Chapter 100

Chapter 100: A Cheatin' Heart

Jack and Bo met Ira standing outside the door, greeting her and promptly entering Jack’s little abode. Jack had to do a double-take, seeing Ira wearing some subtle eyeliner and such, which she’d previously never done. Jack tried not to react too much as he glanced at Bo and understood it to be her influence on display.

Hmm.

Jack was the last to enter his quarters, naturally, and he caught a guy walking by just as they were all filtering in, watching and assessing rather nosily and perhaps a touch enviously. 

Yes, son, girls. So many girls. This is what it’s like at the top, if you- Wait. No fraggin’ way. This is the same dude who saw Ira hopped up on me through the door that one time! 

Jack couldn’t help himself. He flashed a devil’s grin at the young man and wagged his eyebrows in the most smug and self-satisfied way he could summon. It elicited a very satisfying, shocked expression from the guy, who nearly stumbled in the hallway. Jack left him like that as he passed into his quarters and shut the door.

Serves him right for being Mr. Nosy.

Bo and Ira sat down on the couch as Jack took his typical recliner ‘throne’ next to it in the living room. Shortly after everyone was settled, Bo looked at Jack and asked, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Jack asked, eyes flickering between her and Ira.

“Fulfill the first part of your deal.”

It took a moment for Jack to recall. “Ah. Explaining what I saw… Alright, I’ll do my best…” 

Jack related his freaky, surreal experience in seeing the ‘Allotment shenanigans’ involved in Bo’s Calibration process. The ‘powers kaleidoscope’ and his observation about seeing the changes as maybe being collapsing probabilities.

Bo listened quite intently to his characterization, one hand propping her chin. For that matter, so did Ira, also with one hand propping her chin in what was likely subconscious mimicry. 

Ain’t that just adorable?

Jack finished it up, more or less trailing off with a shrug, having shared as much as he could.

Bo nodded slowly, eyes shifted away thoughtfully. She took a deep breath. “Mmn. Thanks for being exhaustive. I wonder if it will be different for me, or largely the same.”

“Good question,” Jack replied. “I have no idea, but I’m interested to find out.”

“Alright… you’re going to do it in the chair? Go for it when you’re ready.” She pulled her legs up under her on the couch, sat up straight, and faced him.

Jack nodded as he reclined the chair and lay back, figuring this was about the least ignoble way to be caught passed out and drooling. He closed his eyes and collected himself. “Here we go.”

🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕

“Well, this is interesting.” Star Momma Memoria’s face of twinkling lights was caught in an expression of great pondering, as one arm was crossed around her, the other up to prop her chin — just like the two girls had been doing in the real world.

What, is it contagious or something?

“Hmm?” As Jack got his bearings floating in the ‘outer space’ environment, he also felt an itch at his back, as if the paranoid feeling of someone following him.

That would be Bo. Probably not quite seeing much terribly interesting just yet, though.

Memoria shrugged slightly, not turning toward him, still distracted as if she were regarding a puzzle in her head. “I just didn’t expect it…”

“Would you tell me what it is already?!”

Star eyes blinked as she turned to Jack. “Oh! Well, you’ll see. Here.” She tossed her hand, revealing three codified blocks of meaning that Jack’s brain quickly set about translating.

Decoy Art

Transmute +1.0

Improves the general believability of metal decoys and artistic renderings, including false color and texture subtlety, as well as movements when active, making the appearance and operation much more realistic. 

Automatically improves a design upon creation, as if 5 seconds per level were spent perfecting. Actual time spent greatly improves this.

Unlocks a General Technique at 0.1.

Leverage

Add a 20% increase to the raw lifting capacity of metal, or levitation in general, after all other calculations. This doesn't improve such things as grapples, binds, or applied pressure.

Wall Art

Augment +1.0

You form, reinforce, or repair walls with enhanced speed, efficiency, and strength. One level of existing Armor is considered Hardened Armor and provides resistance to armor penetration. A wall must have at least 75kg of continuous material to qualify.

Unlocks a General Technique at 0.1.

Jack’s virtual eyes bugged out at seeing the options. He let out a short, hysterical laugh. “Ha! What the hell?! I’ve got stat plus special effect options?! You said that wouldn’t happen at level 4! Technique unlocks, too?! Is that a thing?!”

Memoria gave him a deadpan, annoyed look. “Yes, well, I’m hardly omniscient, Jack. I don’t know or anticipate everything.” Star eyes flickered and squinted. “Hmmph. Technique unlocks aren’t unheard of. They help determine the total effect of these mutations. Consider it another benefit of your investment in Transmute. Lucky rolls in the genetic die pool, after vastly improving the odds.” She was still frowning thoughtfully.

Jack cleared his throat. “Obviously, there’s something you’re not telling me. Come on, Mother, you gotta tell me more than this. Why am I seeing improved options? Pretty please with sugar on top?”

She regarded him with a note of sullenness. “Sugar is my weakness. How dare you pull that card.” She sighed and threw her hands slightly. “It’s a combination of factors, Jack. The Transmute aspect is a small part, something unique about you is another, and something unique to the bond is yet another. Swirl these together, then add the biggest aspect: purity. Your connection to me, thanks to Q-Loth, has not a shred of corruption. As you know, the level of it varies, reducing quality. Few indeed, throughout history, are truly, entirely free of all corruption, even among the few and proud already that are my gifted children. But you are. Thus, the sample size, if you will, is incredibly limited. Expectations unclear.”

Jack nodded along, listening intently. He grinned at the end. “I feel like a very special boy.”

Memoria sniffed, then grew a slow grin, star eyes regarding him as if helpless not to regard him fondly. “I certainly can’t deny you that indulgence, my son.”

Jack, even with his vast difficulties when it came to trusting a mother figure — and this one was as sussy as it got — couldn’t help getting spiked with those sorts of ‘close’ feelings toward her. Shared admiration and mutual mischief. The ongoing familiar dialog. Denying that he’d been fully adopted was getting harder. “So, I take it… even the improved options at every level aren’t unheard of?”

“Not necessarily every level. It could still be on even levels.”

“Okay. Well?”

Memoria crossed her arms, face becoming stern, to let him know that he wouldn’t be digging any further, regardless of how soft she was on him. “Not unheard of, no.”

Jack chuckled and shrugged. “Got it. Thank you, Mother.” A mystery here. I can only wonder what it means. Exceptions elsewhere. Or elsewhen?

“You’re welcome, dear.”

Jack finally turned his attention to the options, glancing at them and feeling the standard conflict over choice-making. “No stat on the one. If it did, it would’ve been Create and maybe too good.”

“Not a bad assessment. It’s also the only one adding to more of a base function. Very broad application, and the percentage-based element maintains itself at any level. The others are more acute and focused. Fortunately, with the unlocks, they have strong long-term payoffs, too.”

Jack nodded, scanning the options and beginning to break them down.

Despite the broadness of Leverage, it was largely all utility and lacked the scintillating appeal of a stat boost. He was immediately excited about the other two. Decoy Art had a desirable stat that he was… sometimes up and down about being focused on absolutely as a third stat, but ostensibly seemed a strong boost to what he did very basically at the core. There was some question on whether there were diminishing returns on it eventually, compared to the battlespace expansion of Interpret. How many battles were fought where perception and information were important? All of them, of course. 

He didn’t regret Transmute 2.0 by any means, as it had clearly boosted his versatility, operational speed, and mutational options. It would not be ignored even if he kept pumping Interpret. 

Opportunistic increase. That’s the way to go. Here and there, on both of them, don’t let them get too low. They’re support stats, after all. I don’t see myself as likely to break from any Control or Create chances to take them, especially if I keep getting so many stat options from mutations.

And then there was Augment. Primarily, he was thinking that he eventually wanted at least 1.0 in it. It would give him an edge on his material strength, basically improving defense and durability, which wasn’t the end-all, be-all to his powers but was certainly a pillar. It would likely unlock Techniques to squeeze value out of that selection, too. The earlier the better, he imagined, and it could very well be that very hour, because there it was, and bundled with something sexy.

He did a hell of a lot of battlespace barrier and wall creation, whether spot-generated or reinforced before battle in defensive scenarios. Speed of creation for relevant thickness, mass, and general relevance was absolutely golden. And the ability to make a relatively thin sheet of metal have automatic armor penetration reduction? Hoo boy. 

75kg of metal was a nice, functional sheet, especially if anchored. Mobile cover, of which he’d been making time and again to screen and protect. It was a little bit less convenient for super-quick blocking compared to a shield, sadly, but he couldn’t expect everything from a ‘bonus’ effect on a ‘stat level.’ He had to remember most would be biting their nails, looking at either/or at Access Level 4.

Meanwhile, another thing he’d done a hell of a lot of was the misdirection represented in Decoy Art. Actually, over the full course, his endeavors had been of mixed success, but when it did work, it was smeggin’ spectacular. This was a brilliant ambush setter-upper that could presumably start fooling even the shrewd and those of enhanced senses, at range. This ‘go-ahead’ strat could definitely win some battles. As a neat side benefit, he would apparently get significantly better at metal aesthetics in general. Cool.

At the same time, it felt way more hyper-specialized than Wall Art. When the shit hit the fan and they were having a drag-out melee, he might not be able to utilize it, or suffer diminishing returns after trying it a few times already. It was another ‘utility’ option, almost. If he knew he’d be trying to pull subtle infiltrations and deceptions out in the modern urban environment, this would almost be a no-brainer. But that seemed unlikely with his Primary Mutation carrying him abroad. At most, it seemed occasional.

On the other hand, Decoy Art did have Transmute.

Smeg. Smeg me with a smeggin’ smeg cannon.

What he was looking at was one option with perhaps a slightly more on-point stat, with a less on-point ability, and the other option literally the opposite.

In deliberating, something else occurred to him about Wall Art… abroad, or even inside the borders for some battles, he might be facing big things, as opposed to what the PACCs always contained: lil’ ole humans. The larger, reinforced barriers would be that much more necessary against the likes of giant snakes and oversized mutant bears, and improved strength would be that much more invaluable for stopping or slowing things.

Or he might make actual damn walls and leave them in a spot fortification scenario. Rereading Wall Art, it said nothing about the benefit expiring based on range or anything. Walls were simply improved permanently once massive enough.

Welp. We’re done here, because I can’t stop loving this mutation. Sorry, Transmute. Raincheck, please? I’m not telling you to frag off, baby! Augment means nothing to me, I swear!

Jack nonetheless proceeded to cheat on his favored Tertiary stat and punched in his selection for Wall Art. The symbols transmuted into the intricate framework of his Allotment waiting beyond and held everything in stasis, waiting for the final trigger to connect and cement.

Memoria picked up on this bit of silliness. She shook her head sadly at him. “Tsk, tsk, tsk, my boy has a roaming eye. Who will ultimately secure his heart, I wonder, when at last he settles down? If ever.”

Jack had a bit of a sheepish smile. “Alright, alright! Don’t make me start blushing over here.”

Memoria was eyeing him judiciously with her eyes squinted, a hand on her chin. “Yes, I’m thinking you need an older woman. Someone to manage your fits of wildness, stay inspired, and take good care of you. Hmm…”

“Wha-?! We were joking about stats, not-! And yo-... You know what? I’m choosing my stat now, thanks.”

Jack didn’t need to deliberate on it, as he’d already decided. He punched in the selection for Interpret and, with great satisfaction, watched the unique symbology disappear and become one with the branching structures. A long time coming, it felt like.

Memoria was smirking quite smugly as she flung her hands out widely in presentation. “The selections are made! Prepare for cementation, a weird, creepy feeling, and a return to meatspace! Good luck with your love life, too!”

“There is no love life, M-”

The symbology contorted into the forms of the webs throughout the vastness around them, as his Allotment roiled and re-configured, forging new pathways and dimensions. One statistic bloomed that he’d never had before, and another was increased that he’d never touched from default. There was a profound sense of broadening, an extension of scope and self-awareness, and something like tiny hairs poking out along every branch — every prior extending digit or twig he might’ve otherwise regarded as the smallest of forms.

Reinforcement bloomed along yet another new dimension.

Level increased! Create increased! Allotment increased! Augment increased! Interpret increased! G.P.E. increased! Evasion increased! Super Sapien Resilience increased! Secondary Mutation added: Wall Art! Technique added: Wall Art!

Upon Access Level 5.0, you may select any statistic other than Interpret.

Level: 4.1
Allotment: 420 [ 410 ]
G.P.E.: 28%; Evasion: 3.7

[ 1.0 ] Augment
[ 6.1 ] Create
[ 2.0 ] Interpret

Archon Imbues: Super Sapien Resilience (Toughness 1.3, Hardiness 1.3)
Secondary Mutations: Wall Art
Techniques: Wall Art 0.1

He felt someone watching through it all, too, like a continual burning little point in the back of his skull. It was slightly disconcerting and made for a kind of ‘split mind’ through the process, not exactly pulling focus away from his sense of things, but unavoidably noticed, like a tiny smudge spot in a camera view. Kind of annoying. Whether he would have known it was Bo if he didn’t already know, he wasn’t sure.

Yep, I can see why she threw a pillow at me. Heh.

🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕

Jack woke up blinking, feeling an immediate difference in his sensory feedback as it was effectively doubled. It was like he was sitting in a bigger ‘pool’ of resonance, his brother-materials in a wider radius calling out to him to play his music. What was closer was louder and more acute than before, and he knew he’d instantly become much more functional at manipulation without sight, much further ranged at every function, and able to ‘grip’ smaller bits than before, if close enough. Something like better ‘vision’ to see what already existed, whether to zoom far or up close.

Interestingly, part of the sense he could grip things more finely seemed like it was synergistic, likely from Augment combining with Transmute combining with Control. That new dimension was no joke. Perhaps in the same way he would compact and ‘reorder’ the material, he could ‘pinch’ finer bits.

Huh. Okay, this is even more awesome than I imagined! Can’t wait to experiment…

He was just about to do that when he heard a tiny, strained whimper.

Sitting up, his head whipped around to see Bo, black-rimmed eyes wide and staring at the space Jack occupied, Ira already concernedly holding her shoulders. Bo then flopped down in Ira’s lap.

“Bo?! Bo, are you alright?!” Jack called, hopping up onto his feet and moving closer in one beat.

Ira, her hair doing rather unnatural, not hair-like things, was also alarmed, her hand touching Bo’s cheek. “Bo! Are you okay?!”

Blinking, taking shaky breaths, eyes watering slightly, Bo muttered, “Beautiful…” 

Jack crouched down on the floor next to her. “Bo?”

After a bit more blinking and her eyes flickering around, she seemed to come to and be a bit confused about her position. She shook herself and sat up. “Wh-what?” She looked between them and took a deep breath. “Frag me. Mmph.” She put a hand to her head. “That was some psychedelic shit.” 

Jack sighed in relief. “Right. Well, I’m glad you’re okay. Also, sorry about my observation again. That was creepy, as I graphically discovered. I got my just deserts.”

“How dare you call me creepy,” Bo muttered mildly, not looking at him. Perhaps even avoiding it at the moment.

Jack chortled and got off the floor to sit on the couch. He studied the obviously still-disturbed face of his friend, exchanging a glance also with Ira. “I’ll ask you about the observation another time.”

Bo glanced at him in one, quick, furtive flash, then nodded. “What did you get?”

“Wall art.” He said it deliberately as if it were some junk gift he’d gotten from a distant aunt.

This finally got her to look at him fully, in confusion. “What?”

Jack grinned. “The name of the ability.”

Disappointment cast over her expression like a shadow. “You’re a turd.”

“True.” Jack nodded in agreement.

“Probably deserve another throw pillow.”

“Fair.”

“Alright, what does Wall Art do, smartass? Knowing you, it’s not a clever metaphor, just some chickenshit pun.”

“Are you saying the names reflect the personality of the user by default?”

Bo just cocked her head and raised her eyebrows insistently at him.

Jack chuckled and shrugged. “It’s the art of making and reinforcing walls of metal. Rather self-explanatory, in truth. It comes with an associated Technique.”

“Of course it's just actual walls…” She trailed off and frowned thoughtfully as she adjusted in her seat, sitting up, apparently getting more interested. “A Technique? I don’t think I’ve heard of that before. Guess you have some work to do.” Her frown deepened as she squinted her eyes at him. “Wait, you don’t even have Augment, do you? Why did you get this at Level Four?”

“I do now. It was bundled.” He avoided answering the ‘why.’

Bo looked at him with flagrant incredulity and suspicion. “Psh! You got a bundle at Level Two already. You’re full of shit.”

“Yes, but I’m not lying. I have Augment 1.0 now.”

Her frown continued, but her glance dropped as she paused for a long moment, once more lost in thought. Finally, she sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, after seeing what I did.”

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