8FOLD: Darkhorse # 5, "The Vicious Air"

[Drew Perron]

On 6/5/2016 2:33 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
<snip>
>    "Parallel earth," says Melody. "It might be my velocity interfered
> with your positioning. Heisenberg sort of thing."
>    "What, like Breaking Bad? You ruined everything!"

Heeheehee.

>    This actually takes quite a lot out of her. Why does she feel so
> light-headed and weak? Same reason it hurts to breath, she realizes.
> Her watch confirms it: radiation levels are off the hook. Great. The
> mancer isn't likely to survive it for long.

Oof. One of those post-nuke worlds, probably.

>    "Gross, gross, gross!" says a voice in her comm.
>    "Cal?"
>    "Down here! Your left."

Ahhhhhh, yes. :D

>    "Radiation," says Melody. "Don't worry, you're going to be immune
> while you're bite-sized. Complicated, hard-to-explain side effect of
> your atoms occupying the same space simultaneously on different
> earths," she handwaves.

See, I figured it would be because you're a different size relative to the 
wavelength of the radiation? Or maybe because your atoms are more tightly 
packed? Or something

>    The dog yodels again, and then there's a sound behind them that's
> suspiciously similar to that of a laser weapon being primed for
> discharge. Melody whirls around and sees the little fluffy bunny with
> the thump-activated weapon mounted on its side.

Ah! :D :D :D I SEE

>    "What are you waiting for?" says Cal. (The bunny's eyes dart back
> to Cal.) "You should grab its gun. This totally isn't me distracting
> the bunny, by speaking a language it can't understand (I hope) so that
> you can grab its gun."

Heeheehee :3

>    "It's a bunny!"
>    "So was the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog."
>    "God, you are such a nerd!"

XD XD XD

>    "Tell that to her!"
>    "To who? The bunny?"
>    "To the blonde! I'm pointing at the blonde with the hole in her head!"
>    "You realize I can't really tell if you're pointing at anything."

*cacklesnerk*

> I did some preliminary analysis on
> her cells. You know when she came back, it was without the Metronome
> belt." Derek nods. "Well, it looks like its properties were absorbed
> into her cells. We'll need to run some tests, but I think she can
> phase now, naturally."

Ahhhhhhh, of course. <3

>    "I have an idea," says Rainshade.
>    "I'm not going to like it, am I?"
>    "No," says Rainshade. "You won't. That's why we just did it."
>    "Wait, what?"
>    She stands up. "I've just acted as a conduit for a mnemonomancer of
> my acquaintance."

Oh wow. :D (And it's probably Donald, isn't it)

> "Whole lot of them are
> standard-issue mancer conspiracy nuts, ranting against this
> non-existent Company.

(it's definitely Donald)

>    "Not exactly," says Melody. "It's not so much that each world has
> its own frequency, but that it has its own frequency relative to every
> other world."

Ooooooh, interesting.

>    "What?"
>    "It's not like each world has a fixed address.

That's not what They Might Be Giants said! ;.;

> Let's pretend, for a moment, that you have a job."
>    "When I get full-sized, I'm going to punch you, lady."

*cackle*

>    "Why would I be walking? Walking is for pedestrians."

Cal I love you.

> So, you wander around town until you see something
> you do recognize, a landmark. Once you see the library, you know your
> way home. So, that's where we are: we got dropped on some random
> earth. We can wander around, jumping from one earth to another, but
> until we get somewhere I've been before, I don't know how to get us
> home, because each world only has a frequency relative to every other
> world."

Ahhhhhhhhh. :o That makes sense.

>    "I will get you home, Cal. Not to brag, but I tend to pull off the
> impossible on a semi-regular basis."
>    "Ugh. You can't say 'not to brag', and then say something like
> that. It's like saying, 'not to punch you in the face', and then
> punching someone in the face."
>    "I love you too."
>    "Oh my God, you are the worst.

GOOD BANTER.

> Said bunny and said dog are presently being attacked by
> a half-dozen angry six foot tall chickens with laser-breath, which,
> okay, is probably not really a thing, but you tell that to chickens
> who open their beaks and then lasers come out.

Amazing XD

> Melody dashes past the bunny, the
> dog, and the chickens, stopping in front of the chicken she knocked
> over. With her finger, she draws a straight line in the sand from its
> beak, hypnotizing it.

Niiiiiiiice. :D

> A moment later, the bunny comes out of the bag
> with three dull bits of metal in its mouth. She dumps it into the
> sand. Soda can tabs. The bunny nudges the tabs toward Melody, and then
> hops a safe distance away.
>    Melody stares at the tabs, blinking.
>    The bunny hops forward, again nudges the tabs toward Melody, and
> again hops away.

*giggles* <3 <3 <3

>    "Are all parallel earths so weird?" says Cal after Melody has
> picked her up again.

*cackles*

>    "First of all, every world is a world where chicken hypnosis is a
> marketable skill," says Melody. "But you're thinking of alternate
> timelines. Those are specific to each earth. Parallel earths are
> different; they usually don't have any kind of overlap with our
> earth's history.

Huh. That's an interesting idea.

Drew "the implications are complex tho" Perron