The Universe Will Fit Inside My Palm

[Ryn]

Ryn is not one to hem and haw to defer a task. Leaving the Wyldclay's vault she makes her way through the House, staying out of anybody's sightlines, slipping through blindspots and mantling desks. On her way she smoothly grabs somebody's shoulder-slung briefcase, empties it's contents to replace it with the two magical items she's carrying and slips away to the Ghostpaths. In her version of Maldon, plainclothes agents are keeping an eye on the harbor and the estuary in particular, but never notice the shadow weaving through their loose net until it dives headfirst into the water with nary a splash.

Wrapped in the safe confines of her kanaf she passes through the turbulent chaos of the rift, swept by currents that roil and tear through worlds. Until the tearing waters calm as swiftly as they enraged, depositing her into the relatively calm of Earth-24212. Not that she knows or cares about such designations, this is simply the World of the Torn Veil to her. And immediately she feels eyes on her. Piercing and without blindspots through which to move, almost pinning her in place with their gaze. But they're slanted, bent by thinking iron and pressed sand, refracted from somewhere on the shore which is really from where her appearance is being watched. The living machine. Her 'wings' unfurl into strands swaying in the currents and with determined strokes she starts to swim. Obfuscate the relentless machine-eyes and slip away towards the ocean where it will lose track of her.


A good twenty minutes later she lets the waves carry her towards the jagged cliffs beneath the school. She waits for a particularly big one and dives into the current, letting it lift her up and throw her towards the rock. At the last minute she twists in the surf and plants a foot against an outcropping, letting the water press her against the rock without being slammed into it. When the water recedes she finds a grip with one hand and pushes off with hand and foot, gripping hold again a good seven feet higher on millimeters of outcropping. Within minutes she scales the rest of the cliff and holds on to the ledge. Planting her feet against the wall she pushes off and flips back and up onto the ledge in one smooth motion that lands her in a low crouch. She grins and darts across the grounds, sliding behind benches, pulling herself into trees and leaping to an adjoining roof as she evades even cursory glances.

Until finally she lowers herself from the lip of the dormatory roof on one arm to peer into the room holding her target. The Mirror filled with Wills...

[Will Stanton]

The room was apparently empty at the moment -- the primary tenants off to class, or their jobs, or whatever it is normal people did with their time in this strange universe.

The mirror shimmered and shined in the light, rippling slightly from the air conditioning blowing across it. Ryn's face reflected back at her from the mirror, her skin paler, her hair a shade of emerald green.

[Ryn]

"Still creepy." says the woman who's punched a bloated abomination without flinching. She almost rears back to throw herself through the window when she has a better idea. She motions at the mirror to come closer. Or more specifically, wonders if she can coax one of the myriad of Wills out to open the window.

[Will Stanton]

No dice -- didn't Ryn's mother ever teach her not to get into cars with strangers? Not that Ryn had a mother. Or a car. But Will Stanton was a fool, not a dummy, and that wasn't happening.

[Ryn]

Well, she tried. She drops down onto the window ledge and pushes against the window to feel for the increased resistance of the points holding it closed. Then she grabs hold of the frame at one of the points with her fingertips and pulls. The first tug makes something in the frame groan and bend, the second one splinters the frame and tears the window open to let her slip inside. Approaching the mirror she watches her reflection, then presses her palm against the reflective surface, testing it. She could break it and place a shard in the jar, but she's not sure if that's how this Wyldclay works.

[Will Stanton]

After a split second of feeling the cool surface of the mirror, Ryn's hand passed through into the shimmering silver, like breaking the skin on a pudding. The cold sensation briefly snaked up her hand and wrist, being pushed out as much as she pushed in, because this would be the one area where a Will obeyed the laws of physics, naturally.

Not giving her too much time to ponder that, however, was the hand that popped out of the mirror, firmly grasping her wrist.

[Ryn]

Ryn's feet immediately spread and brace against the bottom of the mirror while her left hand grabs the side. She's stronger than her frame suggests, but it's not a great angle for her to pull her and Will's hand away from the mirror's surface.

[Will Stanton]

A green-haired head popped out of the mirror, steely-eyed, and stared down Ryn, keeping a firm grip on her wrist.

"I don't believe you've been invited in, Miss Ryn," he said frowning at her.

[Ryn]

"That's vampires." she helpfully informs Will. Then headbutts them and yanks her arm back to drag Will out of the mirror.

[Will Stanton]

Briefly stunned, Ryn was able to pull Will out of the mirror, but he maintained his grip on her wrist, twisting around in a way joints don't actually work in order to bend Ryn's arm in a pronating wristlock.

"That's manners," Will replied, gaining his footing.

[Ryn]

"I don't really do those." she says, putting up a token amount of resistance to gauge how firm Will's hold it. The pain shooting up her arm and into her shoulder tells her it's solid enough. Granted, it's something meant to disable humans, something neither her nor Will really are. "But if it helps, it's nothing personal."

She lifts one foot to brace it against the mirror frame and pushes herself up into a somersault around the axis of her locked arm. She still feels her ligaments stretch and for one moment as she's upside down in the air her shoulder briefly dislocates and snaps back into place with a 'po-pop'. And the moment her legs touch the ground she carries her side-steps into Will and carries her motion through to pull him off his feet and throw him straight across the room, clenching her teeth at every single joint and tendon in her arm screaming with strain.

[Null]

Will flew across the room, smashing into the bookshelf with a loud crash, sending books and knickknacks everywhere, as he lay dazed from the impact.

Ryn's advantage would be shortlived, however, as another pair of arms reached out of the mirror, one arm tucked under Ryn's arm and clamping around her neck as she was placed in a half nelson.

"And neither do I," this Will sneered. "Nor do I suffer little thieves to break into my ladies' home."

[Ryn]

This threatens to spiral out of control quickly if too many spring out of the mirror. She spins with Will still keeping her in a hold and her hand clenches into a claw. For the briefest of moments she hesitates, herself uncertain as to why exactly, then she slashes her nails across the mirror surface. The four narrow gouges she leaves behind aren't much in terms of physical damage, especially to a Will, but she's torn through Miriam's delicate work and mental manifestation at the same time. Not enough to truly break it but any Will trying to step out of the mirror would find themselves held back by the persisting slash, the doorway barred by the broken surface.

[Will Stanton]

The surface of the mirror rippled as Ryn dipped her nails into it's semi-liquid state, creating a gouge. The gouge was slowly being filled in, the shimmering silver liquid that made up the 'mirror's surface flowing into the gaps and healing it. It wouldn't keep Wills out for long. Afterall, the doorway was Will, and if there was one thing Wills knew how to do, it was heal.

And if there were two things Wills knew how to do, it was fight. The second Will ('Null') used his free hand to grasp Ryn's wrist, just a moment too late to prevent her from scarring the mirror. He increased his pressure on Ryn's windpipe as he did so. The first Will, meanwhile, had picked himself up, and built up a head of steam to charge at the two of them.

[Ryn]

Ryn might be able to hold her breath for quite a while but she does need to breathe. Her wrap shirt unravels and hundreds of thin fibers lash around Null. Straining against his hold her whole body clenches as the fibers tighten to cut into 'Null' like wire through clay and with one final jerk Ryn straightens up as 'Null' falls to pieces around her. Only to be folded in half as Will charges into her, knocking her off her feet and ramming her into the wall, driving what little air she had left from her lungs.

The elbow that comes down on Will's back to knock him off of her would probably incapacitate a human if not outright break their spine, but Will doesn't exactly need one to begin with.

[William Stanton]

Ryn's elbow does, however, leave a fairly massive indentation in Will's back and successfully force him to roll to one side, giving Ryn a half-second of breathing room...

...before the damned blanket on the couch flew at her, wrapping itself tightly around her face.

[Ryn]

Ryn opens her mouth and bites into the blanket, ripping a hole into it through which to breathe. She can't see, which wouldn't be the end of the world but she also can't hear very well. Her foot moves around until it finds the prone Will's head and stomps on it while her tattered 'wings' grasp at the wall behind her, reaching until she feels the opening of the window. Or a window anyway. Without a second thought she jumps, foot landing on the edge of the windowsill and sliding until it hits the corner, giving her enough of a mental picture to throw herself through and out of the window.

Falling blindly she wishes she'd memorized more of the terrain outside, twisting so she's falling forward and kicking at the wall to turn some of her momentum forwards to land in a roll the sends them tumbling head over heels a couple of times before she manages to brace a foot against the ground and grind to a halt.

[Will Stanton]

Glancing back at the window she just jumped out of, Ryn could see multiple Wills beginning to climb through, in various states of disarray. One's head had a clear and obvious bootprint in it, dangling oddly from the neck as he climbed out onto the windowsill. A second had a clear bite taken out of the torso, slowly filling in as she followed suit, eyes steeled and focused on their target.

Around Ryn's head and body, the blanket was closing the hole and expanding, attempting to bundle and bind Ryn where she landed on the ground.

[Ryn]

Ryn starts tearing at the blanket as she breaks into a sprint. Your damned jar better work, Wyldclay.

Between ripping at the blanket she fishes the magic jar out of her bag and finds herself forced to toss it into the air to free up her hand to grab at the Will-Blanket again, managing to tear a gap for her eyes in time to catch the jar again in the other hand. She keeps juggling it with hands, elbows and knees while wrangling Will and bundling him up, weaving the strands of her kanaf into broad ribbons with which to bind Will long enough to make progress bunching him up. Once she feels she has enough of him under control she catches the jar one last time and shoves on corner of the bunched blanket into it. Sure, there's a lot more blanket than there is room in the jar but it is magic and Will is a shapeshifter. So she just keeps jamming and stuffing.

[Will Stanton]

As soon as the edge of the blanket passed the thin ring of...whatever it was around the inside of the jar (Ryn had not asked!)...it fell apart, collapsing into clay, squelching and squishing as Ryn kept shoveling and shoveling, fitting more and more in than she would have thought possible.

The blanket stretched itself out, trying to counter Ryn by cramming bits of itself down her throat; it was not giving up without a fight. Anything that passed within the ring, however, stayed motionless and...inert? Inert's a good word for it.

If that wasn't enough of a problem, the sky was darkening, as seven or eight ravens closed the gap towards her. Not astral ravens, like she had fought with the Morrigan, but actual, factual ravens, cawing angrily from the direction of the dorms. And, from the woods at the edge of the quad, Ryn's advanced senses could pick up rustling, as more joined the hunt...

[Ryn]

What is it with Wyldclays trying to cram themselves down her throat? Unlike previously though, this time she bites down so hard her inhuman teeth sever it cleanly and she swallows. Multiple times and with no small amount of effort but bit by bit the Will-Blanket is swallowed up by the flames inside of her and burned away into oblivion. When she's finally rid of it and stuffing the remaining mass into the jar she hacks and coughs, spitting mouthful of blood into the grass as she runs, cutting away from the direction of the rustling and making a break for the mansion to duck inside and lose some of her pursuers.

[Will Stanton]

The ravens divebombed her as she ran across the quad, a cacophony of caws ringing through the air, their talons attempting to dig into her flesh and put her down.

[Ryn]

There's too many to stop them all, but with each swoop of ravens Ryn's hand snaps out to punch a bird out of the air or slap it into the ground. It doesn't keep her from getting torn up but it does thin the flock. She throws herself through another window, landing in a much more controlled roll inside the library. Not losing any time she comes up into a full sprint, mantling a book cart and throwing herself into the door leading out into the hall, all while being harassed by a cloud of birds.

She continues to tear through the mansion, busting into an empty classroom she slams the door and jumps onto a chair, spinning 180 degrees and kicking it against the door to block it enough a mass of birds might not be able to push through. Before she lands she's already spun herself back around and makes a break for a window, this time grabbing a chair to hurl through the glass ahead of her and cleanly leaping after it, hitting the grass outside and taking off for the lighthouse and the cliffs.

[Will Stanton]

Even inside the mansion, Ryn was not safe. As she barreled through the halls, the building itself seemed to rise up to stop her, paintings clattering down, a grandfather clock chiming louder and louder, a vending machine shooting cans of pop at her as she passed. In a calmer, more meditative moment, Ryn might notice that these attacks were far less focused and effective than the ones from the flock chasing her, as if they weren't remotely on the same caliber of combat training; mere passersby taking untrained potshots that might slow her down a tad.

But, with the door slammed and Ryn heading for the cliffs, she appeared to be in the clear....for a moment, at least.

[Ryn]

"If Wyldclay ever figures out how to do that I definitely have to take them down..." she huffs to herself. Like running through a whole house possessed by spirits.

Still, she doesn't slow down out of some misguided sense of safety. Besides, she enjoys the air whipping past her, the ground beneath her pounding feet. And finally the excitement of a free fall she she throws herself off the cliffs and dives headfirst into the waves, narrowly avoiding the jagged rocks and twisting in the surf to let the riptide pull her away from the shore.

[Will Stanton]

And even there, the chase continued, even if the combat portion seemed to be over for now as the tide took Ryn further and further from shore. For a lone pike, fairly large for this part of the world (at least, for Ryn's version of this part of the world) was winding its way after her.

[Ryn]

Ryn's not faster than a Pike but prepared to kick it's snout if it gets too close as she makes her way towards the passage home.

[Will Stanton]

This one did seem content to shadow Ryn as she swam, marking her progress and tracking her movements.

She had evaded the cameras of the school, but not, apparently, this fish-eye lens.

[Ryn]

She could try to fake them out. Pretend to be heading out to sea, try to lose her tail fin and maybe they'd think she remains in their world, but that seems like a long shot. And would require her to actually be able to lose the pike. On the other hand, the sooner she can make this the Wyldclay's problem the better. She briefly dips her head out of the water to draw breath and orient herself and swims off towards the portal.

[Will Stanton]

Ryn's tail followed her, pulling up just short of the vortex itself, showing a level of self-preservation not normally found in esox lucius.

No one would be preventing Ryn from leaving, though any hope she had of her exit being secretive was long gone.