synopsychic | Ambit thoughts [Late in the intro liminal]

Hey, so, uh. I was here like a year ago or something. Some of you might remember me, name's Neeshka, with the horns and the tail and black gryphon. He's back, too, by the way, and kind of hard to miss.

But I wasn't in a dungeon or anything, I just kind of... went off and did my own thing. I was kind of thinking about that, because of something the Fool said when I got back, and something Thorne said a few days ago, and, uh. I kind of wanted to toss it out there for other people to gnaw on because I'm out of thoughts to think about it.

So I was 'out of ambit', right? That's what the Fool called it. But he said that maybe it was all in my head. Like the word he used was "yes" when I asked him if it was real or if it was in my head. So he was saying, I think, that it was both somehow? Only I have stuff in my hammerspace from the places I'd been, and Monkey is definitely bigger than he was when I left. And Thorne and I were talking about, you know, liminal goo and how we're kind of like little Trumps because making liminal rooms is like making a liminal space only in miniature, and I know that fits in somehow, but I don't think I can figure out how it fits.

So I'm tossing that out there. And you guys can maybe figure out how it fits, if it does.

Oh, and don't ask me to talk about where I was when I was gone. I kind of don't remember most of it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's a long stretch of silence before Sabetha replies, long enough that Neeshka might be excused for assuming she's said her piece and withdrawn from the conversation.]

I could teach you. So that next time, you can find your way back under your own power, and not by chance.

[Can it even work that way? She has no idea. But it's better than nothing.]

Aw, did you miss me?

[She doesn't mean that seriously. She wouldn't be surprised if Sabetha had been relieved she was gone. But it's the obvious thing to say there.]

I know some portals, and some other liminal stuff, but I won't say no to you showing me more.

Is that so hard to believe?

My door's the same as it's always been. Come by, and we can get started.

Oh. ... okay.

[Well, the joke fell flat, and Neeshka isn't sure how to respond, so she just doesn't. Instead, she makes haste to Sabetha's personal room to see what she has to learn.

Probably a lot.

She pokes her head in if it's unlocked, raps smartly if it isn't.]

[It's not locked, if only because Sabetha's expecting her.

The room inside is wood-walled, large stained glass windows letting in the moonlight beyond. The space is still small, but carefully arranged - bed in one corner, desk and bookshelves lining the walls lacking in windows, small table stocked with wine set opposite the bed. The large cushion near the table is perfectly sized for a gryphon, though Sabetha still has no entourage of her own.]

What do you recall of portals?

[Monkey pushes past Neeshka to come butt his head up against Sabetha's chest for petting, before he even considers the cushion. Neeshka follows him in more sedately, though perhaps a bit wistfully.]

Regular portals, teleporting a little ways, and I can kind of make a portal to catch arrows or bullets shooting at me. That's kind of cool, right?

[Sabetha smiles faintly in spite of herself, and drapes one arm briefly around Monkey's neck in a loose hug, while her other hand seeks out just the right spot to scritch between his feathers.]

That sounds incredibly useful, given how often we seem to find ourselves in the midst of people trying their hardest to kill each other, themselves, and any other poor bastard stuck in the area. Maybe we can exchange some tricks, then. Did you ever pick up the trick of reading what lies beyond a portal? That's the first step to opening them beyond our normal range - being able to distinguish one type of space from another from the sense of the door.

I--

[Neeshka pauses, considers whether she wants to bring up Sabeth'a dungeon, and then decides to brave it, though she does fly by it pretty quickly:]

I did. Actually. I could tell that you were the one behind that door. I didn't realize that was really related to portals, I guess.

[Monkey, oblivious, just croons and leans into Sabetha's torso for better scritches.]

[She grimaces slightly at the reminder of that debt, however quickly it's glossed past.]

The Bond blurs those lines. We'll have to test you against something that doesn't lead to Thorne, Raidou, or myself, to be certain it's not a false reading. We know you've mastered manipulation of Liminal constructs in other spaces, at least...

[And Neeshka isn't going to push it, either, not with that expression. She'd be happy to never mention it again. ~~Even if some parts of it had been kind of okay.~~]

After the places we've been, yeah, figured it was kind of necessary. So do you need to test the other thing first, or can we just try what comes after that and see what happens?

After spending the better part of a year thinking you might've been lost trying to bridge worlds, I'd rather not set you up to actually be lost making that attempt without the proper grounding.

I'll form a portal. Without peeking, tell me where it leads.

[She lifts a hand to summon one of the unmistakable swirling vortices, opaque enough that there's no seeing through to the other side - which is in an out-of-the-way corner of the Workshop.

Well, hopefully out of the way. If anyone wanders through in their smallclothes, she'll know she missed.]

[Neeshka shifts a little awkwardly at the mention, again, of Sabetha even thinking about her while she was gone let alone trying to figure out where she went, but she does as instructed.]

Uh. I think it's the Workshop. Like, back in the back by the door that leads to all the bedrooms?

[Monkey is used to portals. Portals mean they're going somewhere, right? He pulls out of Sabetha's arm to investigate, so better close it fast or he'll hop right through.]

Easy there, big boy.

[The portal snaps shut - it's not one of the longer lasting ones anyhow, and it's no great trick to cancel it early.]

No adventuring today.

The next step is where it starts to get complicated. You have to weave the sense of other spaces together with the twist of thought that allows you to apply Liminal tricks to alternate spaces - like dungeons - and use that to reach for a different aspect of Liminal Space than the one connected to the world of the Jaunt. It's a little like picking a lock blindfolded.

So pretend I'm in a dungeon and try to open a portal to some other type of liminal space?

[That's what she's gathering from that, anyway, looking thoughtful. Monkey squawks at finding his path blocked by a wall, now, and looks over his shoulder at Sabetha accusingly. No fair, tricking him!]

You'll get over it.

[That to Monkey, and sounding more than a little amused. To Neeshka, she tips her head in a slight nod.]

A little like that. I'm not certain if how you envision it is actually critical - just the part where you reach beyond where you would typically be able to move.

Ambit thoughts [Late in the intro liminal]

Private, Protection 1

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==> Action? XD

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