Larry, upon not being offered a ride, is bewildered. But then again, he did manage to get home from Saturn. It shouldn't be particularly hard to do the same for Mercury, right? Without particularly concentrating, he attempts to be on Mercury, but nothing really seems to happen despite his repeated attempts to focus on the problem. He walks to and fro a bit, wondering what the issue might be. Is he missing something, mayhap?
* * * * *
Halesey is amazed at the miracles of the vortex, the potato and himself, a joint miracle, if you will. All of which seem to be himself, somehow, like a holy trinity of some kind. It almost makes sense. But it doesn't quite make sense yet! He must make sense of it personally, and there is only one good way on hand, and that is the noble art of potato empathy.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 5+1-
1]
And it does begin to make more sense shortly as he opens his mind to the vortex potatoes, becoming not just the vortex, but also the potatoes, sharing in their feelings fully, including the paralyzed, screaming ones frozen in place by that Nigel fellow. It's slightly disturbing at first, but the presence of potatoes that rub up against his tender mortal brain in an emotional fashion pacify him further, elevating the potato prophet to a level of tranquility usually only attained on picturesque mountain peaks or infinite lands of dust and flatness. All is well, he feels, despite the way he still can't move at all.
* * * * *
John, disappointed about his rather hale and hearty state of health, resolves to drink himself to death more efficiently in the future. But first, breakfast! Out of bed with a spring in his step, he locates James, who appears to be up already and seems to have prepared a breakfast at that. French toast and maple syrup, it seems like, plus fruit and coffee. Relatively fresh fruit, too, probably bought not very long ago, and certainly not by John.
"I, uh, kind of got hungry and you weren't up yet. You don't mind, right?"John really doesn't, he guesses. At least James here is earning his keep. Breakfast immediately ensues, leaving John filled with quite a bit of energy. Energy that he would really like to expend, naturally - and what better way to do this than to try out some new magical shenanigans? Opening the mag, John stares at its secrets.
[John's mind roll: 5+1]
Rich in carbohydrates as he is, John finds little to no challenge in the catching of spheres that follows - picking out three of the more interesting-looking ones, he catches them and, without even waiting for a normal expiration time for the vision, swims right back out into the real world, the feeling of being so very on top of things becoming mildly surreal. Is this what happiness feels like, perhaps?
1. Multiply Eggs
2. Evilize Mole Rat
3. Fuse T-Shirts
Hey, looks like you slept well. Pick up any spells you like.
* * * * *
Dave, faced with the problem of a runaway moon, has a brilliant idea. It involves vortexes primarily, and dimensional gerrymandering secondarily. His upper lip quivers inquisitively as his hands work on violating the fabric of space for personal gain, binding the very doors between planes to do what he wants them to!
[Dave's affinity roll: 4]
One small vortex appears immediately - it points to an empty street. Through it, Dave prepares to unleash the next vortex!
[Dave's affinity roll: 3]
An even smaller vortex does he manage to manifest inside the first one - on the material plane, to be specific. Unfortunately for him, the small hole, while no doubt able to host him, merely leads to an area a few meters away in the Denture Dimension, lending some credence to the idea that there is some correspondence between a location on Earth and a location in this place. Perhaps not absolute correspondence, but some form of correspondence nevertheless.
* * * * *
Eta, being a concerned citizen, but not quite concerned enough to try and help somebody as obviously bloody-minded as the girl currently experiencing a massive cocaine overdose, continues speaking to Clive, largely ignoring Joanie.
"Yeah, I suppose I'd like to add my friends to that protection. I'd like to refrain from revealing their names to her. Both because I don't want her to know who they are and because that might cause her to think twice before deciding to hurt someone. Other than that, no, nothing else. I'm just doing this to protect myself and others. I don't want her to be my slave or anything. If she can't abide to something so simple, then she can let herself die for all I care. I've got way more important things to worry about right now," she says, glancing at Menkau, who gives her a thumbs-up before looking away.
"Yeah, screw all this for a lark, I'm outta here!" Joanie yells, and then immediately runs off.
"Oh, what a shame. Say, Eta, wanna maybe make a deal for protection, provided by me, in exchange for a favor later on? In case she makes it through the night alive, I mean. Who knows, right?" Clive offers.
"Uh, Eta, who is this guy, anyway?" Ivette asks.
"And where'd he come from?""I came from nowhere. Weren't you paying attention?" Clive laughs.
"Materialized out of thin air according to the whims of my dark mistress, ya know?"Ivette looks dubiously at Eta upon hearing this remark.