Chapter Ten-
Gotta Catch 'Em All!
Part Six- Words of Wisdom
I'm sure nothing important will happen at this perfectly generic park that holds absolutely no historical significance whatsoever.-KateAfter parting ways with Parr, Kate had returned to Penrose, or at least, its most notable iteration, where Nykannis had informed the photographer that her final subject would be waiting. While there existed other individuals who bore the name Oros (Oros the Clumsy and Oros the Greedy among them), the Monarch of Mad Science had explained that they were nothing more than cheap knockoffs of the real thing, and thus completely unworthy of consideration. This final
true Oros, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. Not only was she what Nykannis called a “prime variant”, that is to say, a variant whose true identity was an iteration of Mika Fang, but she was the most mature and composed iteration yet discovered. She was also quite likely the most
powerful as well, which made her the most
dangerous…Although not native to this Penrose’s reality plenum, Oros the Wise, or “Wisdom”, as she often called herself, had recently taken up residence for reasons known only to herself, at least, until Kate snapped her picture. Since Wisdom was one of the few Oroses Nykannis was able to tolerate, and thus keep in contact with, the Mad Scientist Supreme had arranged for her to meet Kate at Penrose’s largest park (For those keeping track, yes, this is the same park Victoria and Cindy were killed at, as well as the park where Lily chose to gather the Boloton defenders and to hold her big "let's deal with Wonderland" meeting. In a few hours, it will hold yet
another gathering, but for now, it's mostly empty). Taking a seat on a bench as she waited for her subject to arrive, Kate mentally prepared herself for the impending interaction with what could quite possibly be the worst Oros she’d yet encountered, Morowa’s words of warning echoing in her mind. As a former student counselor at a school for magical girls, any interaction with Wisdom was sure to include mind games aplenty, yet while Kate hated the thought of being psychoanalyzed, it was still infinitely preferable to being groped by some love-obsessed freak.
Or watching said freak french a dog…
And, also substantially better than being in the presence of that druid. It was strange how he hadn’t shown up again. For a time, Kate had suspected that he might show up while she was talking to Parr. While Kate hadn’t seen him the
first time she visited an arcade, he came back with a vengeance. Fortunately, there was no point in which she had her clothes off, and all of her effects were in order. She shuddered to think about what he might be doing.
But she wouldn’t have to think much longer.
The moon’s lunar glow glinted off a pair of chrome handlebars. There barreling towards her was the druid, riding on a bike through the park’s empty pathways. He drew his camera from his mossy cloak and pointed it at Kate.
Upon seeing the druid, Kate was filled with utter fury. She didn’t care about the danger of having her picture snapped by the twisted creature, she just wanted to make her stalker
pay for all the humiliating crap he’d put her through. Thus, instead of seeking cover, the photographer darted forward, leapt into the air, and
delivered a flying kick to the druid, knocking him off his bike with considerable force.
“That’s for stealin’ my stuff, jackass,” Kate told him.
“And this is for tellin’ Suki everything about me!” she added, driving her foot into his crotch.
“I coulda taken her picture without her even knowin’, but instead, I had to embarrass myself, get chased all over an arcade, nearly get poisoned, and then watch her make out with a dog!” the photographer continued, while delivering kick after kick to the druid’s prone form.
But Kate could only keep this up for so long. The druid wasn’t moving, aside from a slight twitch every time her foot landed. But eventually her leg tired, and her catharsis was complete. It eventually dawned on her that now would be a good time to take a picture of the elusive druid. So she pointed her camera, positioned her finger, and…
*SNAP*Kate looked at the display, and what she saw regarding the druid caused her jaw to go slack.
The druid got up. Not like someone who had been kicked within an inch of their life, but like someone who was waking up from a restful nap. They stretched their arms over their head with a yawn, and their body started to shift. The leafy mantle turned into a respectable dress shirt. Moldy skin darkened to a clean tan, and where there was a man was now a woman. Where there was a druid was now Wisdom.
”Good evening Kate! You sure took your time, didn’t you?” She pulled each of her arms behind her head until they cracked.
”Anyway, I’m just here to take a picture. Are you ready? Do you have everything you need?”The camera revealed that what stood before Kate was one of Wisdom’s many duplicates. Unlike this reality plenum, Wisdom’s duplicates were just as durable and strong as she was, and had an identical personality. But there were other differences, and Kate would need to take a picture of the original to know what they were.
“What the…” Kate gasped as the druid’s form shifted before her increasingly wide eyes.
“You were Leshy this whole fuckin’ time?!””Don’t be silly!” Wisdom, or her clone rather, waved her hand in dismissal.
”What makes more sense? That some random celtic forest god decided to start pranking you out of the blue, or that ‘I’ caught wind of your quest with my Endless Eclipse and decided to make it more exciting for you, or…” She scratched her head.
”I’m sure there are a few other possibilities, but of the two I mentioned, it should be obvious which one is more likely. After all, how would I acquire the camera he uses to capture his victims?” She placed a hand near her mouth.
”Good heavens, Kate! What if it’s all in your head? Do you think you have dementia?” “I think you just enjoy screwing with people,” Kate muttered as she glanced over the information provided by her camera’s display.
“As for where you got the camera, you’re a multiversal traveler just like me. I’d be surprised if you didn’t pick up any obscenely powerful artifacts as souvenirs. And when I say ‘you’, I mean the original Oros the Wise,” the photographer added pointedly.
“You’re just one of her copies. A picture of you is nice and all, but I need one of the real thing.” ”I figured that was the case.” “Wisdom” squatted down so that she was Kate’s height.
”But you’ve taken six pictures of us already. Surely you know you can’t just snap our picture and walk away. It’s part of your ritual to socialize with us a little bit.” Three more duplicates walked out of the darkness and stood between Kate and “Wisdom”. One of them turned into an old wood table, and the other two turned into chairs. “Wisdom” pulled one of the chairs out and sat down.
”I think a fun social activity would be to play a high stakes card game. If you win, Wisdom will reveal herself and allow you to take her picture. If I win…” She shook her camera. It looked very bulky and old fashioned. The flasher was a lightbulb in the middle of a silver dish, which looked severely oxidized.
”I’ll take your picture.”“Wow, so all I have to do is win an obviously rigged card game?” Kate replied in a sarcastic deadpan.
“And here I thought you were gonna make things difficult. Fine,” she conceded with a tired sigh.
“What’s this game of yours?”The smile left “Wisdom’s” face. She rested her elbow on the table and tapped her chin, as if she hadn’t actually thought this far ahead.
”Well, it seems like your main antagonist throughout this entire adventure has been Leshy, right?” she squared up her shoulders and placed her hands on her hips.
”He’s from a game called ‘Inscryption,’ Why don’t we try playing a modified version of that?” She smirked.
”If we were to use the original rules, it would most certainly be rigged in the dealer’s favor.” “Oh, so you’re actually giving me a chance, huh?” Kate snarked with a raised eyebrow.
“How magnanimous of you. So, what are the rules of ‘Modified Inscryption’?” she inquired.
”Modified Inscryption is just a lot less wordy than ‘Cryptic Crafter’s two-player version of Inscryptian’s first arc,’ isn’t it?” “Wisdom” pulled a laptop out from behind her back and set it on the table. After a few clicks here and there, she turned it around so that Kate could look at the screen. A
set of rules for the game appeared on the screen.
”The basic premise of the game is that you use creatures to attack each other, and can sacrifice creatures to summon stronger creatures. The ruleset seems pretty fair, if a bit RNG dependent. I’m not against homebrewing some rules if you’d prefer to have more control of what ends up in your hand.” There was quite a bit to take in, and it took Kate a few minutes to read everything over. Once she felt like she had a decent enough understanding of the rules, the photographer refocused her attention on Wisdom.
“I take it we’ll be playing with Items and leaving out the suggested cards, along with the optional squirrel and over damage rules?” she asked.
”That does seem to invite the longest game.” “Wisdom” grinned.
”Ah! But we both have some extra cards, don’t we? I seem to recall you possessing a whistle and a gorelion. Why don’t we have some rules so that we can use those cards? Maybe when a player has their candle extinguished, we can both choose a card to place into our hand?”“Sure, but I don’t want there to be any chance of them suffering permanent damage if something happens to them in the game, since they’re not ‘just’ cards,” Kate replied.
”I’m sure Nykannis can undo anything we do to these cards. Otherwise, if you want to keep your cards in mint condition, don’t play with them.” Wisdom shot Kate a teasing smile.
”And are you really going to stand through this whole game? I imagine that would get uncomfortable after a while. Would you rather sit on the park bench?”Suddenly, the park bench that Kate had been sitting on grew a face that looked like Wisdom.
”It’s your choice in the end Kate, but I didn’t mind holding you up!”Kate looked at the initial chair her “host” had provided and scowled.
“Yeah, sure, why not?” she muttered as she slowly sat down. The bench looked a little sad, but excused itself from the park without a word.
“Gotta say, I’m honestly surprised you wanna play a game rather than do your whole ‘student counselor thing’ on me,” she added with a weary deadpan.
“Or does that come later?””I said that we would talk while we played, if that’s what you mean.” As the false wisdom said this, she started to draw cards in sets of three. Just like the rules suggested, they would take turns building their deck from twenty sets of three cards.
”But what are you expecting? You’re not one of those people who thinks student counselors are just shrinks for students, are you? I offer academic guidance, help create an atmosphere where students can learn and thrive, and commence both private and group counseling sessions to address specific social and emotional concerns. We may also work with teachers, parents, and so on to meet this end. But you Kate? You’re just a simple freelance photographer. You’re out of school and already have a career path, so why would we talk about your learning environment?” “Normally, I suppose we wouldn’t,” Kate replied as she began picking her cards.
“But you’re an Oros,” she added pointedly.
“And most Oroses I’ve met like to mess with people.””Well that doesn’t sound anything like me…” After they picked their final cards, Wisdom spread them out over the table to look at them all.
”It’s funny.” She said while tapping her chin.
”I must have played with these cards hundreds of times, but never in a game like this. I have no idea which deck is stronger, though I do see some synergies here and there. It’s clear that they were made by two people with two different play styles.” Her eyes rolled up to Kate.
”Is this your first game? Have you played a few card games in your time?” “A few,” Kate replied with a wry smirk.
“But this is my first time playing this particular game, so all I really had to go on was what I picked up while skimming over the rules.””Maybe beginner’s luck will work in your favor then.” After everyone drew their starting hands, play started immediately.
”Why don’t we talk about your Oros-filled adventure for a moment, hmm? I don’t think anyone in the multiverse has encountered as many of us aside from, well, madness herself!” Wisdom chuckled.
”Oriko and Dan were interesting characters, weren’t they? Despite your initial misgivings, you handled them rather well, didn’t you?”“I like to think I handle most people pretty well,” Kate retorted.
“It’s just that you Oroses are a special bunch. But as far as Oriko and Dan were concerned, my only real issue was havin’ to serve as a mediator for their little argument,” she continued.
“Normally, I don’t like gettin’ involved with that kinda crap if I can help it. I prefer to keep a low profile. Y’know, blend in with the background?””Yet you seldomly do. With an exception to your most, hmmm, dangerous marks, you’re usually pretty forward with your approach. Even after you get your picture, you’re never in a great rush to leave.” She smirked.
”You seem fairly extroverted, actually. You have a way with people that those who ‘blend in’ typically lack. You sure a small part of you didn’t just want their fighting to stop?”“Maybe a little,” Kate conceded.
“But as far as stickin’ around goes, the only reason I stayed at the tournament was because I was on vacation, and on a job. Besides, nothin’ says I can’t spend some time enjoyin’ the places I visit,” she added.
”I wasn’t talking about just the tournament.” Wisdom’s clone clarified.
”Quite frequently you will stick around if time permits. Though there are exceptions, such as your trip to a certain school. I’ll concede you tried to leave there as fast as possible. ”“Well, there’s not much to do when the whole world’s stuck in a chronolock,” Kate replied.
“And as for my other recent photo ops, I’m pretty sure I tried leavin’ as soon as I got the picture I needed,” she added pointedly.
“Well, except for Morowa’s, but that’s because she was actually fun to hang out with.”She snorted.
”That was a clever segway to start talking about Oros the Shrewd. I can’t believe you’d be so cruel as to force your girlfriend and your extraordinary date into its place. We can talk about that later, but it’s easier for me to talk about things if they’re in chronological order.” The student counselor chuckled.
”That said, you did leave the school as quickly as you could. It’s a shame you didn’t get to meet Amber. Regardless, Shrewd was one of the more tolerable Oroses in your adventure I think.” “I kinda have to agree,” Kate replied, choosing to ignore the quip about Morowa being her girlfriend, as opposed to giving Wisdom the satisfaction of evoking an annoyed response.
“Though I wasn’t exactly fond of the idea of stickin’ around to socialize in as cringy a situation as that one.””That’s fair.” Wisdom’s clone sacrificed a squirrel to summon a creature.
”I don’t think I agree that you were in a rush to leave quickly. At least, that wasn’t the case with Luana. For someone so focused on their job, you really went all out to save her.” “Maybe I just felt bad for her,” Kate retorted.
“I mean, I’m not really a fan of seein’ someone get mind controlled into destroying the thing they love the most.””I mean there’s empathy and then there’s laying it all out there. You transformed, you summoned powerful creatures, even when the ‘heroes’ showed up you had to make sure she had a nice happy ending. You have a lot of enemies Kate, and it’s not because you go out of your way to be nice to people. Luana might not have been the worst Oros, but I didn’t get the impression you enjoyed her company. Why go to such lengths for her?” “I just told you, it pissed me off seein’ what that jackass was makin’ her do,” Kate bit back.
“And maybe if one of my gorelions hadn’t been stolen, I wouldn’t have needed to transform,” she added pointedly.
Wisdom grinned.
”Yes, but I don’t understand why. You’re helping Nykannis with her experiments, and Talus wasn’t doing anything that I couldn’t picture her doing. It just seemed like an interesting time to try and play the hero.” “Somethin’ about him just ticked me off, and besides, it’s not like I haven’t ever messed with Nykannis before. I mean, there’s a reason I turn into Rapunzel in a wedding dress whenever I transform, and it’s not because I like the aesthetic.””What you did to Talus was a little more serious than anything you’ve done to Nykannis.” The look-alike yawned.
”But very well. You’re saying your choice to intervene was more to stop Talus than it was to reverse Luana’s transformation?”“It was both,” Kate clarified.
“Talus was an asshole, and didn’t wanna see Luana stuck as his mindless attack dog, forced to destroy the place she spent her whole life lookin’ for. I may be a bit amoral, but I’m not completely heartless,” the photographer added, giving Wisdom an annoyed glare.
”You could have just said that from the beginning.” She smiled. Even as Kate extinguished one of her candles, it felt like Kate was just playing along with Wisdom’s scheme.
”What even is there to say about your little adventure in Nova Lux? Though if I can be honest with you, you deserved everything that happened to you there. Taking a picture of Crystal was a low blow, even for an amoral photographer like yourself.” “What the fuck was so bad about it?” Kate inquired.
“I take pictures of all sorts of stuff, and it’s not like I did anything creepy, like forcing her to take her clothes off,” she added, doing her best to suppress a shudder.
”You say that like you didn’t have any intention of blackmailing them later.” The impostor didn’t smile.
”You can prattle on about being amoral all you want, but all actions have consequences regardless of intentions. Though on the topic of Lada, she can be rather insistent, can’t she? ”“Most Oroses can,” Kate retorted.
“And I only blackmail people if I need to,” she clarified.
“And I only enjoy doin’ it if they’re assholes who had it comin’ to ‘em.””Well that’s reassuring!” the clone grinned.
”But I feel like Llada is insistent in a very specific way. As an example, you didn’t seem quite as agreeable to anything Joy wanted to do. Would you have even gone to dinner with her if Parr was around? I don’t think you would have.”“Good guess,” Kate replied with a wry smirk.
“The only reasons I agreed to visit Lada’s lab were to keep the picture I took, while also checkin’ out the stuff she was workin’ on. That kinda info’s got the potential to be pretty valuable, y’know?””I feel like you had other options there.” She tapped her chin.
”Certainly, someone who can spawn giant ice golems could have escaped if they really wanted to. Certainly, the wedding dress is less humiliating than no dress. In the moment we seldom act rationally, but is it possible you wanted to be friends with her?”
“Not even remotely,” Kate stated flatly.
“I just don’t like makin’ a scene if I don’t have to. Havin’ a fight on academy grounds would’ve alerted security, and like I said, I prefer to keep a low profile.””I still feel like you had other options, but I digress…” And with that, both players had a single candle left.
”Ah, that was just lucky. I feel like your hand ran out of one sacrifice cards to play? Hopefully you draw some for the final round.” Not!Wisdom began to fill her hand.
”Oh! And don’t forget to add your special cards to your hand. If it assuages your worries, those two cards will not burn up when defeated like every other card. Instead, they simply break into two pieces. I’m sure the good doctor can fix such a defect if they have to.” a carefree chuckle escaped her lips.
”I guess if we’re going to talk about your adventures in photography, we need to talk about Morowa too.” Her eyes half closed.
”You’ve seen more Oros proxies than anyone. Tell me Kate, what do you think really makes an Oros what they are?”“Well, Nykannis has some theories about that,” Kate replied.
“She said that there are several commonalities most Oroses share, like being incredibly perverted assholes, but from what I’ve seen, the only thing that every Oros I’ve met so far has had in common is some kind of precognitive or clairvoyant ability, usually via a magic sword, which implies some kind of connection to Aigorost.” ”That’s certainly part of it.” Wisdom set down her cards and folded her hands together.
”A connection to Aigorost is what makes an Oros an Oros. They are ultimately the one they inherit their Endless Eclipse from, regardless if it’s a sword, spear, head dress… or a recipe.” She poked the table.
”But that means that Oros are chosen, and they must have some quality that Aigorost looks for before granting them their gifts. It’s not their hair color or their body shape. While many have obsessive personalities, not all of them do. So if it’s not how they act, look, or even magical capability, what do they all have in common?”Kate thought for a moment.
“Uh, tragic backstories?” she asked.
”Hah!” The fake Oros clapped her hands.
”That was very close. To be fair, you don’t have Wisdom’s photo. Aside from being a bit of an outsider, my ‘backstory’ doesn’t even come close to being tragic.” She placed her hands on the side of her head, like she was going to sleep.
”It’s our front stories that are tragic. We can never get what we truly want. Madness can never be a hero, I can never test the Marrywell students, Savage cannot truly enjoy the company of elves, Swift will never hold the powerstone, Shrewd cannot reconnect with her children, The Inventive will never feel like an equal, and Joy will never experience true love. We are doomed to walk the earth for an eternity and never have our goals realized.” She leaned forward and placed her chin in her hand.
”Do you want to know what Morowa wanted? What she could never have?”The clone slowly removed her hand out from under her chin and pointed at Kate.
“A friend…?” Kate asked with a frown.
“I mean, I know I couldn’t stay there, but I can always go back for a visit,” the photographer protested.
”You’re not really this dense, are you?” The replica was positively grinning. This wasn’t the mischievous smile of a trickster, but that of someone who just heard a good joke.
”Kate, you remember the celestial event that was going on? The one with all the moons?” She folded her hands together.
”Morowa’s ability to divine the future is based on the position of the moons. You’ll have to forgive me for not remembering their names off the top of my head, but there was one that pertained to time manipulation, correct? Well, that’s how Morowa divines things. And with all the moons lined up in the sky like that, her powers were supercharged! She could divine so many things at a really high speed. What’s a good analogy? Think of an internet connection. If real life was dial up, her divination abilities were fiber optic. In just a few seconds, she could experience months or years of events.” The imposter leaned back in her chair.
”And this is compounded because she’s a moth feykin. A month to them is like a decade to you. It’s practically unheard of for them to live a year. Yet she was able to experience so much in that time.” The smile ran from her face.
”They aren’t built to live that long. They mature quickly. They make enemies and friends much faster than you or I do. And she’s seen your entire life. Your highs and lows, your adventures, a fraction of your life that is twenty times longer than the one she will lead. She had no recourse but to fall in love with you.” “I-In love..?” Kate’s eyes widened. If she was being honest, a part of her had suspected Morowa’s feelings for her went well beyond mere friendship, but she hadn’t wanted to give that possibility much thought. It was better that way. Leave it to an Oros to make her confront it head-on…
“W-Why the hell would she fall in love with someone like me?!” the photographer stammered, her gaze downcast as her cheeks began to turn a bright shade of crimson.
“T-There’s nothing likable about me, especially if she’s seen all the people I’ve screwed over in the past!””Since she saw everything, maybe she was able to relate to your every choice, even the bad ones. Maybe she’s had similar experiences over her own short life. Maybe she’s just as twisted as you, as twisted as any Oros is. Maybe it’s all that and more. Maybe, maybe, maybe not.” The decoy grinned, and her fangs were sharp.
”Isn’t the irony positively delicious though? Even if you made a point to meet with her once a week, that would be like waiting two or three years to see her. Time warp nonsense notwithstanding. Oh! Maybe time actually moves even faster there. But that doesn’t change anything, really.” she tapped the table.
”You can’t stay with her, and she can’t stay with you. Even if you took her with you on all of your crazy adventures, she’d wither and die in seven months time. And what kind of existence is that anyway? You couldn’t reciprocate her feelings if you tried.” Kate’s eyes narrowed into a glare.
“You’re one sick bitch, you know that? Yeah, sometimes life sucks, and some people just seem destined to be failures, but that still doesn’t mean ya can’t make the most out of the good parts, or try an’ flip destiny the bird,” she added, holding out her middle finger.
”Flip destiny the bird?” The pretender leaned forward in her chair.
”I think I know what you mean. If Morowa could find some way to cryogenically freeze herself, then maybe we could address some of her problems.” She held her chin in thought. After thinking a bit, her eyebrows shot up.
”I’m sorry, I just realized I never showed you my extra cards, and I already know what yours are. That was not sporting on my part. Here.” She turned over one of her cards, which was revealed to be Leshy.
”Hah! Using someone’s own weapon against them is a classic. I guess you know how I got the camera now.” She picked up the card and grinned at it.
”He’s frozen in a sort of stasis now. He’s not really dead, in theory, he can live forever if I never play him in a game. If this were Morowa you could just sort of card and un-card her at appropriate times. Even if you couldn’t find a way to extend her life, at least you could both age together. Wouldn’t that be nice?”“Or I could get Nykannis to just extend her lifespan,” Kate countered.
“I mean, she owes me big for agreeing to take on a job like this one. But you’re right,” the photographer conceded softly.
“It would be nice.””That’s not very amoral of you.” The false Oros tapped the edge of the card on the table. First fast like she was chopping carrots, then slowing to a stop.
”Oh! But Kate, you didn’t see my second card yet.” She used the corner of Leshy to turn over her next card. It was a little unusual. The picture on it was of a cocoon, but it was transparent enough to reveal a girl in the fetal position inside of it. The girl’s silhouette looked familiar, but the name at the top of the card would have cleared it up instantly even if Kate chose to disbelieve it.
Morowa’s cocoon.
”The moth man cards might be banned, but I can play the moth woman.” Not!Wisdom turned the card over in her hand.
”Similar concept to the moth man card. You play a weak card, and if it survives enough rounds, it turns into something that can one hit kill the opponent. This card is the same way, only it’s even faster, and even weaker at the start. A fart could send this card to its grave.” She chuckled, but her chuckling stopped as she started to look closer at the card.
”Kate? I think you’ve beaten me. All of my strongest cards have been expended. By process of elimination, I know exactly what’s in your hand, as we’ve drawn all of our cards minus the squirrels. I don’t like my chances. But I’m tenacious, you know? All Oros are, so I can’t just let you win.” She sacrificed a squirrel and played Morowa’s cocoon. One hit point, zero attack, and the fledgeling sigil.
”My only hope is that you don’t have the heart to kill Morowa. Next turn her attack will raise to seven and she’ll gain the airborne sigil, which will be enough to end the game in my favor. I don’t like my gambit, but it’s all I can play.” Not-quite-Mika placed a hand on her hip.
”I have to imagine she knew what her fate would be before I took her picture. Did she know she would be safe, or come to grips with her fate?”Kate’s eyes widened when she saw Wisdom’s final card, before swiftly narrowing into slits as she ground her teeth together in an enraged snarl.
“Do you seriously expect me to believe that she willingly let her picture be taken?” the photographer growled.
“Even with the knowledge that she’d be turned into a card for this fucked up game?””As long as you know that’s actually her, you can believe whatever you want.” The wisdom replica shot Kate a glare, like she was disappointed in her child.
”Why, Kate? How do you think I was able to take a picture of someone with such powerful divination abilities? Does her level of willingness change anything?” “Yeah, ‘cause I consider Morowa a friend,” Kate shot back.
“And when people mess with my friends, I make sure they regret it. As for how you could get around her precognitive powers, there are plenty of ways to circumvent that kinda thing, and I’m sure you know every last one of ‘em.”She held her gaze, eventually sighing into the cold night air.
”Well, I am positively rattled by this aura you’re putting on, miss ordinary photographer. I suppose I will show you what transpired and you can judge for yourself.” The false catwoman drew a knife from her blouse.
”Keep your hands off your camera. If I so much as suspect you’re trying to take a picture of Wisdom, I’ll destroy the card.” The card being Morowa. That was all she was to this fake Oros.
Kate could feel a presence moving behind her, even if she couldn’t hear it. Two hands reached out from behind her, and in them was a sheathed Katana. With a flick of their thumb, the blade popped free, and was slowly pulled from its holster. But what was about to transpire wasn’t a beheading, but a divining of the past. The shiny blade was pulled up to Kate’s eyes, and she could witness Morowa’s fate.
The moth girl waved to Kate as she departed, and jumped into the dark forest below. She was smiling ear to ear. But as she got closer to the forest, she started to frown. Once she landed on the ground, she nearly collapsed, and needed to lean against a tree to stop from falling over. One hand was on her heart, the other on the bark of the tree. She exhaled and hung her head. Then out of the darkness, a figure appeared. It was Leshy, or the imposter Leshy. The one holding Endless Eclipse up for Kate spoke.
”Was I right?” Her voice, the real Wisdom’s voice, matched Leshy’s lip flaps perfectly.
”You’re love sick, aren’t you?””I am.” The replica wisdom across the table spoke for Morowa. Much like Wisdom, her voice matched up with the moth girl’s mouth perfectly.
”I feel so conflicted. Part of me wishes that I hadn’t looked, that I just regarded her as a stranger and let her walk in and out of my life. But the other part…” Morowa stood up and turned to face Leshy.
”The other part of me is glad I got to feel this way. The entire time I was divining her past it was like I was a ghost floating over her shoulder. And then getting to talk to her…” While the clone’s voice didn’t crack, Morowa’s must have, because she raised a hand to her mouth.
”I’m going to think about her until she returns.””Aren’t you forgetting something?” Leshy pulled his camera out of his cloak.
”You weren’t supposed to help her find me.”Morowa froze.
”I-I didn’t! I have no idea who you really are!””But you tried to find out. Had my preparations not been perfect, You would have.”The moth woman hugged herself. She let the wind leave her lungs in a slow, controlled manner.
”As long as you leave Kate out of it, you can do whatever you want with me.””That’s not going to be possible. But if it makes you any more at ease, this is not a punishment.” He held the camera against his chest.
”It will take too long to explain. Why don’t you just look and see for yourself?” Leshy’s face transformed into Wisdom’s.
At first, Morowa was taken aback. But she quickly regained her composure and closed her eyes. Just like she had when she tried to find Leshy’s true identity for Kate. When she opened them again, she sighed.
”I saw it. The card game.””Then you know I do not intend to hurt you.””I think that’s a little misleading.”Leshy shrugged.
”You’re not trying to escape.””No, take my picture.””Did you see the end of the game? Do you know the outcome?””I know that you are going to show our conversation to Kate, and I don’t want to influence her. Take my picture.””Very well.”With a flash, the sword was sheathed, and Wisdom seemed to disappear into the air.
”Any more questions?”Kate was silent for several moments as she let everything she’d seen and heard sink in. When she finally spoke, her mouth was curled into a contemptuous sneer.
“Yeah,” the photographer told Wisdom.
“Just one. Do you actually think this is a hard decision?””For you?” The false Wisdom tapped the side of her head.
”Harder than I thought it was going to be? You’re hesitating, which I wasn’t expecting. But no, I guess not. I’m not sure what you’re going to do, which is why I’m curious to see.” “Really?” Kate inquired with a condescending smirk.
“I mean, when ya think about it, there isn’t even a choice. If I ‘let Morowa live,’ I lose the game and get turned into a card for you to do whatever you please with, completely at the mercy of your sadistic whims, just like Morowa. On the other hand, even if I do end up destroying her card, I can just have Nykannis restore it. If that’s even Morowa in the first place.””Ahh yes, Nykannis, the great equalizer.” The one who is not really Wisdom beamed with joy.
”As much as she complains about Penrose, she makes full use of the advantages provided to her. Not unlike big tech trying to navigate antitrust laws. Regardless of how hopeless a situation seems, you can always rely on her to fix things in the end.” She shook her head.
”Can I be quite frank with you, Kate? I don’t like this place.” She turned to look at the greater Penrose.
”I don’t like all the rules, I don’t like how they change moment to moment, I don’t like the nepotism that happens between the patrons, I don’t even like the power structure that’s set out for magical girls here. It’s impossible to understand how any of it works, and that’s by design. Too much is left to the whims of higher powers.” She stood up and folded her hands behind her back.
”I’ll admit some of the people are interesting. The sights too. But I can only look at so many planets made out of spaghetti or the shifting layers of the overcity before my brain just kind of turns itself off. You know what it’s like? It’s like when your homeroom teacher in kindergarten lets you play with toys before class. You have this big toy bin that’s just loaded with stuff, but there’s not enough to go around. So do the children share? Of course not, this is kindergarten and it’s every child for themselves. Some of them might get one toy and then try to isolate themselves from everyone else. Some of them will be joined by a child that doesn’t have a toy. They might fein interest in what the other kid is doing, but really they are just trying to get some stupid wooden car so that they can pretend to race it across the floor. But for some reason you’re just standing in the middle of the room with no toys, watching everyone be unhappy and unpleasant with themselves, and the teacher is just trying to ignore the growing contempt everyone has for one another while she finishes preparing the day's first lesson. And that’s just like Penrose. You only have so many wooden cars to go around, and nobody can really enjoy them! I was not made for such a hell! No wonder Madness did so well here!” The woman that looked like Wisdom but really was not Wisdom picked up a stone and hurled it into the sky. It didn’t come back down.
”But to address your observations...” She sat back down in the chair.
”I assure you that Nykannis will not be able to bring her back if she dies in this game. I would not give you her remains. Nykannis might make a convincing clone if you’re nice, but it wouldn’t really be her. As for her authenticity, you have a special camera that can divine things and make connections between other pictures you’ve taken. Why don’t you just snap a picture of it and compare it to the one you have of Morowa? You’ll see it’s authentic. As for being turned into a card…” She smirked.
”Morowa seemed to be optimistic about the future. Perhaps someone will come and save you?” “Or perhaps you’re just talkin’ outta your ass,” Kate retorted.
“That was a nice rant there, by the way,” she added.
“But if ya think that this universe’s batshit rules framework is the only thing allowin’ Nykannis to be as powerful as she is, then you’re not nearly as wise as ya think. She’s the greatest mad scientist I’ve ever met, in any universe,” the photographer went on.
“And I’ve know her since waaay before she came to this one. Kim Ross and Kat Donlan can’t even hold a candle to her. So there’s no doubt in my mind that she could restore Morowa good as new. But I don’t think I’d even need to ask her to, ‘cause I’m still not convinced that’s actually Morowa in there,” she told her host, while pointing to the card in question.
“I’m sure you of all people are well aware of how much Nykannis loves to give lectures, and one of her favorite topics is the observer effect. In particular, how to make it work to your advantage. You know how it works, right?” Kate inquired with a grin.
“Observed events can’t be altered, but unobserved events are your personal playground. Did ya think I’d be too emotionally distressed to notice that ya ended the scene just before you, or rather, the real Wisdom, actually took Morowa’s picture? Anything could have happened after that, and I’m not about to fuck with things by taking a picture of that card. Nice try, though,” she “congratulated” the counselor, before playing her final attack card.
“But you’re still gonna lose.”If there was a word that could be used to describe the look on not really Wisdom’s face, it would be concern. Not for herself, but for Kate. Despite being a clone, she shared many of the true wisdom’s memories, and one such memory was everything that happened after the camera flash. Morowa had been turned into a card, the card that Kate was so eager to destroy. The deck had always been in the hand of Wisdom’s clones, if not Wisdom herself. Yes, she had heard of the observation effect, but she didn’t really believe in it. At least, she didn’t really think it pertained to anything here. Not using the genuine Morowa in a “game” such as this would have defeated the entire point. She could understand Kate being skeptical of her. It came with the life she led, and also Wisdom and her clones had been causing mischief since her quest started. To suspect trickery was natural. But to hedge your bets on everything turning out okay because of a mad scientist’s lecture? She shouldn’t have been surprised. Kate went full fangirl mode after incorrectly assuming that the poser Wisdom was complaining about Nykannis, when the bulk of what was said was leveled at the world itself. It wasn’t worth correcting, and it didn’t matter.
The clone squinted her eyes. No, there was no way Kate actually believed in what she was saying. It was just who she was. She needed to disbelieve the card because if she didn’t, then she could not acquire a picture of Wisdom, and then she would have failed Nykannis. At least, that was one possibility. But Wisdom was a counselor, not a scientist, and possibility was never as important as outcome. And the outcome was that Kate was choosing to engage with this as a game of wits rather than choosing between a life and her mission. It was hard to blame her.
It was also hard not to laugh. Wisdom had been defeated, but not by Kate. The outcome of the game never mattered to her. She had been defeated by this world, which robbed her of the chance to witness someone going up against true stakes. How she longed to watch someone try and become something more than what they were, or embrace it despite her attempts to change them. But she was no match for this world and it’s insanity. Such was her fate, as an Oros doesn’t get to find what makes them happy.
And while the doppleganger reflected, Kate’s card surged forth and struck Morowa’s cocoon. It shook, blackened, and burned up.
A sigh of resignation through smiling lips.
”I suppose I’ll concede.” Her last candle extinguished itself.
She scooped up the remains of the card, eyed them, and then slipped them into her pocket. The fake councilor was tempted to make Kate realize what she had done, but there was no point. In hindsight, maybe she should have antagonized her less. But she quickly dismissed that thought. It was important that Kate viewed her as an enemy. And the issue wasn’t Kate’s choice, it was
how she made her choice.
”Are you ready to meet the real me?”“I’ve been ready ever since I got here,” Kate replied, her tone suffused with tired annoyance. Even so, she didn’t seem particularly perturbed by the destruction of Morowa’s card. If anything, the photographer looked relieved the game was finally over.
”Right, This way then.”…
Wisdom viewed the end of the card match from her hiding place. Her thoughts were the same as her clone. Any time she split off, they were perfect copies of her in both body and mind. Her clones always behaved the same way she would, barring the fact that only the original had access to endless eclipse. With the card game over, Wisdom used her sword to peer deeper into the card player’s surroundings. Nykannis called it the observer effect, but Glex called them hyper positions. Wisdom was accustomed to nailing things down with Endless Eclipse so that such foolery didn’t rear its ugly head later. Though she needed to be doubly sure in a world like this. Yes, that was 100% Kate standing there with her camera. Yes, the scene had not been altered in any way, shape, or form. This was hardly an indication that things were going to go smoothly, but Wisdom would take what she could get.
She gave the signal.
A massive stone fell out of the sky and impacted the ground just a few feet behind Kate. Her clones started to revert back, ushering her inside the portal on one of the stone’s faces. Wisdom herself took her time in approaching. She tipped her head sideways as the stone her clone had thrown earlier came wheezing past her head and buried itself in the ground. When she stepped inside, the portal closed.
They were aboard the CAPRICORN now. Kate, five of Wisdom’s clones, and herself. She extended her hand, and a clone handed her the deck of Inscryption cards. As Wisdom sorted through them, her clones fused with her. When she was young, having their overlapping experiences fuse with her might have been disorientating, but she had long overcome the vertigo from fusion sickness. Now it felt more like she was remembering forgotten memories.
Eventually, Wisdom came across Morowa’s cocoon and pulled it out of the deck. With a flick of her wrist, the card flew from her hand, Mid-flight it was consumed in a bright light, and then Morowa came tumbling through the air and landed in Kate’s arms, only to knock both of them to the ground.
Yes, Morowa’s card had been destroyed, but this was Inscryption. Regardless of what happened to a card, it always managed to reassemble itself for the next game regardless of how many times it was slashed, burned, or sacrificed. It might not have been available for the rest of
a game, but it would have been there for the
next game. Wisdom and her clones might have been putting on a tough act, but it was just that, an act. Even the camera that Wisdom threatened to take Kate’s picture with was just an old camera. She had the real one, of course, but the rules of the game were that she was going to take a picture with that specific camera. Regardless of what happened, things were always going to lead to an encounter between the real Wisdom and Kate right here. It was all very farcical and convoluted, which was par for the course when you were involving three interdimensional travelers in a world that was not their own, and two of them were an Oros and all of them were tricksters.
”Mhm.” Morowa started to get up. She was slowly coming to, and realized how close she was to Kate. At least, that was what her blushing face seemed to indicate.
”Ah.” She turned her head away from Kate, but also pointed her eyes towards Kate.
”Can you get up?” “Yeah, I’m okay,” Kate reassured the moth girl as she got to her feet.
“And I’m glad to see you are, too,” she added with a grin.
“Sorry ya had to go through all that.””It’s okay!” She said from her position on the floor.
”I’m glad I get to see you again so soon.”“Same here,” Kate replied.
“Uh, do you need any help?” she asked after noticing Morowa still hadn’t gotten up yet.
The moth girl rolled onto her side so that she could get her legs under herself. With a shove, she rocked onto a kneeling position. She smiled brightly
”Nope!” Her hands on her knees. If she was a dog girl instead of a moth girl, her tail might have been wagging.
“Cool,” Kate acknowledged with a chuckle.
“So,” she added, turning her attention to Wisdom.
“Think I can I take that picture now?””That’s the only reason I’m here.” That wasn’t quite true. She had a few other tasks, like jumping to the next reality plenum on her list. She had debated taking Olivia with her, but the girl was probably having so much fun she didn’t even notice Wisdom was missing. Let the girl have her fun, you’re only a teenager once. Though that tended to last a while when you were a magical girl.
“Great,” Kate replied, raising her camera and taking a quick snapshot.
“Welp, that should do it,” she declared after checking the display to confirm that this was, indeed, the
real Oros the Wise.
“I guess Morowa and I’ll be goin’ now, unless you’ve got more mindfuckery planned.”Wisdom put on a heartfelt smile, letting her pride swell from Kate’s comment.
”Oh no, I’m all out of mind-duckery. You have a much better understanding of this world’s rules than I do anyway.” She confessed.
”That said...”If Wisdom had the time, she might have said “but Bonnie might.” Though the cybernetic wolf girl was already in motion. Despite her gun being larger than she was, despite her body being larger than almost any magical girl in this world, and despite her shape not being conductive for fast movement, she practically teleported over the counter and seized hold of Kate’s camera. Her gloved fingers concealing the camera in her grasp.
Tina had not gotten very far by trying to steal Kate’s special camera, but the countermeasures put in place to protect it did not seem to slow Bonnie down in the slightest. Her arm arced with blue light, and she kept her steady, judgemental gaze on Kate as she pulled the camera towards herself.
Morowa had hopped backwards. She got her power from her world’s moons, which were nowhere to be found in this reality. But Wisdom didn’t take her eyes off the scuffle. Her head was empty of everything, save the thought that in this magical world of magical girls, it was technological marvels like Penny, Nykannis, and Bonnie that held the most power.
“W-What the fuck?!” Kate exclaimed in shock, her eyes going wide as her camera was snatched out of her hands.
“And how the hell are you still holding that without screaming your lungs out in pain?!”Rather than give an answer, Bonnie turned the camera around and quickly scrolled through it. Once she was done, she handed the camera back to Kate.
”Not bad for an ordinary photographer.” She stepped over to the exit door and placed a hand on the frame.
”Is there a destination you wish to reach?” Bonnie’s voice was perfectly neutral, as if the brief theft of Kate’s camera had never happened.
“Nykannis’s Lab,” Kate replied warily, even as she took a quick snapshot of Bonnie. After all, someone capable of ignoring her camera’s security measures was definitely worth learning more about.
“So, is this a friend of yours, or just a professional acquaintance?” she asked Wisdom, pointing her thumb at the cyborg monster girl.
It took Wisdom a moment to come out of her haze and address Kate.
”Acquaintance is a strong word. She just takes me around this part of the multiverse. ” She winked.
Bonnie said nothing. She remained as still as a statue until the doorway changed to Nykannis’s lab. Or at least, an area near the giant superstructure. Unlike a lot of interdimensional travelers, Bonnie respected the boundaries of homes and bases, and seldom traversed inside.
Morowa had sprung to her feet. Her eyes bounced between Wisdom and Bonnie as she moved to be beside Kate.
”I’m not in a rush to go back home. Can I come with you?”“Well, yeah,” Kate said with a chuckle.
“I was just about to invite ya along. Now that my current job’s finished, we can hang out for a bit. Plus, I think you’ll enjoy meeting my pal Nykannis. She’s a little unhinged, but she’s still pretty cool, and pretty helpful, too,” the photographer explained.
”Unhinged?” She closed her eyes, only to remember that she was blind to the future here.
”’Unhinged’ doesn’t fill me with confidence, but if you think she’s ‘cool and helpful’ I’ll take your word for it.” “Don’t worry,” Kate told her with a reassuring smile as she placed an arm around the moth girl’s shoulder.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t mess with ya.”This seemed to reassure the moth woman, at least a little. She took hold of Kate’s arm and walked out the door. Moments later, Kate and Morowa disappeared from view as the doorway fogged over.
...
”That’s not how I expected things to end, but in retrospect, it makes the most sense.” Wisdom leaned against the door frame and folded her arms.
”That was a lot of effort just to get Kate to take your picture.” ”Was that all I did?” As Bonnie replied, a clone of her materialized behind her. Wisdom only sighed in response.
”You activated Kate’s camera and turned her data of you into a clone, and then hid it?” ”That is the simple version of what I did, yes. I also gave her photos of some of the other Oroses, though I would not be surprised if Nykannis chose not to use them.”Wisdom knew better than to ask for the detailed version. Any world that operated on “observer theory” was sure to have plenty of other rules that would fry her brain like an egg. Perhaps the photographer was right. Nykannis was smart in any universe, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t using
this world’s broken logic to the fullest of her ability.
”Did you get everything you wanted out of this meeting I arranged for you?” ”Yes, your performance was satisfactory. Your payment has already been sent to the academy. But I would like you to have this as well.”Wisdom extended her hand, and Bonnie placed a grief seed in her outstretched palm. As an interdimensional traveler with divining powers, she knew exactly what the seed was capable of. But she was also aware that her thoughts were likely being probed by eldritch entities, so it was best to not think about what the seed actually did. Though she was excited to use it as soon as possible.
”Aren’t we generous today?” ”You served the CAPRICORN well, you get a seed. I only wish you had a personal stake in what was going on.””I guess we’re both going to leave disappointed.” Wisdom smiled. There really wasn’t anything more for them to talk about. The wise Oros was not especially interested in the going ons of this world, and Bonnie wasn’t being especially forthcoming with her plans.
”Do you have my next stop prepared?””Yes, Marrywell Academy is right through that door.” The usually stern pilot grinned.
”Second time’s the charm?” ”With faculty like this?” Wisdom rolled her eyes and stepped through the doorway. She vanished without saying goodbye.
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