I know! I don't have the puzzle and it's not irritating me, but Sera sure hates it.

I still don't know what to do with it. The addition would make 9 _ 5 7 3, and I also don't see a pattern to that.

Is there a similar marking on the other numbers?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:31, Thu 11 Apr.

No other markings you can tell.

so the 14, which is really

1₊4

is in between the 12 and the 18, right?

The 7 cog fits between the

1₊4

and the 12, right?

So if the "14" is really "1+4" and you add a 7 to it, you get...

I put the 5 between the 18 and the 14, since 14-(1+8)=5 and 12-(1+4)=7.

Legos will plague Rakshasa for the rest of her days.

Last test.  Bwah ha ha ha...



The door opens into another room.  This one looks super annoying.

The walls, floor, and ceiling are all tiled in blacks and dark blues.  There are no other obvious exits.

In the middle of the room, on a stand, is a larger than usual parrot.  It squawks and flexes its wings as you enter.  But otherwise doesn't move from it's perch.

Under it is a small plaque with the following:

This is Polly.

Polly knows how to get out of here.  But she'll only tell you if you can ask the right question.

It has to be eight words.  Exactly.

There's a penalty for each time the question is wrong.

Good luck

I count on my fingers. I also anticipate, with relish, the number of times I am going to hit Rakshasa in the stomach.

Polly
how
do
I
get
out
of
here

That's eight words. But then it might be wrong, since I might not be able to get out by myself, and Rakshasa is an asshole.

What
are
the
eight
words
I
need
to
ask

That's nine words. Uuuuh.

What
are
the
eight
words
of
the
question

That's eight.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuh.

How
does
someone
get
out
of
this
room

That's eight too. Seems like there's an obvious smartass answer to it though.

How
can
I
get
out
of
this
building?

Let's start with:

"Hello, Polly." I wait a few seconds just so I'm obviously not asking a question.

"I have a question for you:

How can I get out of this building?"

The bird draws it's wings back and caws a moment.

Then it says, in a very parrot-y sounding voice,

Polly wants you dead

From somewhere along one of the walls, a projectile whistles through the air and hits your arm before you have time to notice it was fired.

Did we decide Sera has a degree of invulnerability?

If so, it just bounces off her though it's an annoying little jarring sensation.  Like when you stub your toe lightly.

If not, she will get knocked onto her knees and gets a big ol' nasty gash.

I will let you decide which degree of injury Sera is taking here

Well, originally, she was tougher than most people but more importantly almost impossible to hit, by being able to reflexively stop time, and when she did take damage, she could heal herself (but not other people) with a few seconds' concentration.

But now that her power is completely different, I don't know.

How dramatic do you want the stakes to be?

I am going to let you decide that.

I think some drama would give it a bit of hot sauce. But that's me.  Your call.

I'm good either way really.  Cos mostly, this is just designed to rattle Sera a bit.

I don't know. It's a tough decision to make. I tried for so long to have a really top-tier character, and seeing her downgraded repeatedly feels like betraying what I worked for for years and years of searching and trying. But at the same time, it's clearly what you want, for her to be physically vulnerable, and your enjoyment is just as important as mine, not least because, if you're not enjoying it, there's no play. So, I'm not sure. If you really are fine either way, then I will assume she has invulnerability, but that having to heal herself every time will get old fast. She's already about to break all of Rakshasa's fingers and do other Rubicon-crossing sorts of things.

I bite my lip and suck in air as I get shot. Fuck, that hurts. My blouse is torn and a bruise starts to form immediately. I hold my hand over the injury site and reverse entropy to heal myself. I've never been able to do it with anyone else. I...it's not really that, is it? I don't even know how my powers work anymore. Just that they do. It makes me very uneasy.

I should have been able to dodge that. Are my powers going away? Was I ever able to actually just dodge things? I always felt like I could...

I take a few seconds until the sting goes away and then ask another question, enunciating clearly and counting in my head.

"What
are
the
eight
words
of
the
question?"

Oh I never said you needed to downgrade her.  I'm still assuming she's...what?  Not quite Superman level but close to it?

It just wasn't something I thought about until we got to that moment.  How invulnerable she is.

Either way really is good for me.  Looking forward to the Rubicon

No annoying little pellet/bullet thingys come hurtling your way.  Instead, Polly answers you:

Does
Everyone
Know
My
Breath
Smells
Like
Feet?

There's a pause.  Then Polly's eyes flare briefly.  It then intones

Yes Seraphina.

We all know your breath smell like feet.

You may pass

A section of the ceiling suddenly clicks open, revealing it was a hatch.  A ladder slowly descends.

From above, you can hear the whumping of large chunks of metal being thrown and explosions.

Mother and Dad must be busy.

Ascending?

I had assumed that supers more in general lower-powered than in most comic settings. It doesn't matter to me, really, only that Seraphina be in the top echelon, whatever that is. If that's Supergirl level, then it is. If less powerful than that, that's okay too. In the past, you've written that various superpowered teenagers could casually throw vehicles hundreds of yards each, so we can assume she's at Supergirl level unless you want to change that.

I resist the desire to smash the stupid bird. It's just an annoyance. It's all meant to annoy and delay me. At least the place all being underground explained why I couldn't just batter down the walls.

I start up the ladder, going as fast as I can without breaking the steps. When I get my hands on Rakshasa, I am going to make her wish she had never...never...something! Ugh! She's insufferable!

You come up out of the hole the ladder ascends and into what looks like a warehouse.

There's all kinds of wreckage around the place.  Banks of machinery have other banks of machinery tossed through them.  A small crane is tied up like  a pretzel.  What was once a tank is now two piles of scrap metal.

Dad's been busy.

You come around one hunk of metal and can see the battlefield proper.

Dad is beating a large robot into bits.  Mother must be in gray scale because some of the Raksasha's are blowing up.

"Some".

There must be about fifty Raksashas  rushing about the floor.  They are all cackling and firing odd looking ray guns.  As one of them blows up, you realize they are androids.

"Almost..." all the Raksashas say in one voice as another one of them blows up.

I step Sideways to catch Mom so I can get a briefing from her.

"The real one said she was going to come up to kill you, but it looks like these are all robots. Anybody else show up yet? She left me in some kind of puzzle dungeon, like from a video game."

I turn a rocket around mid-air and point it at a Rakshasa-bot, to fly off that way in real time.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Mon 29 Apr.

Mother sighs, wiping engine oil off her hands.

"I swear Seraphina.  How did you get captured?  Your father nearly coughed up his pancreas when we found out.  Were you not listening when we went through all those kidnapping drills?

"Anyway.  I'm glad to see you've got all your parts.  Raksasha isn't someone who messes about.  We didn't call for back up.  Just charged right in.  Your father again.

"That's the thing about Raksasha.  She might not even be here at all.  She'll do that.  Toss a bunch of androids at us and head out for her next secret lair.  She's really a pain.

"Why did she have you in some kind of video game dungeon?  Did she say? I mean other than to be a bitch."

"Drugged dental floss. She used some kind of material for the restraints that I couldn't just break. It would have made more sense if I was suspended off the ground without leverage. I think she was showing off that she has the ability, either directly or with goons, to sneak in anywhere, poison things, and get out without being noticed, and that she had material strong enough that Dad and I can't just smack it down. Make everyone paranoid and such. Also, to be a bitch."

I shrug, both palms up. Whadd're'ya gonna do?

"Security at St. George's is really awful. Barely exists. I bet they came up with this Monitor business to avoid paying staff. Thanks for coming to get me."

I don't grab her in a hug. She isn't a huggy person. That's Dad. I'm expecting a tackle any moment.

He's busy with the robot.  Also, you're still in sideways time.

You have the luxury of counting the Raksashas in the room.  There's 41 of them still up and running.

Mother points at the closest one and walks over to it, about to sabotage it.  "These are a pain in the neck.  She's bobby trapped them in such a way that even in this space, you get a jolt or a ding.  It's never the same thing.  I'll take care of them.

"Can you see if you can locate the real one?  I can't imagine she's here in the room still.  But..."  Mother shrugs and drives a screwdriver into the android's shoulder socket.  "...you can never tell."

I am going to assume some the shenanigans I have in mind are okay here and try to keep them tamer. The story I mentioned in the off-lines thread is called The Fall of Doc Future, and I identify with one of the two principle characters extremely strongly. I also like the "this is what superpowers might really mean" angle to the story. I realize that it's blatant fanfic wish fulfillment type stuff; the point, though, is dealing with the unexpected from you, because it's fun to play with you. I've become very jaded about roleplaying over the past couple of years, which I haven't talked about because, unlike everyone else, you've been steady and reliable. I didn't want to poison the "relationship" so to speak.

"I can try. Any idea where to start?"

Since we're Sideways, we have plenty of time. I'm not sure what I should be looking for, so I'll start by examining some of the robots. How lifelike are they? I wonder if they're good enough to feel like humans when touched. Best try with a stick first.

If that doesn't reveal anything, then I have a plan:

My next move is electric shock. Staying Sideways, I take a jaunt to the nearest town, smash down a door in the police station, leave a note explaining that evil robots and a superpowered madwoman have kidnapped me and are trying to kill my parents, sorry about the door and the stuff. I take as many stun guns and tazers as I can find, plus extra cartridges for the latter. I leave a note telling them to contact Seymour Horowitz, along with his phone number. He's one of my primary bankers, and he'll arrange payment for lost equipment and repairs.

I've done this kind of thing before. A lot, actually. Just not since going to St. George's. I've been told I need to respect boundaries more. Oh well.

Armed with things that produce a bunch of volts at the contact, I shoot tazers at each robot or active stunguns, then leave the devices suspended in normal time to make sure I shock all of them. Then I can re-enter regular time and see if that does anything.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:23, Mon 06 May.

Are you kidding me?  That is all comedy gold!  I love it!  Feel free to go nuts.

And thank you.  I do try to be reliable.  Can't always guarantee it.  But I appreciate the compliment.

The androids are high end, you know that much.  Their hands and faces feel pretty real and have quite a bit of detail.  But the areas under clothing are more slipshod and lacking.  They are made to resemble Raksasha with her clothes on only.

There seems to be some kind of hullabaloo at the police station.  You're sideways.  So you can't quite tell what's going on of course. But the cops inside all seem agitated.

Oh well.  It's not like it's anything that will have an impact on you or your friends, right?

You get back and zap your first android.  Dad's still going mano a mano with the robot.  Mother destroyed a few more.

After zapping the first one, you step back into time to see how well it works.

The android stares back at you and swings, though it's rather sluggish.  You side step and hit it again.

It takes about three "hits" to dispatch one it seems.

"Hit" here being a charge from a taser.  You can probably tear one apart with your bare hands as well.  Though that may take you a few minutes per android.

Shocking them all?  Or tearing them up?

The sorts of things I'm thinking don't seem particularly funny to me, but okay. Have you ever read it? The novel I mean. It's obviously somebody's vanity project, a long-winded argument that the Flash is the coolest superhero, but it's still exceptionally well-done for world-building and consistency. Also, the smart characters act like intelligent people, instead of just pulling magic inventions out of their butt.

It's physics stuff, most of what I'm thinking. The less direct aspects, the more social-oriented ones, rely on the character being extremely difficult to do anything about if she cuts loose and people being scared of her. Those things don't really seem to be in your wheelhouse. I like the idea of going over the top and having the deal with the consequences, but they could get real heavy, real quick.

E.g., the sheer application of strength is not the most powerful way I can think of to use Seraphina's abilities. Arbitrary acceleration means she can get as close to light speed as she wants, and that means outputting a truly ridiculous amount of force. Like "megaton punch" is not a stylistic name at that point, it is a literal description.

Well I'll have to take their clothes off then. See if any of them are the real Rakshasa. And if not, well. I just have to zip around at ultra speeds, from the reference from of the rest of existence, until I find something useful to track the bitch down. Then hoist her from a flagpole by her underwear.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:25, Tue 07 May.

Trust me.  I can much, much darker than this.  What's been going on is rather light hearted for me.

I do not mind if you want to steer the tone of things going forward.  Now that I've got a world built, I can let you act in it as you think Sera would do so.  So go nuts.

We can see where it takes things.

You and Mother disrobe a lot of androids.  And I mean a lot of androids.  You end up with about 74 of them.

No real Raksasha.

There's nothing else in the complex.  At least that you've seen.  Either Raksasha has a hidden room or she's controlling things from a distance.

Both of which would be annoying, so therefore, likely.

I don't want to ruin your fun or butt heads, though. Your presence and, dare I say, friendship, mean a lot to me. A darker tone isn't necessary. I just didn't know what you meant was comedy gold or why what I was saying was comedy gold. Like, I don't want to make declarative statements that are too hard to deal with or cause you problems or end the game.

"Have you figured out where she's hiding?"

Sometimes I suspect Mother does not actually have the ability to stay Sideways however long she wants, like I can. She has never said so explicitly, but conditions seem to imply it. I am given to wonder, occasionally, if she has far less control or ability than I give her credit for. If she really could do what I can, Rakshasa should already be duct taped in a police station.

Eh, fuck it.

"I don't know a lot about her, not enough to track her, but I think we both know that if I get serious about this, she cannot hide from me. She tortured me and tried to kill my parents. I am very upset."

My extremely flat affect is even more neutral than usual, a carefully modulated cold fury.

"Why have we not torn her lair apart yet?"

Ah.  Now I get it.  Sorry.  I was just using the comedy gold line to mean I was enjoying what Sera was doing.  Nothing more.

Feel free to proceed along those lines.  If it becomes an issue, I will raise my hand.  But I do not foresee it being one.

Mother frowns.  She stares at you as if you just questioned why she was wearing those shoes with that blouse.

And no one ever asks Mother about her choices in shoes.  No one.

"Because, Seraphina, I was busy trying to take care of these androids first.  And I was trying to find you.  Remember, I don't have super strength. I can't rip up so much concrete flooring to find someone.  And your father has been busy with those robot things.

"I hate to break it to you dear Child O' Mine.  But your safety does come before smacking an annoying bitch around.

"That okay with you?"

Oh oh, oh, okay, I get it. I will keep trying to be amusing, then!

Some of the things that have happened contradict what I would like to happen, so I might insert some things that seem abrupt. Hopefully that isn't bad.

I keep looking right at her. The normal human affectations of halting speech don't come to me. I have been trained to think carefully before speaking.

"That makes sense. Yes, that is okay with me. Thank you for caring about me, Mother."

I bow to her, politely.

"You had me study general relativity when I was eight. I have wondered, for a long time, why you never used it. Why you never told me to use it or asked me or made exercises for it. I hadn't considered that you can't, so it didn't occur to you to bring it up."

I pick up a rock, about half a kilo, and I idly rub it as I think. After several more subject seconds, I add:

"Do you have any clues as to where she might be, or am I on my own to find them?"

Mother says nothing.  She then turns, flinging a hand in the air negligently.

"I wouldn't know.  I didn't study relativity after all.

"But Raksasha either has a control room in a building nearby or she's got a hidden room, probably under this complex next to an escape tunnel.  That tends to be her MO."

Here we go. ABRUPT MOOD SWING TIME.

I speak distantly, feeling somewhat disconnected from my body. Things that did not make sense in my raising, in the years of constant, unending learning and practicing, are starting to piece together.

Could she really not know?

"I will have to test it all. You know I am stronger than Father. We are lucky that ghosts do not have bodies."

I've slipped back into the abstract way of referring to my parents.

"One half ehm vee squared. You've already shown me that time travel into the past is possible, even just a little bit, with this power I inherited from you. That means that I can apply force."

I toss the rock towards a crowd of robots that are not near either of my parents, and it freezes as it leaves my hand. I push it from behind with my index finger, applying some of the superstrength I inherited from Father.

"Over and over again."

I do that a few more times, being careful. All in the same direction: towards the robots and slightly down. It's not an aerodynamic object and doesn't have to be. It will vaporize into plasma about a ten thousandth of a second after I re-enter static time. Without the super-toughness Father's genetics imparted, just touching that rock, even Sideways, would cause nasty burns. That vaporization will be a feature, transferring the kinetic energy into the robots and then into the ground at a shallow angle. Huge amounts of dirt will be kicked up but the only things obliterated will be the robots.

"This will be very dangerous. You should be at least 300 feet away before going back to normal time. Will you watch it with me?"

Based on my experience, the rock-that-will-soon-be-plasma will be poking along at a mere 20,000 miles per hour and will hit the group of robots with a thousand times more energy than a lightning strike. A hundred times more than a cruise missile. If a few tazer shots was enough to destroy one, this will atomize all of them in a handful of microseconds, slices of time that, until now, I thought only Mother and I had ever appreciated. Now I think, perhaps, she never appreciated them either.

Then the energy will go into the ground and throw up several tons of dirt. It will whine and scream through the air, leaving behind a bright trail for the fifty feet or so it will travel. People will hear the detonation from miles away. In that moment, I do not care.

Something is very wrong with me. I have never wanted to actually kill someone before. In the traps and mazes, it was merely play. Right? It had to be. Everyone had roles. Heroes and villains, games to amuse and delight, to give a narrative to the strange world we live in, where people who can throw airplanes by hand have conversations with regular humans, and the humans aren't absolutely terrified.

I let her stupid bird trap shoot me. I didn't have to. It's all a game. I have never hated like this before.

I walk the prescribed distance away and stop, then I turn around.

Quietly, "Rakshasa threatened to kill my family. Tell me why I shouldn't destroy her. Shouldn't rip her apart and use her head as a warning. Please. I can feel myself going somewhere I do not think I should be." If we weren't Sideways, Mother wouldn't hear me from that distance, but my voice carries across the windless, timeless plane rendered in shades of grey.

I don't wait for an answer before re-entering normal time to watch the fireworks. I shouldn't be contemplating the most painful ways to execute a person and feeling nothing about it. I feel very cold.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:25, Today.