Title: The Placeholder
I woke alone. There was no waking up with Yukie clinging to me like a cuddly Asian koala, and I felt kinda disappointed by that. Blinking, I looked around and spotted my ghoul sitting in a meditative position with her back to the door. Fully geared up for a fight with her sword in her lap.
And… a fedora on her head? What the fuck?
"Uh, hi Yukie. Nice hat?" I greeted her, feeling more than a little confused. What was going on?
"It is." Yukie nodded back, her eyes snapping open. She flowed to her feet gracefully, sheathing her sword on her back. She radiated an aura of pure smugness.
I sat back in bed and stretched. It was then I noticed something concerning. My eyes flicked back to Yukie.
"Um, Yukie. Why are there bullet holes in the wall?"
"Because a foolish intruder shot at me."
I rapidly clambered out of bed and fussed over her, checking for injuries much to her amusement. She seemed fine, so I let that slide for the moment. "Why were you getting shot at, in my room of all places?
"Because that's where I was trying to kill the intruder." She explained, then ducked her head slightly in shame. "She escaped before I could kill her."
"What? Who? Why? Just… just… all the questions!" I waved my arms frantically about before rushing over and dragging her back towards the bed..
We sat down and Yukie began to explain how she'd gotten up to use the toilet and grab a quick snack, whereupon returning to the room to get back into bed there was suddenly an intruder in the room approaching my vulnerable body.
From her description, and the way this intruder had suddenly left and probably entered the room, I was almost certain Cauldron was behind this. It absolutely had to be them, unless there was another bitch with a fetish for fedoras that had access to door-shaped interdimensional portals.
Honestly I'm just super impressed Yukie managed to go toe to toe with Contessa and actually fight her off, even claiming her hat as spoils of war. Maybe Yukie's fancy chi powers make her a blindspot or something? Hell she even apparently cut off Contessa's leg! I have the most badass ghoul of all time.
"I'm proud of you Yukie. That was a super dangerous enemy and you sent her packing." I said. She blushed adorably as I threw my arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a deep hug. "You kept me safe when I was weak and defenceless. I am so lucky to have you." I said honestly.
"Y-you are welcome, demon." She said as her arms wrapped around me to properly return the hug, face scarlet and right near mine. She leaned in closer, probably about to say something else when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." I called out, easing out of the hug and pulling away from… my grumpily pouting ghoul?
It was Jabal.
"Good evening ladies." He greeted us pleasantly.
"Hi Jabal." "Good evening Senpai."
"I trust Yukie has informed you of what happened earlier." He asked me.
"Yeah. We had an intruder that left a limb shorter afterwards." I grinned, flopping back against Yukie.
"Indeed. And on a related note, here's a gift from my Liege for you." He said, pulling something out his fancy suit pocket.
Ooh! A present from my Sire.
He then tossed the small object over to me, my Celerity enhanced reflexes allowing me to easily pluck it out of the air instead of letting it hit me right in the forehead.
It was a small bone amulet of some sort attached to a long thin strip of leather. The bone itself had tiny little etchings coating the entire surface, which from the smell had been further imbued with my Sire's vitae.
And from what I could tell with my knowledge of blood magic this was an extremely complicated ward of some sort. Not like the wards I usually do, which simply harm the targeted being when they come into contact with the item, but rather it was a sort of field emanating from the bone. Almost like he'd tied a stationary warding circle that'd normally be used to secure large buildings onto the amulet.
Wait, not almost. That's exactly what he's done. Fascinating…
I'm not entirely sure what it's warding against, but it's certainly going to be formidable as fuck. Intricate too. I could barely figure out what it was and that's with all the knowledge and magical theory ten dots in Blood Sorcery gave me. Maybe if I pick up some more Auspex as well…
"What's it do?" I asked after giving it a thorough examination.
"From what my Liege said, it interferes with their ability to manifest their 'doors'."
Oh that's going to piss them off. How did he even manage to single out all the multi-dimensional freque-
I blinked at the etched bone as realisation struck.
"This bone is from Contessa isn't it?" I asked, grinning wickedly at his answering nod.
Guess I know what Jabal took her leg away for. There's all sorts of magic shit we can do with a piece from someone's body.
"Contessa?" Yukie asked.
"The intruder you dealt with." Jabal answered.
"They're part of a stupid conspiracy. They're trying to save the world, but they're kinda doing it in the worst way possible." I added on, since that was basically their schtick.
"Save the world?" The Asian demon hunter raised an eyebrow.
"Eh, my Sire's got it under control." I waved her off. It's the whole reason I tracked him down in the first place. I turned my attention back to Jabal. "Any of her leg leftover? I can think of a number of nasty things I could pull off with it."
He chuckled. "I believe my Liege has called 'dibs', as you youngsters would say."
"Aww." I acted dejected, but the grin on my face betrayed my inner feelings. However petty and vindictive I could be at times - Calamity FM is a prime example - my Sire was infinitely worse. I'm almost afraid to ask what he's got planned for Contessa.
I put the amulet around my neck and tucked it under my pajama top, the warded piece of bone emitting a faint, pleasant feeling of warmth and protection.
Since Jabal was nearby and I had a new magically protective necklace from Caine to protect me, Yukie was now okay with stepping down from her constant vigilance mode.
Which meant bath time. She was especially attentive with her pampering. I guess Contessa's attempt to attack me rattled her, despite her attempt at putting on a brave face. It certainly rattled me, though I likewise kept up a nonchalant facade to make sure she'd be okay.
"So how did you manage to fight off Contessa?" I asked as she began rinsing my hair off with a jug. I'd gotten only a short rundown and knew she had her sword, but there weren't really any other details.
"I can do this now." She held up a hand and formed a long spike of ice.
"Oh Well done, Yukie." I said proudly. I'm seriously impressed she'd not only figured out the first dot, but also managed to figure out a way to use it in combat. "I'm super proud of you." I told her.
"A-arigato demon." She blushed all the way down to her chest. I noticed she always seemed to act like she didn't deserve praise, which is wrong. She deserves all the praise. "You're amazing. Best ghoul ever." I added on, because there's no way I'm gonna let her feel like she's not the most amazing ghoul ever.
"H-hai."
"But no practicing Glaciem in the tub. I know that from experience." I added on, because it is a serious issue that can lead to easily avoidable mishaps.
She blinked and looked me seriously in the eyes.
"You froze yourself inside the tub, didn't you demon?" She asked accusingly with a slightly frown.
"Noooooo." I lied, like a lying liar who lies.
She stared at me judgmentally.
"It was just the once and I figured out how to get out eventually. It shouldn't even count really." I confessed, wilting under the pressure.
"Baka demon." She snorted in amusement, lightly tapping me on the head. Her hand stayed there, resuming the pleasant head scritches as she picked the jug back up and continued rinsing off my hair.
"It was one time." I groaned.
When she was done rinsing my hair I leant back against her chest and just relaxed, feeling contentedly warm and happy.
"What is the plan for tonight, demon?" She asked eventually.
"Dunno. There's the usual language lessons with my Sire and Jabal obviously, but after that I'm not sure."
"Okay." She said, then let off a sleepy yawn.
Hang on a sec. "How long have you been awake?"
"I am fine." She said, a little too quickly.
"Yukie…"
"I needed to keep watch against the intruder." She pouted, but relented to my answering my question. "Since before noon…" She grumbled.
"You need your rest." I twisted around and booped her on the nose.
"I can use my chi to help."
"Chi isn't sleep." I sighed. "After lessons you should have a nap."
"But de-"
I placed a finger to her lips. "Please Yukie. For me? I care about your wellbeing."
She sighed and wrapped me in her arms, pulling me closer to her chest in a hug. "Very well. I shall rest."
We luxuriated in the warm water for a while longer.
"Since you need some rest I think I'll stay in tonight." I told Yukie as we dried off.
"Okay demon." She nodded, sitting me down and brushing my hair after she'd toweled it dry.
Though since we're having a lazy, indoor evening tonight we got back into our matching pajamas after our joint bath, and once we were dressed it was time for language lessons.
"Um, Jabal?"
"Yes Amity."
"Where's Caine?" I asked, setting down my books on the table, Yukie setting up her things to my right.
"He is taking care of some important business."
"Is it Cauldron and/or PRT related?"
"That will depend entirely on what they choose to do next."
"Okay then. I hope he's having fun." I shrugged.
Though if he is having fun I doubt many other people are.
And then our lessons continued. Everything went well because I am the most amazing student to ever be. Even if there was the odd hiccup:
Jabal looked over my work and laughed:
"What?" I pouted.
"You hehe… you mistranslated some words." He replied, getting his giggles under control. "You just wrote 'this waterfowl is fire, dog is sad.'"
And he broke down into laughter again. This happens a lot.
I blinked down at my ancient scribbles. That's nowhere near what I wanted to say. I looked over at Yukie's work and pouted. How is it I've had more lessons than she has but she's getting this easier than I am?
I erased my work and tried again, definitely not pouting the entire time.
Yup, only the odd minor hiccup, no matter what anyone says.
After the irritating but still informative lesson we climbed into bed, Yukie snuggling down under the covers properly while I sat upright with the laptop I'd claimed from Maurice's ghouls. It had been reformatted after I no longer needed all the old stuff on it and set up for general internet surfing instead, since we have an actual internet connection here.
I began humming a lullaby for Yukie - spending a little vitae on Melpominee too - to help her feel calm and cared for as she fell asleep. It worked very well, as she swiftly drifted off to dreamland, her arms wrapping around my legs like a stabby, Asian koala.
I'll let her sleep for a couple hours before I wake her. Don't want her to mess up her new nocturnal sleep schedule she's been working on.
Since I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon I decided to browse the internet. Maybe see what's happening on PHO? It's recently blown from a basic wiki of parahumans into a major message board.
Hmm, might be worth getting Schrecknet access on this laptop too. Then again I'd have to go talk to the Nossies and I'd rather avoid that whole entire sewer mess. Better stick to parahuman shit for now. Especially as I'm only passingly familiar with it at the moment.
I loaded up the parahumans wiki and headed over to the forums section, an already popular section of the internet due to the fact that capes are all anyone seems to focus on anymore. I logged into my PHO account - because everyone has one unless they're uncool - and quickly began browsing the the-
There's a thread titled 'Vampires are Real!!!'
What the hell?
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■♦ Topic: Vampires are Real!!!
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Los Angeles
xXXSpaceNinjaXXx (Original Poster) (Banned)
Posted On Oct 30th 2004:
I'm risking my life posting this but the world needs to know the truth!!
Those so called Case 13s the PRT "claim" are parahumans aren't parahumans at all! They're actually vampires.
They have a super secret vampire society. That sarcophagus that went missing? Vampires stole it. The Elizabeth Dane being a ghost ship? Vampires did it. It was stolen by the prince of all vampires who lives in LA who wants to keep it from another rival group of vampires and inside the sarcophagus is an even older ancient super vampire the prince wants ot wake up so he can rule the world!! These vampires kill people all the time but they and the PRT cover it up to keep the public unaware of how dangerous things are.
We need to rise up and destroy all the evil vampires before its too late!!
And those that want more truth the goverment is keeping from us these are my other threads! I'm telling you you've got to see this stuff! Don't be ignorant to the truth!!
[The Illuminati secretly control the Endbringers!!] [Secret American moonbase alien artefact dig!!] [Recycling cans leads to clones stealing your identity!!] [Illuminati secretly based out of Wyoming!] [Children's menu at O'Tolly's contains children!!]
(Showing page 1 of 1)
►Spindle82
Replied On Oct 30th 2004:
Ah, the latest ninja conspiracy theory. Lets see...
dangerous truth
blaming current events on capes
PRT conspiracy
world domination
I give it a 6 out of 10
►JaywalkerJay
Replied On Oct 30th 2004:
How many conspiracies and secret organisations are the PRT tied to now? Eleven?
►ApplePear
Replied On Oct 30th 2004:
@JaywalkerJay twelve
@ Spindle82 5/10 is a better score. It's not as original as his werewolf ecoterrorist one
►Shepherd of Light (Verified Cape) (Banned)
Replied On Oct 30th 2004:
Ninja speaks the truth. The PRT is in league with the devil and aiding his servants by hiding the real truth from your eyes.
Rise up brothers and sisters! These foul spawn of satan bring nothing but evil and death and it is the duty of all true believers of God to kill them wherever they can be found.
Mitnick: Encouraging hate crimes isn't tolerated here. Enjoy your ban.
►Mitnick (The Guy in the Know) (Moderator)
Replied On Oct 30th 2004:
Oh great. Now we've got those Haven terrorists piping in and encouraging hate crimes.
Good job ninja.
Locking this thread. @xXXSpaceNinjaXXx Hopefully everyone else will enjoy the peace and quiet your three week ban will give us.
End of Page. 1
■♦ Topic: Deb of Night appreciation thread IV
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Los Angles
VirgoAngel (Original Poster)
Posted On Oct 29th 2004:
Okay guys and gals. New thread to celebrate our sultry-voiced late night radio goddess.
Image gallery links, starting of course with that super hot red cocktail dress she wore to the L.A County Museum of Art, courtesy of DebFan900 (rock on you creepy stalker you).
[Gallery 1] [Gallery 2] [Gallery 3]
Just remember to keep it classy people. This is a family site after all.
Pages. 12. Click to view thread.
■♦ Topic: Cape fight in Chinatown?
In: Boards ► Huāwǔ
Posted On Oct 27th 2004:
Heard a lot of gunfire in the early hours of the morning but stayed in like any sane person. When I finally got out of bed it turns out the PRT was swarming all over a warehouse near where I live. Anyone know what happened here?
edit: PRT is being suspiciously hush hush about things.
(Showing page 3 of 3)
►Ramen Raider
Replied On Oct 29th 2004:
Look somebody is clearly targeting the tongs, which okay good they are scum, but it's worrying because it leaves a power vacuum here in chinatown for other street gangs to try step into and so long as they don't have capes (or keep the capes they do have hidden) the PRT and Alexandria will be staying out of things.
I'm really worried about a new bunch of thugs rolling in and demanding protection money from us.
►Hows Them Dim Sum
Replied On Oct 29th 2004:
That's what i'm saying. First there was that big warehouse attack (and all the rumours with them losing lots of weapons and Alexandria showing up) and now we've had another slaughter at the Glaze nightclub (a know popular tong hangout spot). Someone is clearly trying to clear out the competition.
►Yǒnggǎn
Replied On Oct 29th 2004:
Who cares about some shitty gang club? There was a gunfight at the Lotus Blossom too and the place is shutdown while the police 'investigate'.
Only decent massage place within walking distance and its shut because somebody out there has a hardon for killing tongs, bastards!
►Huāwǔ
Replied On Oct 29th 2004:
I work there (or used to) just think how I feel.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3
■♦ Topic: Bastard Son is dead
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Los Angeles
xXDoomGuyXx (Original Poster)
Posted On Oct 30th 2004:
Best news I've heard all year! Bastard Son (the sick fuck the Elite use as an attack dog) is dead. Fuck yeah!
I was in Hollywood on my way to a halloween LAN party at the Ground 0 internet cafe (and making this post from there) when Bastard Son (and some of his goons) called out another two capes (Calamity and Shi) out of costume. I got to cover like any sane person and watched as Calamity brought winter to Hollywood and made thi big ice golem things to handle Bastard Son's men while Shi (who I bet is some sort of ninja samurai tinker or something) shanked Bastard Son in the back when he tried to run away.
With a katana. That was also on fire.
So damn cool. Now I'm going to get drunk and play some horror games with my buddies.
(Showing page 4 of 4)
►Catscratchfever
Replied On Oct 31st 2004:
Well until someone leaks the official power ratings we'll probably go with Master 5 Shaker 7 for Calamity and Tinker 4 for Shi
►CattyKatherine (Cape Wife)
Replied On Oct 31st 2004:
Who cares about ratings. I just want to know what the PRT plan to do about a pair of new villains running around L.A pissing off the Elite. Things may get bloody soon.
►AlwaysRule34
Replied On Oct 31st 2004:
"Who cares about ratings. I just want to know what two ladies on a Halloween date plan to do later, nudge nudge wink wink. Things may get steamy soon."
There, fixed that for you @CattyKatherine
Barrowmeister: Cool the horny dude. These are supposed to be family friendly forums.
►Barrowmeister (Moderator)
Replied On Oct 31st 2004:
Keep it on topic guys.
►Tequilla and Moonshine (Banned)
Replied On Oct 31st 2004:
Aww we were just suggesting a little female villain on female villain action heh heh heh
Barrowmeister: I'm not joking people. Take a 2 day ban to cool off and stop being a smartasss
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4
■
Hmm, it's kind of slow on PHO tonight, which makes sense since it's Halloween and people are probably out and about. A couple interesting things, like the Tongs taking an absolute reaming due to me and Brook - since I'm like ninety percent sure she was behind the Lotus Blossom and Glaze club - and people were discussing mine and Yukie's possible PRT threat ratings in the Bastard Son thread.
Though it is kinda funny they're calling her Shi instead of Shih.
There were also some weird shipping comments - which I probably should've seen coming because the internet is the internet after all - was kind of embarrassing.
Anyways, let's find a distraction.
I surfed about on PHO a little longer before getting bored, mostly because Youtube isn't a thing yet so wasting time on videos isn't possible right now.
Hmm, maybe I should check up current knowledge on the Nine? I knew a lot about them thanks to my past life's memories, but those were of a Slaughterhouse Nine seven years in the future. Aside from Jack Slash and the Siberian I wasn't actually sure who was on the roster right now.
Huh, now that I think of it I don't think Bonesaw has even triggered yet. I did the mental math and figured she should end up triggering sometime next year, which means I do have some time to try track her down before that happens.
Concerns for later.
I hopped over to Parahumans Wiki - the aptly named wiki side of PHO - and started from the top, opening the page for Jack Slash and seeing his picture.
And… that is not Jack Slash…
Jack Slash is supposed to be some sort of Johnny Depp-looking mother fucker. Goateed, but generally looking pretty ordinary.
He's not supposed to be seven foot tall, rail thin and unhealthily gaunt, with his limbs looking too long for his body. It was like he was pretending to be Slenderman or something. He had a horrific rictus grin stretching his face and deep shadows beneath his eyes.
He's probably also not supposed to have razor sharp spikes of bone coming from his wrists, knees and elbows. Or an extra arm on the left hand side.
What the fuck?
I dove further into his wiki article.
Oh goodie, he can project his cutting power through those bone spikes. That sounds great…
Aha! Apparently he had a second trigger sometime after a cape called Ripsnarl joined the Nine? There's an older photo of him that looks pretty normal and much more in line with what I expected.
Now who the fuck is Ripsnarl?
I clicked the link.
I leaned back, my head clunking against the headboard as I gazed up at the ceiling and sighed. "Fucking World of Darkness..."
I gazed at Ripsnarl's picture in irritation. Well, technically the douchebag's full cape name - that he introduces himself with - is 'Ripsnarl the Child-eater', because why the fuck not.
I thunked my head back against the headboard again in irritation.
Because that picture is a fucking werewolf in its warform. It has to be.
I mean it looks a little deformed, with one arm slightly bulkier and longer than the other with some unhealthy-looking, cancerous growths on it, but it's definitely a werewolf.
Let's see… He's a Case 20 apparently. Powers are… hmm, he's a Changer/Brute/Shaker, multiple recorded forms - regular human, wolf-man, full on werewolf, big scary 'direwolf', regular-sized wolf - that he could switch to at will. All of these forms looking a bit deformed and cancerous. Oh and a terrifying fear aura when in his full werewolf form that works on non-parahumans.
Okay there really is an actual fucking werewolf on the Nine. What the fuck?
Oh, and he's a notorious cannibal that likes to eat his victims - especially children - while they're still alive. Sometimes while he's in human form even, because of course. Gotta go full tilt tryhard edgelord.
Ugh, at this point I really wish I knew more about the Werewolf the Apocalypse setting, because I currently know jack shit about how or even why there's a werewolf in the Nine.
Wait, so who actually is in the Nine then?
Okay so Shatterbird is a fairly recent recruit and their general herald of death and destruction. Looks pretty young here, but this is like seven years ahead of regular worm 'canon' so that tracks. The really impressive thing is she must've managed to stay alive and part of the Nine to make it to 2011 despite the fact airborne targets are practically begging to be shot at.
Ah well, she shouldn't be too bad to deal with.
Next up is the poster child for Ziz-bombs everywhere. Good ol' Mannequin. I skimmed through his page because I already know his schtick, which can be easily equated to a hateboner for tinkers being productive members of society.
Ah, and then we have everyone's favourite cannibal nudist. The Siberian. Lots of warnings about her invulnerability and ability to basically fuck over physics. Fortunately I know the real secret behind her, so nothing really scary about her.
Although there's a fair chance she can punch through high level Fortitude, so whatever plan I take will need to keep that in mind.
And oh goodie, they have a murder clown. The aptly named Chuckles. Nothing really exciting about him. Mover/Brute. Hell I almost certainly outspeed him as is with my current Celerity. He's definitely killable, in fact I'm surprised he's managed to stay alive in the Nine this long.
Then we've got some asshole called The Bone-sage, a freaky ass piece of work who'd probably fit right in with The Teeth considering he adorns his dark concealing robes with bones - particularly jawbones - taken from his victims.
I quickly double checked the Butcher's wiki page to make sure this guy wasn't secretly the Butcher in disguise. Fortunately - or perhaps unfortunately, depending on your point of view - the current Butcher was over in New York causing problems there.
Anyway back to The Bone-sage, he appears to be a Thinker/Brute. Enhanced strength/durability, with precog abilities involving cutting the entrails out of his victims and 'reading' them to predict the future. Oh and the enigmatic serial killer apparently only speaks in Haiku and refers to himself in third person, like a weirdo.
After him we've got everyone's favourite adaptable, masochistic punching bag, aka Crawler. Though he looks like a hulking, bipedal lizard-man at the moment instead of the multi-limbed and tentacled walking-cucumber he'll eventually become. Should hopefully mean he's easier to kill as he hasn't had as much time to adapt to shit.
Ah, another new/old name. Screamer, a woman with sound powers. Who apparently uses them in a similar way to how I've been using Melpominee to mess with Lexi.
Well that's the current Slaughterhouse Nine. We've got: Jack 2.0, an Actual Fucking Werewolf, Shittybirb, Ceramic Ziz-bomb, Evil Nude Zebra-Lady, Mr Nightmare Clown, Teeth-Reject Haiku guy, a slightly more-human Crawler, and Bootleg Melpominee chick.
I'm guessing Bonesaw did a fair bit of constructive grave-robbing to get DNA from the previous members to do that whole clone mess she pulled off.
Honestly the werewolf is the real wildcard here. If I remember correctly they're supposed to have spirit bullshit or something. Or they're powered by spirits maybe? But why would some 'spirit warrior defender of the earth' type be working with the Nine? Or wait a sec, werewolves had that whole impergium thing so slaughtering loads of humans is probably something those idiots get behind with enthusiasm. Alternatively he may be one of the evil werewolves. Is that why Jack looks all fucked up? The evil werewolf's evil spirit buddies messed him up?
Eh whatever. I can worry about that after they're all frozen, vitae-drained corpses. Plus the Nine are worth a lot of money in bounties, so it'll be real profitable for us in the long run too.
Well that's enough time wasting on the internet for now I guess. I should probably start working on the next 'dummy's guide to Ahku' book for Brook, though I'm not sure how much she'll focus on the rest of the spells on that path. The first one - which allowed her to actually see ghosts and wraiths even if she couldn't interact with them - was the one she had been the most interested in. Making undead servants and proto-bane mummies doesn't seem her style.
Hmm, I wonder if Therese has had the ghosts over at Ocean Side hotel exorcised yet? It'd give me the option to make use of all those hunter corpses I'd left in the monastery's caves.
Or wait no, nevermind. I killed them a couple nights ago and the reanimation spells don't work as easily on non-fresh corpses. Pity, as a horde of reanimated vampire hunter corpses fueled by slivers of soul shaved off an evil axe-murdery ghost would've been really cool.
Eh, I'm sure I'll be able to get some fresh corpses from somewhere eventually. Brook's bound to wind up killing some or other douchebag at some point in the future.
I softly stroked Yukie's hair as she slept, my Asian ghoul making adorable sleepy noises as she cuddled tighter against my legs.
Hmm, I did promise I'd make her the best demon hunter ever. I ran my mind through the rituals I knew, looking to see if there was anything else that could help her out.
Her main weakness at the moment was the limited amount of my vitae she could hold. That'd improve with age, but it was still her main limit at the moment.
Ideally I'd need to find a way to make her a revenant, aka a 'naturally' born ghoul. That way she can at least produce a little vitae of her own to use as well. Unfortunately you kinda have to be born a revenant.
Or die and get resurrected with that nine dot Obeah power. Not something I want to do because dying would probably be traumatic for Yukie and I care about her wellbeing. Plus I don't have Obeah at the moment either.
Maybe a magic ritual of some sort? Unfortunately wracking my brain isn't really bringing anything up. Unless…
Huh, that could kinda work. Build my own major ritual using a heavily modified version of the Transubstantiation of Seven ritual the Tremere use to bind their neonates to their stupid High Council of Authoritarian Assholes.
Though in this case it'd be more for tying us together and permanently replacing some of her own blood with my own vitae. I wouldn't need to worry about topping her up since the modifications I'm thinking of should automatically replenish that vitae straight from myself.
It'd make her into a sort of pseudo-revenant. Instead of producing her own vitae she'd instead have a tiny, permanent connection to my own blood pool.
I guess in tabletop terms she'd basically count as always having some of my vitae in her system, even if the usual two points she normally has are used up. That means she'll still remain safely ghouled and wouldn't have to worry about withdrawal symptoms and the other shit even in the worst case scenario, such as if I suddenly wound up in torpor or got separated from her for over a month or something.
She'll still need top ups for her overall reserves if she wanted to use stronger discipline powers, but baseline feeding would be unnecessary. Which is fine, though I don't actually mind giving her blood. She makes the most adorable faces when she's drinking my blood.
I brainstormed things for a while, making notes one-handed on my laptop while the other gently stroked my Yukie's head.
I'm rather liking this ritual idea, even if it's only something I'll cast much later in the future. The initial brainstorming looks promising but I want to test it on some animals or something else first. Especially as there's a non-zero chance it'd have the opposite effect where I'd end up remotely draining her dry by accident if I've gotten things wrong.
Yeah, definitely needs some animal testing before I'm going to try any experimental rituals on Yukie. And I want her opinion too, since at the end of the day it's her body and life that will be affected.
I opted to put the pseudo-revenant idea on hold for now. My other ideas for her is working on her gear more, since that's simple enough to work on and is a lot less permanent than experimental rituals to link her to my vitae.
Her sword is pretty badass already. I need a couple more reagents to add some more anti-whatever wards to it. Perhaps find a way to tie an Obfuscate effect to it? Like a SEP field of some sort, so she can carry it around without people noticing things.
It's been okay so far, since it's Halloween season so people have been figuring it's a fake sword instead of a real one, especially as I've been dressing like a witch the last couple of nights, but eventually people will start asking awkward questions.
Stuff like 'is that a sword' and 'should we be worried' and 'maybe someone should call the police?'
Yeah, the less of that sort of shit the better.
Hmm her armour could use some work too. She definitely needs more protection than just her arm. Maybe bind some spirits or something into it to boost overall defences? Gonna need to pick up some spirit manipulation magic for that. It'll piss off the werewolves of course, but fuck 'em. They're basically permanently pissed off, team-killing idiots anyways.
Eh anyways, I still got so many ideas. I should also learn to code at some point too, since with all the ritual knowledge and other shit in my brain I know how to make some rituals able to be activated like apps on a computer. That could be cool, once smartphones become a proper thing. Load up Yukie's eventual phone with loads of 'ritual-apps' she can quick fire.
I checked the time. Wow, time flies when you're working out ways to make the laws of both magic and physics cry in the corner like a little baby. Well, I guess Yukie's been napping for long enough. Don't want her to accidentally fuck up her sleep schedule and internal bodyclock through oversleeping.
"C'mon Yukie. Naptime's over." I set my laptop to the side and poked her awake.
"Mou~" She mou'd adorably, eyes fluttering open. How can a girl who doesn't even watch anime be so damn anime. Is this a secret built-in Japanese thing? Hmm, is that racist? Am I being racist?
"Hello demon." She shifted slightly, resting her head in my lap. I began playing with her loose hair.
"C'mon sleepyhead. Don't wanna mess up your sleep schedule do you?"
"No." she sighed, untangling her arms from around my legs and sitting up. "What is the goal for tonight?"
"Dunno. It is Halloween so we could go out and find a party to crash. Or we could just stay in and watch shitty Halloween movies on the TV? Or maybe both? Go bother Jeanette for a bit and then movies after?"
"Just movies please. With snacks." Yukie nodded decisively.
"Okay then. I'll get room service to send up some popcorn for us to throw at the screen."