milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Mardi Gras was two days ago. Yet Bob is still in his Hendrix costume.

Why? Because he likes it. Duh.

He's over in the corner, playing something that sounds like a bunch of random notes, but upon lengthy inspection will prove to be a psychedelic version of "O Canada."

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"Yeah, but what, specifically, could you do with it? Like... could someone do transformation magic like that?"

"Do with which-what exactly?" She tilts her head, looking at Bob.

"Magi-tech? Physical transformations, no. But there are lesser spirits that aren't ever corporeal, who inhabit computers and other tech-things, that can be changed and influenced."

"Oh." Bob looks a little disappointed. He'd hoped he might have found another sprite-to-human avenue. On the other hand... "Influenced how?"

"Changed, inhanced, so on." She blinks, then smiles faintly.

"The ones I work with want that, and I don't do it unless they're cool with it."

Bob falls silent, pondering this. Spirits that inhabit computers...

"These spirits... what are they like? What do they do?"

"Depends on what they are?" She tilts her head, thinking.

"Unfortunately I don't have any with me at the moment. I have a couple of net-spiders that are good for going and looking for things. Give them the proper search perameters, and they can sort through data until they find what they're looking for. Cute little buggers too." Laini chuckles.

"Then, on the other end of the spectrum, you have gremlins. Those are much more magi-tech, and they're widespread enough that even humans on Earthside who wouldn't believe in magic or spirits know of them, and rightfully blame them for messing things up."

"Huh. I wonder what they'd look like on my end?"

"-I'm not quite sure." One ear flattens back, thoughtfully. Laini cups her hands together, and- well, illusion or hologram, you take your pick-

There is an image of a digitalized spider in her hands, made of metal and with large flashing lights for eyes.

"Here's how they usually look, but I'm working on a different point of view from you guys."

Bob studies it curiously. "Looks kind of like a security drone. They're strong, but not very bright."

"These aren't so much strong-" Laini wiggles her fingers, and the legs on one side of the image wave-

"But quick. Not so much smart either, but focused on their areas."

"So what does a gremlin look like?"

"Those sort of depend." She drops her hands, and the image fades.

"They're shapeshifters as well, but no where nears as powerful as a kitsune, of course."

"Really." Bob rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I'm wondering if these things might exist in my world, and we just don't know about it..."

She gives Bob a wry smile.

"Well, do you have things going wrong, in areas that should be ok? Something's working fine, then all of a sudden- WOOMCH-" Laini waves her hands in the air.

"Its like someone tossed a star-spangled spanner into the works?"

"Sometimes. Usually it's caused by Tears." A wry smile, "Or Hex."

"Tears?" She raises an eyebrow, curiously. "And hexes?"

Bob nods. "A Tear is an instability in the system that bleeds out excess energy. They can cause a lot of damage if they aren't Mended right away. And Hex... Hexadecimal is a chaos virus who lives in Mainframe. She's mostly stabilized now but she still causes trouble sometimes."

And most of the trouble she causes is directed specifically at Bob.

"Well, nothing wrong with a bit of chaos." Laini gives Bob a wink, tails swishing mischieviously.

"There is if it involves blowing up the Principal Office for no particular reason."

Shock! Agast! And a look of horror at Bob!

"Of course you need a good reason for blowing up the Principal's Office! To do otherwise, why..."

Bob facepalms.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I."

"Yes, you did." Laini replies, serenely.

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