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live the life of (y)our dreams
Dreamshapers adventures continue
Permalink Mark Unread

A routine helps, it gives structure and allows for the pain to fade. Felix and the others slowly get to know each other and used to each other's presence.

This helps a lot.

Felix sometimes feels that this means that he should be more recovered. Sometimes he feels it means something bad that he is recovered at all. Like that's not a sign of a true friend.

Often, he wonders about the fork back home. It's a strange kind of self-doubt. Is he being a good friend?

But he is improving. He has to improve. There is an entire world that needs his help.

Doing small things related to that goal give him a sense of peace that puts his mind out of his problems.

So, he is flying around unraveling a storm...

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Epimetheus and Prometheus keep tabs on him when he's doing this sort of thing - more out of habit of watching out for people, and lingering paranoia about someone unfriendly finding Felix and doing him harm.

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And there is someone watching him - although it's hard to tell whether or not they're friendly, or have any nefarious purposes. It's also hard to figure out where they are, whoever it is, they've got some skill at staying covert.

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Felix relies on flying high and the fact that most people wouldn't investigate that closely if they saw a winged man in the sky during a storm.

This one is a trick one to unravel safely, but he is managing it. At some point he is sufficiently tired of flying that he lands on top of a low tree to work his magic from there.

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Was that a rustle in a nearby bush? Possibly just the weather...

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Felix is very focused on the weather, though more on how it's behaving all the way up there.

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"You sure you should be doing this, mate?" a voice calls up to him.

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He startles. His feathers raised like a scared cat.

"I am not doing anything!"

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"I was talking more the 'flying around with obvious wings' part. What were you talking about?"

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Damn it. "I was not flying. These are fake."

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"...Okay, we didn't take video evidence, but like, we could've. Where are you even- Wait, no, you're probably not going to tell me where you're from."

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"Who is we?"

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A woman steps into view. "Sometimes my brother forgets what 'covert' means."

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"Were you two spying on me?"

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"Not precisely. We had reason to be out this way anyway. You simply drew our attention."

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"A reason... that involves the word 'covert'?"

He subtly starts to draw on fog. Not yet to their immediate area, but close enough he will be able to blanket the place if necessary.

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"Habit more than anything else. We were spec ops for...a long time."

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"Tal sometimes forgets that we don't have to speak in tongues any more."

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"And, what are you two Spec Ops doing in here? In the middle of nowhere?"

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"Looking for some old friends."

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"Do they have names?"

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"Who doesn't?"

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"..."

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"Do you have names?"

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"Henri Wilkes, my sister Talia."

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"Wilkes, you say? That sounds familiar." 'Sidora mentioned it.

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The woman tilts her head thoughtfully. "Hm, perhaps our friends mentioned us."

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"He always did complain about you laughing about the blue zebra thing."

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"Blue zebras are not even that weird as far dream goes."

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"They're weirder than any hallucination I've ever had. Well, to be fair, I don't often get hallucinations. Except that one time I was really ill with the flu, but we don't talk about that."

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"At any rate. I am sure that if your friend wants to meet you, he will be able to find you."

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"Easier said than done for them right now..."

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Epimetheus appears at that moment. "Is there a-?" she stops as she spots Henri and Talia.

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"Epime," Talia greets (and there's something subtly wrong about how she pronounces the name).

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"There is something," Felix tells Epimetheus. He keeps an eye on everyone.

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Epimetheus settles back some, into an at-ease position. "I cannot say that I was anticipating seeing you two here."

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"We've been trying to find you for a while. You do a real good job of disappearing. And not responding to us didn't leave us particularly assured that you hadn't been snatched up by the people hunting you."

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"We have been distracted."

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"Should I stop being pearched from this very tall branch?" He asks Epimetheus.

They probably aren't buying it, but plausible deniability in case of cameras.

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She thinks for a moment. "They are safe," she states. "You can come down."

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Felix leaps and gracefully lands, producing a small burst of wind. "Hi, again. You look better from this angle."

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"I often find that conversing face to face rather tree bottom to tree top improves the quality of the interaction."

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"Likewise, so, are these friends?"

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"Old comrades. But I suppose friends applies."

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"You wound me, Epime!"

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"I trust you, 'Sidora and 'Metheus are...as okay as you can be?"

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"We are...mostly free. If that is what you mean."

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"Maybe you should tell us how have you been?"

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"This one," Talia gestures at Henri, "made good on his promise to publish trashy supernatural romance novels and has somehow found acclaim doing so."

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"Ooh, how trashy?"

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"-Oh no."

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Henri grins broadly. "As trashy as I could make them and then some."

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"Oooh, any favorites among your body of work?"

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"Might I suggest we adjourn to the cabin if we are going to continue this conversation?"

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"Sounds wise."

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"I can talk and walk," Henri declares. "And a journey always goes much faster with good conversation."

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"Agreed." Felix absently starts opening a way through the fog.

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"Ooh, that's handy."

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"Thanks, I try, so about those trashy romance novels?" Felix says as he starts walking.

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And Henri explains the general gist of his novels as they walk - they're an ongoing series about supernatural creatures and the humans who teach them how to really live.

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Felix is very intrigued.

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Henri is clearly delighted to have an audience, and occasionally throws comments back over his shoulder to Talia to that effect.

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For someone who was complaining about this outcome, Talia looks fairly content with it, and responds to her brother's comments with sharp wit.

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Felix is delighted.  

They come by a portal. Felix decides to let Epime decide if she wants to open it. Just in case.

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She hesitates for a moment and then nods to him - she trusts these two with Anesidora's life, and this is part of that now.

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"Let me open that for you."

Felix creates a small spark between his fingers and then throws it portalward.

There is a shimmer in the air and now they can see the other side. A nice garden with a house in the distance.

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"-Oh, wow. That's- Uh. Magic?"

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"Quite literally."

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"I am the most magic. It's safe." He steps in.

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Epimetheus follows him, posture perfectly relaxed - very carefully so.

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Talia and Henri share a look, and follow after them. "Quite impressive. And also not something I have encountered before. Colour me curious."

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"Epime's brothers are nearby if you want them to help explain it to you. The super short version is that I can make places like this. Among other things."

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There's a noticeable sigh of relief from both. "That's...good to know. That they're okay. We've been. Worried."

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"Hopefully, I have been helpful with that. Despite being spotted just now." He gives Epimetheus an apologetic look.

The place is gorgeous. The path is tiled with a beautiful geometrical pattern in colorful quartz. There are stone pillars around, with fires atop of them. There is the occasional winged statue. And here is the house proper. It looks like something out of an architectural design magazine.

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"These two are a little more observant than most."

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"We were also fairly close at hand before we saw you."

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Henri is busy appreciating the surroundings.

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That's when 'Sidora appears, immediately crossing to Felix to kiss him. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

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Kiss. "I wasn't planning to. But... guests found me and followed us home." He waves at the guests.

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'Sidora turns to look and-

-and crosses over to Henri, grabs his face and kisses him.

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Henri looks briefly startled, but kisses back, and then wraps his arms around 'Sidora in a tight hug. "Hello to you too. We've missed you."

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Felix giggles. "Luckily, we can count on 'Sidora's ability to give a warm reception."

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"Always," Talia agrees, smiling warmly.

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'Sidora looks back to Felix. "Oh, uh- you've been introduced right?"

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"We have. We even talked about trashy romance novels."

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"It was wonderful."

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"And we didn't even get around talking about how I have an entire new genre of trashy novels from my home universe. Or about my home universe."

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"We have so much more to discuss!"

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Talia narrows her eyes slightly. "You just woke up. Is 'Metheus making pancakes?"

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"I put good odds on the answer to that being 'yes'."

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Felix will summon a breeze from the kitchen to check if it smells like breakfast.

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It definitely smells like breakfast.

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"Shall we get to know each other better over breakfast then?"

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"Of course. What do you want to know?"

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"Let's start with 'everything' and go from there?"

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"I rather think you are going to need more than breakfast to cover 'everything'."

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"Better start soon then. In the beginning, when the universe was young. Okay, not that far off. It might be a good idea if you caught them up on things before I showed up."

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'Sidora takes care of that. It doesn't take him a massive amount of time - Henri and Talia had been with them almost right to the end, so it's really just filling them in on what has happened since 'Sidora and his siblings fled.

"And then...well. Apparently I fell asleep for like. Twenty four hours?"

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Felix nods. "I should've tried to sleep sooner, but I wasted a long time under the hypothesis that this universe was just a pocket dimension. Then, I had to travel where they were and deal with the justifiably paranoid Epime."

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"I can't imagine that was easy," Talia sounds more amused and fond than anything else.

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"I did what I felt was necessary."

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"She only threatened to shoot him once."

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"Now that's an improvement."

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"Anyway, after a couple more misdirection and death threats, I explained that I could help 'Sidora and then did that. It turns out that he had became a dreamshaper - someone who can create pocket dimensions like this one - and couldn't wake up until I rescued him from his own pocket dimension."

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"Fascinating," Talia says. "And these places are...real? That's not the right word. Obviously they are. We're in one."

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"Heh. Despite the terminology. They are real and exist. They are just a step away from regular reality. Ah, the sky and the horizon are illusory. I mean, past a point there is nothing and if you continue you will fall out of the edge of the dimension."

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"-And what happens if you do that?"

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"Ah, you vanish and then show up again either on Earth or another pocket dimension in area that's close to where you vanished from, that's unoccupied and can hold your weight. Though that can mean at the top of a tree, inside an underground air pocket or in front of a moving truck."

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"-Let's not experiment with that then."

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"I am quite relieved to hear you be sensible about this."

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"Just turn around if your surroundings start going gray and there is a sense of wrongness about and you will be fine. It's sort of safe for me to do it, but most things are safer for me to do it."

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"We're probably going to go for not going anywhere new unescorted. It seems wiser in the immediate."

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"That's entirely fair. Anyway, on top of being a dreamshaper I can fly - obviously - control the weather, control fire, can self-resurrect and I have acquired translation magic that I have no idea where it comes from."

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"I imagine translation magic came in handy. How exactly does it work? Uh, if you know?"

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"I can understand and be understood in any language. I can project understanding in other languages," he switches languages, "this is Tormundic, the language from where my parents come from. I was actually raised bilingual with English. Recordings of my voice don't keep this effect, but things I write do as long they remain intact."

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"-Oh, that's incredibly cool. A little disorientating and weird, but incredibly cool."

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"Thanks. I am still trying to figure out where I got it from."

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"I can think of a half dozen occasions where that would have been incredibly useful. And that's just off the top of my head!"

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"Don't get me wrong. I enjoy it very much. But in my universe people just don't get magical powers like that."

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"Hey. Until you showed up, people in this universe didn't get magic period."

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"Fair enough."

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"Not to put a downer on... any of this. But... do you have a plan?"

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"-For what?"

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"You mean for my situation? It's really not something that can be solved like... that. We are still figuring out how I can help your world."

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"Solving isn't the only thing that should be planned. Keeping you safe is also important. Keeping you all safe."

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Felix nods fervently. "Pocket dimensions are extremely good places to hide, so there is that."

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"Hiding can be...tiresome."

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"Forgive my brother, he shrivels if kept away from his adoring fans."

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"That's a relatable feeling. And I am sure he has a legion of adoring fans."

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"Oh you have no idea."

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Giggle. "Do tell."

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'Sidora launches into the story - apparently Henri had started writing before they'd left the military, and there'd been an operation where they'd been caught, and they'd got out because one of their captors turned out to be a massive fan of Henri's books.

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Felix laughs. "At least it didn't turn into a scenario like in that movie Misery, thank god."

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"That was definitely a plus, yes," Henri agrees with a grin.

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"At any rate, do you have suggestions on how we can stop 'Sidora and his siblings to need to hide?"

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"The simplest way is to get them into the public eye. Governments have a hard time vanishing celebrities."

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"I mean, what if they tried to make it look like an accident?"

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"Harder to arrange than you might think," 'Sidora offers. "Upshot of us removing all the 'evil' from the world. Accidents like that are more suspicious than not."

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"Oh. True... do you think being affiliated with the new winged interdimensional visitor would help acquiring notority?"

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"...Almost certainly."

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"Well, I am glad to be useful."

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"That's too much of a risk." ('Sidora's tone is not quite panicky, but his concern seems to be very much for Felix.)

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"What?"

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'Sidora rubs a hand over his face. "It's- I don't know how to protect you if they decide they want to try and-"

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"I am immortal. If anything, I should be a few orders of magnitude more worried about you."

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"I- maybe- but-" He doesn't have an argument here, not really, but he also doesn't really know to explain that he can't wrap his head around Felix being immortal, and doesn't want to see someone else he loves die.

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Snuggle. Wingful snuggles. "It's okay."

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Wingful snuggles are definitely appreciated.

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Talia starts to clear the dishes. "I do think you're being perhaps a little too paranoid about the risk to Felix."

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"Is not that I don't think we shouldn't be careful - I am attention grabbing by default - it's just that me dying is a temporary set-back and we should plan accordingly."

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"All the same, we're going to avoid death if at all possible."

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"I am totally in agreement with that plan."

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'Sidora relaxes a little into Felix at that.

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"Well, I know a very good publicist to get the ball rolling."

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"Good. What is there to be done before I go public?"

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Well then, to planning. Talia and Henri, it turns out, are incredibly good at planning this sort of thing, even if they're somewhat unsure how to handle the 'extradimensional visitor with magic and wings'.

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Since the point is being protected from the government by the spotlight, Felix figures he should do some kind of public appearance with one or more major news outlets. Multiple outlets means that it would get out there faster, at cost of tailoring the message.

Granted, the message 'extradimensional visitor with magic and wings' there is only so much that they can do to keep control of that bomb.

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Oh. There's a couple of reporters who kind of owe Henri a favour - and one of them moonlights as a blogger, they can probably spread the word while keeping the narrative relatively controlled.

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Great. So, Felix can come in and be all be-winged and be-magical. He can make it known that what he can do and how he wants to put it into good use and his hopes that the government won't interfere much at his work of preventing weather disasters, creating organs for photogenic children and provide clean energy.

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Prometheus is particularly interested in the clean energy thing! (It had been a bit of a pet project of his.)

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In this case it's cheating because they would set-up power-plants inside his dimension and take advantage that they don't need to refuel. Of course, the electricity is the same.

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Cheating is good! And you should always use all the tools at your disposal!

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An attitude he can get behind! When they contact Henri's reporter contacts should they introduce Felix before the big day or just go "really important thing, come here to this day, we will pay you this much but you will want to be part of this anyway"?

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For most of them they're keeping them in the dark until the big day - the blogger however, they're going to bring in before that, she's reliable, and while she's a journalist, she also knows when to keep things quiet to make the most emphasis.

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Great. It would be useful to get see someone react to Felix and see how they can make his revelation less shocking to the other reporters. And she will be able to come to the interview somewhat prepared. Felix knows that it isn't actually what is going to happen, but he keeps imagining the entire room passing out comically.

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Henri really wishes the real world ran on a comedy narrative, because he would pay to see that.

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Epimetheus actually puts good odds on at least one person passing out though.

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They probably should keep someone trained for an emergency... can they filter for reporters without heart conditions?

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They can definitely do that. Beside which, Talia is quite the skilled medic.

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While she appreciates the faith, she also isn't a miracle worker.

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Well... they can warn that the thing will involve some scares, and they have a medical professional - Felix waves at Talia - that advised against sending anyone faint of heart. Presumably, newspapers won't be sending their older journalists.

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Alright then. Epimetheus and Henri will take care of setting things up. If that's all they need to discuss right now?

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Possibly some details, about organizing the place, but that depends on the journalists' replies and considering their budget is "just conjure stuff"... yeah, that's all for now. He thanks them for their help.