un: fox rain

[foxable]

[ There's a muffled sound of someone talking, before a rustle and then Fox's voice coming in clearer over the crystals: ]

Alright folks, thanks to our local resident sorcerer, I've figured out a spell I've been meaning to offer. I just want to say that this is totally voluntary - it involves tattoos, which I know not everyone is keen about, but I think considering where we're headed, and how we've been travelling...

Well.

Let's just say I would rather we don't lose people and only find out they fell off a mountain like two days later.

Okay, anyway, so with all that preamble:

I'm offering small 'emergency broadcast' tattoos. I couldn't think of a better name for them, but you know, hit me up if you can think of a better moniker. It can be whatever you want - I can work the runes into a specialized design - or it can be small and hidden somewhere on your person. Essentially, when you aren't able to send out a help signal to the rest of us, and are in grave danger or are severely wounded, it will message our quartz network directly, and let us know that you're in trouble.

It, um, will also let us know if you're alive or dead or not.

Anyway, I know it's kind of morbid, but considering everything we've been going through... Well.

I'd just rather know that everyone's okay, I guess. Especially when we get separated.

So. If you want one, hit me up. If you don't want one, you can always come find me when you change your mind.

Comments

[darth imperius] voice posted:

[darkeststars]

You cooked this up with Karsa, hm? So are these things permanent then?

[ pause ]

Also, how are we defining 'alive'?

[ he sounds pretty chill, by the way. apparently he's willing to let that argument before the siege be water under the bridge if Fox is. ]

[foxable]

[ The siege helped put a few things in perspective for him, so he sounds equally unbothered when he replies: ]

I mean, yeah. Sort of. Tattoos are as permanent as the skin they're on, yeah? So the spell on them can be broken if you damage the skin under them badly enough. So it's not completely failsafe. And you can get tattoos removed, of course, but enchanted ones are sturdier.

Um, well - I'm afraid I don't really know much about how undeath works here, yet, so the uh - the more basic definition. If your heart stops, it'll think you're dead. With a lot of time I could make them pick up more detailed information, but- I don't get the sense we're going to have a lot of time.

[darkeststars]

Mm, simple enough. As long as this -- spell of yours looks for a heartbeat rather than something more metaphysical, seems difficult for it to trip up on loopholes. [ catch him trying to follow the proper terminology, ugh he guesses he's going to have to acknowledge spells are probably a different thing from the Force since apparently everybody really does come from various crazy alternate dimensions and timelines. Over the past couple weeks he's had a few things put in perspective for himself too. ]

I see, though, an actual traditional tattoo -- you apply the ink yourself, then? I'm rather surprised you could manage to scrounge up usable equipment around here.

[foxable]

Mm, I do dotwork. Back home most tattoos are done by machine these days, but people have been doing tattoos for thousands of years. Dotwork is more painful, but since a gentle numbing or healing spell is fairly easy, and the process of tattooing makes the skin numb naturally as you go anyway.

The supplies for the actual tattooing aren't difficult to come by, and magic works perfectly to sterilize it. Mostly it just requires the components for the spell and - well - patient. On both my part and the sitter's. [ He paused, then added with a laugh: ]

The former tends to burn out faster. Which is why I never bothered to try to do them professionally. Too boring. But uh... turns out zombies are a great motivator. Who knew.

[darkeststars]

[ dryly ] Can't imagine why.

Of course I've noted the locals do their own tattooing, but for my own part, must say the sorts of tools and technology they use for things around here have thus far been so... hm, basic as to be near unrecognizable. I'm not all that familiar, but I think a great deal of tattooing is done by droids out in the wider galaxy... [ he figures he looks Sith enough, never bothered to find out where all the cool kid Dark Lords were getting their ink from, okay ]

But I suppose a trained eye knows better what to do with even limited supplies. Anyhow-- ...I doubt if I would need one myself. But I will pass the word along. Certainly the more emergency communications we all have available to us, of any kind, the better.

[ it's nice that discomfort is much easier to hide over a voice transmission than in person. Not that he didn't think about it for a little bit, but there are certain considerations to be made. ]

un: dappled pearl of the parted seas [voice]

[beitangmoran]

The concept seems rather fascinating, but I will have to respectfully decline.

[foxable]

No problem, Mr Pearl! Like I said, I know they aren't everyone's bag of tea.

You can always let me know if you change your mind!

It's just nice knowing your friends aren't dying, so don't go out and die on me instead, okay?

[beitangmoran]

My name is Beitang Moran, not Pearl.

And I assure you, I have no plan of dying.

[foxable]

Right, sorry, I get really lost with all the weird usernames...

And good! Good. I'm glad to hear it. Just. You know. We all would rather not die, I think, generally speaking, but then nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition right? Or the, um, Zombie Inquisition.

Sorry, stupid joke.

[beitangmoran]

.... I beg your pardon?

un: deft hand of little deaths [Voice]

[scrapgege]

Isn't there a way to put this on a talisman instead?

[He's... not really keen on another tattoo.]

un: fishcious rumors [Voice]

[royal_venant]

[ This is after an almost panic attack somewhere private, just him, petting Patricia until he can talk again. His voice is clearly not steady. ]

I second this. Is there a way we could put this on an item we can carry?

[ He's got a Mark already on his body, thank you. 0/10, would not recommend. ]

[foxable]

Ummmm, yes and no.

Not easily. Is the answer. Tattoo magic kind of comes with some inherent properties, yeah? It's like, um, being on fiber wire instead of dial-up, yeah? [ A pause. ] Okay so that might not make sense depending on what, um, timelines, uh...

Okay. It's like having a guy right next to you versus a guy throwing something at you from a block away. The guy right next to you can deliver his message instantly, know that you got it, and confirm any questions. If the guy down the street throws his message at you tied to a rock, it could miss, and even if it doesn't it still takes longer to get to you.

On you, a tattoo can react to your condition without you having to react to it. I could make a talisman - like a necklace or something - do it, but it would take me a lot more time and won't be as effective. And I'd have to ask Karsa how to tie in the magic to the quartz from that angle.

Um - anyway long story short, yes, there's a way. I designed the spell with tattoos in mind just because it's the most immediately effective.

[ ... also, you know, if you guys need help with Evil Tattoos, hit him up...? ]

[royal_venant]

[ Ya, he had to take another moment to come down from a near panic. He had a magic tattoo that did everything already listed on the can. And he would not do that again. Voice still unsteady. ]

I will not be getting one.

[foxable]

[ Fox is not the most insightful person in the world, but he isn't completely devoid of it, and he can't help but pick up the unsteadyness. ]

No problem. Like I said, it's definitely only an opt-in thing.

You, um. You okay?

[scrapgege]

Oh. Well, never mind, then.

Besides, I don't really need those kind of things.

[foxable]

[ He laughs. ]

I mean - you so sure? I admit I saw you do some - um - pretty crazy shit during the seige, but uh-

-- okay wait are you invulnerable?

I didn't think it was possible but this place is really testing my beliefs in the laws of nature.

un: what a load of pollocks

[sergeant_slick]

[This is weird as hell but he's willing to entertain the idea that this is just how reality works now]

So it's just an SOS? Does it do location too?

[foxable]

Just an SOS for now. I can probably figure out how to get it to do location too, but that might take a bit, and uh -

Well.

Might be a little privacy invasive?

Maybe for now just make sure to tell someone where you're going...

[sergeant_slick]

And would you change the ink to do that, or would it just... update? [He has no idea how this stuff works, but he's not fond of surprises that he doesn't instigate. So, better to ask.]

[foxable]

Nah, I'd have to tattoo the rest of the spell - sort of like adding to a drawing later.

That's one of the things I love about tattoo spellwork - you can just keep growing and editing them as you go!

[un: sprite bulb] text;

[bearshermark]

It sounds like a good idea. I know I'd appreciate knowing if someone is in need of help.

[foxable]

Yeah? Damn, I'm glad to hear it. For a second I was starting to think it was a really stupid idea.

So that mean you want one?

[bearshermark]

If I can get Hendrik to agree to one as well, which shouldn't be too hard.

I hope a few others come around. It would have been very helpful during the siege. We got pretty lucky, there.

[foxable]

great! i can incorporate the spell into different designs, so let me know if there's something particular you'd like as a tattoo

and where you want me to put it

i suggest somewhere unlikely to be slashed open somehow

and yeah. that was my thought. very lucky. that luck isn't gonna hold forever, you know?