trans_9 | [open] ☥ the world is just illusion trying to change you

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[open] ☥ the world is just illusion trying to change you

Mulder was pretty certain that no matter how long he stayed here, there was going to be no getting acclimated to the fact that he was living out his wildest fantasies, even when those fantasies were sobered by the conditions that had led to his being on this ship in the first place. If there was one thing that defined him, it was his will to believe in the impossible, and so he'd hardened his resolve already towards accepting that Scully, along with others from his world, were encased in one of those pods below. Still alive. Once he'd accepted that, it'd been easier to functionally react to his situation.

And his first reaction had been to explore every inch of the ship open to him. Of course, that ended up being more than he could have imagined. The ship was huge and trying to wrap his head around the dimensions of the thing carrying them proved mind-boggling. It hit him most fully when he made his way down to Level 4 to explore the rumored 'City', and found himself blinking up into the 'sun' set there in a sky that looked distinctly like the one back on Earth. His jaw dropped for a moment, but he reasoned, it couldn't be real.

And if the Daligig were able to manufacture technological illusions on that scale, he had no doubt that there were other things on this ship that weren't what they appeared to be.

[ooc; So very open, for any kind of interaction. Mulder can be wherever in the City you want, as he's exploring, so just specify in the subject line or tag, please! Open to multiple threads, or even threads with multiple muses - jack away. AIM > thegreatmuldini if you want to chat about it.]

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"That is correct." He raised one hand, indicating the plain, serviceable ring on one finger. "Although I do possess the necessary spells to transform one creature or object into another without aid, most of them have flaws that make the process inconvenient. The weaker one lasts only twenty minutes or so, while the stronger one cannot be dismissed at will. This was a much better substitute."

So maybe that was just the guy's best approximation of a huge-ass dragon, if no one had ever seen one before.

He would have to give him props for imagination power.

"I'll bet the wings keep the mileage down."

Not quite. He'd never seen one on his world, but he'd adopted this form for quite specific purposes.

"Not so much, to be honest," he said. He rose up a few inches off the ground demonstratively. "Flying as a dragon is actually somewhat more difficult than flying through magic alone. But, to my surprise, more pleasant as well."

Mulder's jaw cocked to the side a bit.

"So is that what this is all about?" he asked, waving a hand in the general direction where the elf had been perched. "A little pleasure cruise in the, for lack of a better word, skies?"

"I was heading from the Tower of High Sorcery to Celena's home, actually. This happened to be on the way. Flying is much faster than walking, if you'll forgive me for saying so." It was, after all, not an option for everyone.

"Celena?" he asked, unaware of the name. "Is she one of... your kind then?"

"She is a member of Engineering, specifically Infrastructure if I recall correctly, as well as a member of the Magical Department. She and I have an... extensive relationship that initially began as a collaboration in the latter," he explained. "In addition, she is one of the aforementioned dragons on board this ship."

"In other words, you really take 'when in Rome' literally, don't you?" Morphing into a dragon to go visit a dragon...

"Could I trouble you for a clarification of the phrase?" he asked, curiously. The translator had completely failed him here.

"'When in Rome, do as the Romans do,'" Mulder recited. "Pretty self-explanatory, really."

"Ah, adapting the cultural mores and habits of the environment which you happen to be inhabiting!" he deduced. "This is not quite that. It is more a matter of physical compatibility."

He's going to hope you meant in terms of... conversation. Ahem.

"Makes sense, I suppose. So I take it this uh, Tower of High Sorcery isn't open for visitors?"

Ask him no questions, he'll tell you no lies.

"It is, to all evident determinations, safe. The hostile spells have been dispelled from anywhere possible, the resident intelligence has been placated, and trouble seems behind us. There are certain areas it is impossible to enter without having magic, but many there are not so protected."

"Resident intelligence... do you mean other than Stacy?" It sounded as if they were dealing with something else entirely.

"Just so. As I understand it, long ago a powerful mage bound his very essence to the Tower." And did not approve of Aibghalien's efforts to sanitize it, when it had been discovered here...

"Exactly how long ago? I don't imagine the Daligig had mages like what you're discussing. Which means it had to be a member of this crew, didn't it?"

"Every building you see here in the City was removed from a world and stored here, just as we living creatures were taken and stored in the pod caverns," the wizard explained. "So the wizard in question performed the deed ages ago on the world to which the Tower properly belongs."

Mulder glanced back across the landscape, seeing it a different light suddenly. The patchwork of architecture suddenly looked less like a poorly informed attempt to please everyone, and more like a ... museum.

"Are we sure all these buildings were empty of inhabitants when they were taken?" he asked abruptly. "I heard there's a lot that's been unexplored."

"I believe they were free of biological inhabitants at the time they were taken," he said, carefully. "Living existence outside of the pods appears to be a tenuous thing at best. However, that does not prevent 'things' from having entered them later. I have heard numerous rumors and stories..."

"'Things' makes it sound like you're not exactly talking about your regular old extradimensional Joe," Mulder pointed out. "You mean creatures that are unusual even given our circumstances."

"Aside from my own personal encounters at the Tower, I've only heard rumors of things here. I occasionally hear passing mention of a 'Nightmare King', for example." Of course, having not been there for it, he believed that the fear and horror which such references seemed to elicit were somewhat overblown...

"Bedtime stories to keep the podpopped up at night?" Mulder said, immediately intrigued. "What have you heard about it?"

"The most alarming story I've heard mention of was something called 'the Nightmare King'. It was apparently an eldritch monstrosity of unfathomable power, even by my own standards." No false modesty in THAT statement. "Apparently it could influence the minds of those on the ship, inflicting its eponymous ailment on them. I gather it was, through some mystical means, neutralized, but somehow its conquest never quite seems to merit as much attention as its existence."

"How long ago was this?" he asked, meaning the supposed conquest. "While you were awake on the ship?"

"No, long before. I've heard only rumors. What I've seen so far appears to originate more from external events or crewmembers, than anything waiting for us here in the City. Aside from the aforementioned guardian of the Tower," he added quickly.

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