay, if not necessarily intact. "Ugh... I'm... I'm fine, lass... Felt like one o' yer punches... if yer fist could pass through me..."
Fiora chuckles, "If only! Heh. Alright, good! You're alright. Or, you seem alright, at least. The heck even was that?"
Gareth tries to sit up a bit, but ends up feeling unsteady, so he opts to just prop himself up on an elbow. "I don't even know... whatever it was, it came out o' the generator buildin'... or at least from that direction."
Fiora puts a hand on Gareth's back, trying to help hold him upright. "Sniper? Did it feel like getting shot with your gun thing." She reaches up for her necklace.
Gareth shakes his head as he slowly tries to stand up again with Fiora's help. "Can't have been a sniper... If it was, we wouldn't be talkin' right now. Ye'd be hidin', or wounded, and I'd probably be dead. A shot to the chest like that would have killed me if it was anythin' hostile..."
Fiora slowly lowers her hand. "...Should... I take you to that Doctor's then?"
Gareth grunts a bit as he finally clambers slowly back onto his feet. He bends forward a little, just massaging the muscles on his back for a couple of seconds. "Might not be a bad idea... I feel fine, but it wouldn't hurt to get a proper look..."
Fiora nods, standing up along with Gareth to give him support. "Right. Well, let's get you there fast. Or uh, slow? I don't know how quickly you feel like walkin'."
Gareth straightens up again after a moment, stretching himself out to loosen up after his fall. "Mostly just sore, now... Like if ye threw me durin' a spar or somethin'. I can probably walk however, just, uh... catch me again if I collapse a second time, please, lass?"
Fiora nods, "Hey, I said I'd never throw you after that one time. But yeah, I gotcha. Just take it easy. Sheesh. I never imagined you for the jealous type. Seeing my injury and all. Just had to get one yourself, eh?"
Gareth takes a moment to pat his chest, checking for any overt signs of injury. He laughs a bit upon finding none, aside from a strange, lingering sort of tenderness from the impact. "What can I say? Ye can't be the only one to have all the fun. Besides... not even sure if I am injured. Look, no blood, nothin'."
Fiora smirks. "Yeah, figured. Well, if you can joke, you don't feel too bad. C'mon, lets get you to that Doc's."
Gareth nods. "Sounds like a plan, lass. Hopefully it's nothin' serious inside..." He smirks in turn, "So... ye were sayin' somethin' about Respite bein' cursed fer bounty hunters earlier?"
Fiora frowns, "Yeah... not sure I'm ready to dismiss that notion just yet."
Gareth chuckles as he nods down the lane, a hand braced against Fiora's arm for stability as he starts making his way towards the clinic. "Well, let's see what all happened here before we make any conclusions."