• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

IDS Yīnghuā - Log 4.0: Frog at the Bottom of the Well (井底之蛙)

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Empire of Daqin,
Pínqióng (貧窮) System
The Forbidden City

They all 'stood' at attention, their connection to the wider Daqin virtuality cut off.

"Bwhahahahahaha! So it's true! Just look at him!" the megalomaniacal Aos'Si laughed at Wen from her throne. Laying on the flatbed dolly cart, the Ox's salt stuffed limbs were bent at odd angles, making the once fearsome soldier look less than dignified. "I sense salt in those noodles! What did you do, hug an angel's butt? Hahahaha!" she mocked him. Yáng Jù, the head of imperial science efforts, bent over him and cautiously prodded at Wen's limp limbs with a glass stirring rod.

"Yes, what did you do?" Zhùlǐ Dānwèi Sì looked up from her lab table, soldering iron in hand. Despite being in Viz Istenno's 'habitat', replete with snacks, holoplayer, games and Chongwu servants, the Mother-Empress had apparently moved her current science project in with the Aos'Si's blessing. Pushing up her round, dark goggles, she peered at Wen suspiciously. "I had to show Viz a picture of what has become of you in order for her to even consider healing you, but I would like an explanation from all of you, rather than just the written report."

"He didn't hug an angel's butt..."Hoshiko slowly began, the awkwardness of the network disconnect tilting her. "But he - " she paused as lightning struck her mind. " - he probably felt up the Archangel when he leaped onto her back to shoot her!" the princess realized. It made perfect sense!

Viz stared at them all for a moment. Only to burst out laughing.
 
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"Did I ask why we can't just grow new arms and such for him already?" Jun asked, rolling her eyes a bit as she struggled with their virtuality cut off, "That was for them, please don't listen to that. Or me."

She'd try and be more careful in the future.

Xian would review the recording of the event, scanning back through her memories and confirming that Wen attacked the creature's throat and upper body. With the virtuality down she didn't risk having that conversation with Hoshiko in the open.
 
"I attacked an 'angel', a messenger of the gods." Wen replied truthfully. "It acted with insolence towards my fellow Daqinren, thus I retaliated in kind." He then mentally uploaded his suit's sensor data to the Imperial intelligence database, awaiting for acceptance. "Despite my best efforts, it managed to enact its powers on me, deflected all of my assaults, and turned my limbs into salt."

He then sighed. "I know what I did risked the lives of my teammates, and most likely broke several rules of diplomacy. You can verify my actions via the sensor data from everyone else."

"But the pride of the Empire was at stake. Furthermore, I believe the data I gathered will prove useful in developing countermeasures against these creatures in the future." He paused, then gulped. "I accept any and all punishment. I just ask that the information I collected will be utilized for the security of the Empire."
 
"Wowow, amaze, amaze!" Viz began, pointing a finger at Wen. "It's like he didn't learn anything at all!" the humanoid alien smugly smiled down at him.

"Yes, yes, I saw the raw data - " Zhùlǐ waved off the infostream coming from the soldier-bull. " - which only justifies severe punishment. First, for an individual who is too prideful of their own nation and to arrogant to admit it. Second, another individual who behaves like her mother, but without the benefit of me holding her leash," she remarked, her attention still fixated more on her project than them. The empress paused for a moment. "Maybe I should tug on her leash again..." She put the thought aside. "Normally, I would deal with this decisively. Only, the real problem is that an imperial princess wishes for this mother-empress to be merciful, so I have to lean out of my comfort zone and learn how to do that."

Zhùlǐ held up the interior of the device she was working on so Viz could see the interior of it. "Yup, the grammar is right!"

Satisfied with her work, she set the device down. "You're both demoted to Shàowèi (少尉)."

Hoshiko winced at the demotion. Getting crunched from Commander down to Ensign was not falling down a step, but being shoved down the stairs.
 
Sakura for her part remained as silent, unobtrusively in the background and as much a part of the wallpaper as she could while all this was going on. This was her first time in the presence of the empress and all and she felt incredibly out of place. Being cut off from VR was also not helping and she found it unsettling and uncomfortable.... Though not as much as the dressing down currently underway.

Sakura was very much wondering if so readily accepting this assignment to Princess Hoshiko was a grievous mistake.

So she remained silent, rigidly at attention and did nothing to stand out as the next nail tbe hammered down.
 
Wen was seemingly unbothered by the demotion. After all, he had to suffer the humiliation of assigned to pirate work, then shoved into a dead end job in the middle of nowhere on a small asteroid. Another demotion was par for the course nowadays. He'll climb back up, eventually. Time was on his side, and he was still serving the Empire.

"I accept the punishment. Mother Empress in indeed merciful." The ox-form replied with a straight face with a small expression of gratitude. As much as he could de-limbed anyways.
 
Reina internally sighs, a mix of stress, irritation, and now worry as she is presented with the Empress. Although she was able to contact her assistant barely an hour ago and confirm that everything was running as well as she could hope back at her home station, a couple of certain personalities were apparently being difficult without her direct hand in their treatment... Not that she would be able to go back anytime soon...

Without private communications via the network, she bit her tongue as to Wen's proclamations of near suicidal 'patriotism...' though she did glare holes into the back of his head.

... As to the Empress? Frankly, the woman terrified Reina. She represented whims on emotions with simply the ease of power to back up anything she put her mind to... like 'suggesting' Reina join this mission in the first place... and she was here! Why did she have to be here?

Careful to not stare, she glanced at the characters presented before her, thinking of ways that she could sink into the background and not be noticed. If worse came to worse, she could try to divert their attention elsewhere using some of the phycological feints that her mother taught her... but something told her that the Empress and the Aos'Si would probably just scoff at her attempt if their attention strayed toward her.
 
"Good. Because it was either that, or turning you into a Chongwu," the Empress smiled with delight. "More importantly, you get a medal! And you get a medal and - " Zhùlǐ flippantly gave everyone that wasn't Wen and Xian a medal, delightedly pointing to each of them in turn until everyone had been given a medal. "Though, I think I'm forgetting something," the golden scaled woman pondered, pinning the physical medals to their chests.

"Sure, sure, I'll take care of it!" Viz crunched on a rice cracker. Hopping off of her throne, she boorishly adjusted her underwear before coming down to Wen. "Now, no shooting me this time!" Holding her hands out at the man, a soft, radiant glow emanated from her. In an instant the ox of a man felt his limbs slowly returning as a horrible itch that was constantly being scratched! "As you can see, I can do this without having to speak an incantation, or written symbols, because my superior mind can simply focus on the magic itself and - "

A bright, blinding flash of warm and radiant light overwhelmed them all!

"I have come!" the Archangel announced itself. At its feet however, Lady Nimue knelt, cautiously rising to her feet as she shook off whatever had been cast.

"Aaaah! Stupid flutter-tits ruined it!" Viz yelled, pointing a finger at Wen's legs. Though his arms were back, his legs had returned horribly mangled in all sorts of angles.

"How rude!" the feathered being started with surprise. "Though, do you need help with that?" it offered.
 
Wen's eyes widened, not at the Aos Si's ability to quickly regenerate his limbs, though that was something to consider for later; by the reappearance of the archangel. "That will not be necessary, evangelist." Wen growled. It was an insult, hearkening back to humanity's dark days of religious zealots scamming the uneducated masses out of their hard earned cash. This archangel was no different to him, yet the Aos Si gladly feed it precious catonite for petty words.

He sat upwards. Now with his upper limbs returned to him, he unceremoniously rolled off the table, fell to the ground with a thud, and crawled over to a medical wheelchair. "Now, if you will excuse me, Mother Empress." He climbed into it, and paid his respect with hand over fist. "I must go to my bio pod to continue my recovery, if you will allow me."
 
Aitana was mostly unbothered by the reemergence of the archangel - she was too busy riding the high of being awarded a medal by the Empress herself, as well as suddenly becoming the highest-ranking officer in this band of misfits. Plus, it was funny to watch Wen crawl to a wheelchair, though she'd never admit it.

"The 'Forbidden' City is called that for a reason, you know," she remarked at the creature, maintaining a warm smile.
 
"No, I will not," the mother-empress refused to excuse Wen. Looking back to Viz, she gestured for the healing to continue. As the bull's legs infernally itched and scratched their way back to normal again, the avian creature made a small wave to Reina, but soon enough the deed was done. "This is probably very important," Zhuli noted, satisfied that Wen's legs were intact again.

"Yes, this is very important!" the Archangel emphasized with a smile, though it did pause and briefly turned its attention to Aitana. "I thought the 'Forbidden' part only applied to the peasants," she sheepishly admitted, briefly putting its smile away. The avian alien then perked up, putting that thought aside. "But yes, very important!" it smiled again. "You are all on the wrong timeline!"

"It's Nimdorn. He's missing. Did you take him?" Lady Nimue spoke up. "This Holy One said that taking him was one of your more likely plans or actions," the Aos'Si elaborated, referring to the feathered xenos' predictions. Hearing that, Hoshiko suddenly felt a twinge of nervousness. The creature wasn't wrong. Some of her subordinates suggested doing EXACTLY that while they were planetside even.

"Um, Light-Bringer? Uh, Lucifer? He's not here," the tiger princess spoke up, raising a hand for it to notice her.

"I see, I see. That does narrow down the possibilities," the Archangel noted, a pair of its many hands coming together to steeple its fingers in thought. "Though, an interesting name for me to add to my long list of names. Lucifer? And you would potentially tell me it's from an ancient language...Latin you would say? Hm. Also means Morning Star. I like it! You can even call me Luci then!" its smile grew even bigger.

"Wait, if Nimdorn is not here, where is he?" the chocolate toned woman spoke up, her pointed ears held high with alarm.

"Oh. If this isn't the timeline where he's taken here by our - " the archangel paused to turn her face towards Wen accusingly, " - Handsy acquaintances, this must be the timeline that young Nimdorn is seeking out the Dragon for a wish!" The archangel rubbed another pair of hands together with delight. "I feel so much better now that I am whole again! Who wants to go see the draaaa-gonnn?" it sing-songed and raised a hand.

Hoshiko raised her hand.

"OH!" Zhuli perked up. "Since we're here at the labs, pick some of these modules to install!" the empress offered, opening up their net access again. "I made them myself!" she smiled like a mother offering freshly made treats.
 
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Jun had been trying to search for what a Dragon looked like, forgetting the network access had been shut off. Once the network access came back she was flooded with searches that had been stuck waiting for network access.

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It would take a few moments for Jun to snap back to reality after having close out all those windows.

"Does the sound canceler work on other people or is it just a me thing if I put that on?" Jun asked out loud.


---

Xian was still waiting, trying not to anchor too much of her future to Wen's downward trajectory. Soon some other failure would catch the Empress' eye and they would be able to do what they needed without the excess scrutiny.

But for now, she looked through her options and fixated on the increased artificial muscle and sensors.
 
A little overwhelmed in just a couple of minutes, Reina gives a half-hearted wave back to the Archangel as she thinks about the choices that led her to this moment...

"Wait... You thought we'd actually kidnap a child? We would never stoop that..." She looks to the rest of the people in the room with her and suddenly gets a look on her face that says she forgot that there are individuals in present company that would probably do just that, "...Never mind. It didn't come to that however. Though I do find it strange that was your top choice for how this interaction would pan out."

Hearing about a dragon, she makes a quick glance toward the Empress, before addressing 'Luci' again, "Dragon? Is that a title... or are we talking about the apocalyptic entity again?... I know he's a child, but what would possess him to try and reason with something like that, especially right after you said it would destroy his world if it woke?"

Reina absentmindedly skims through the module catalogue, mostly intent on the current conversation. The Nano Regeneration Layer or Advanced sensors would both be useful, one to keep her going so she could continue her job should the worst happen and one that would allow her better treat patients by gaining more info into their wounds or maladies, especially if they didn't have suit sensors that shared bio information.
 
Reina quickly found that the default power supply for the suit couldn't support both the modules she wanted at once. At least, not unless she got more battery bays and batteries accordingly. Of course, that meant more weight and bulk. "The instruction manual says it's a local effect Jun," Hoshiko tested their connection to each other. Satisfied, she began sorting through the files. "So someone else can't hear us, and they'll notice they can't hear anything once we're close." As Xian found that she needed more battery capacity, or only choose one extra module, the princess opted for the triple-battery expansion bays to support her poly-muscles, nano-regen and advanced sensors.

On hearing Reina's very high esteem for them all though, the Hoshiko thought back on their mission.

Uso said:
"We have to take this threat seriously." Xian said, "Lets find out what they know, and bring them back to the city for further questioning. We should also inform the Mother-Empress of this development. Jun, you grab the kid."

"Ew. No. You grab the kid. Its all sniffly now."
Click to expand...

The princess agreed with Reina's changed mind at about the same time. The snake-daqin was right about their somewhat dubious morality (for the empire!). More importantly, the alien was right about it too. With magic. Taking Nimdorn was a possibility, and one that could have happened. But didn't. "I hate being reasonable," Hoshiko crossed her arms and muttered. Kidnapping and interrogation wasn't a bad plan! She wanted to come up with that and get held back by more morally upstanding people!

There was no fun in having to be the adult back then.

"That is most likely why we're on this timeline, and not that one," the Archangel gestured one of its hands towards Hoshiko for Reina's benefit. "Your on-site leader made a decision, leading us here. We now need to deal with a reptile-thing that kept growing and getting stronger until its magic could bend and warp reality," Luci spoke with a smile. The pieces were falling into place. "Undoubtedly, this ability can be interpreted as granting wishes. If, and a very big if, the dreamer does not awaken. Naturally, my patron cannot expect payment from you all if you are doomed, so I am here, no need to fear!" it magnanimously bowed to them all. It then awkwardly paused for a moment, and while still smiling, leaned over to Lady Nimue. "What does the boy want again?" Luci then turned away to peck at the bowl of modern, refined, dopamine releasing chips that Viz had by her throne.

"Hey! Those are mein!" the blue haired Aos'Si cried, desperately trying to wave the giant bird-thing away.

"They can get you more, cousin," the golden haired woman reminded her relative. "As for Nimdorn, the boy lost his whole family. His father to the taking of the north, his older brother when the ship descended - fire and all - at the siege of the star spire - " Hoshiko tried not to show any sign of guilt at that as she spoke, " - and his mother to a broken heart. Given the boy isn't here, he must believe The Dragon can give them back."

"Okay. So we stop the boy, and we stop the end of the world. We missing anything else?" Hoshiko asked.

"Let me know when you're ready, and I can bring us as close as possible immediately!" the eyeless avian alien's long neck turned to 'look' up from the snack bowl. "The timelines are all wibbly-wobbly and hard to read the closer we get, but I can at least place us on the little shit's boy's trail," it continued smiling.
 
"I don't trust you." Wen growled, crossing his arms in his wheelchair, still getting used to his legs having grown back underneath him. "An elven princess, dragons, archangels, we aren't stupid human fantasy quest-fetchers." He protested. "Why is a mind-shattered boy given this much ability to act anyways? He should be with a supervising therapist, if his kingdom cared so much about him. Assuming what you are saying is all true, which I don't believe."

"Besides, we are not the group who should be handling this kind of mission anyways." Wen continued to criticize. "There are at least three platoons of Daqinren special forces on this very station designed for package recovery. They should be the ones receiving this information and determining if it should be undertaken."

He paused. "With that being said, I would like the Advanced Sensors module, please, Mother Empress."
 
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