Friends in between-places

[littlekreen]

Things that did not sleep had their own quiet interests that time went ever on. Though only by the solstice they could walk the surface, it was different underneath the floorboards of reality in the places that should have had nothing. At least, once they made it more than nothing. A non-place of no definable size and weaker topology called the Central Axis maintained by will alone to grow as they built its foundation. Something to keep the road they'd anchored there from tearing floorboards loose should the plane it sat on unsettle. Though limited in resources, the spiderweb of barely extant surfaces weaved and dodged so the things and forces in their fragile subfloor would tolerate it more than destroy it.

Just enough laws obeyed that a human could persist in most places there. Their reality and the facsimile spreading from the Central Axis did not conflict. Though not quite so strong that the Veil would react badly to its existence. As such, the creatures reacted to the world in the same way. Laws of man and nature skirted just enough that they could be of no important consideration. Myrkul had its excuse for the Cohortes Localia to interact with the world beyond the word of an emperor that would never be without violating the spirit of loyalty to an empire that was no longer. A meeting of individuals was something one had to do to facilitate any real communication with humankind where servitors of the overbeing could bring enough power with them to persist and not risk inciting the Veil to anger. They need not draw on the Veil after all, given their own infrastructure and in being just below its floorboards. As long as they did not squeak too loud, the etheric force seemed to pay them no mind in the spaces that weren't.

Tools made tools as they required. Thus, the keys to particular spaces were made. Some handed to those that needed them as others were sent by mail. One in particular to an address at the MCU for which was the only address they knew of. A small USPS flat rate box from a particular address in Dallas's poorer side was delivered to the MCU. Inside was a pale cellulose box in cellulose ceramic bearing a simple label in Fae, "Fathom Point." The insides muffled with a dense pale graphite fiber that provided a recess to its package. A large ceramic ring wrapped in spirals of affixed human hair born of their poor understanding of Molly's aversion to metals. Attached to that a key that fits far better in ages past by its heavy construction and oval ceramic-coated bow. It radiated weakly in transformation and divination magic. A skeleton key should a door have a keyhole or even card access as the square bit thinned to fit. The oval imparted some watchful ticking machine's rapt attention when touched. While intended for all doors she put it to, the key would only ever open to one exit by use. They'd provided the keyring warded from other eyes that didn't already know it was there simply because they knew they'd given a key, an elevator key to the central axis. It alerted the same ticking gate as to what exit to send.

[demikara]

It wasn't often that she received a package at work, and so Molly opened it with some curiosity. A ceramic key? That was different. She checked the address and grinned as she recognized the street and the neighborhood at least. Nice! This wasn't a key, it was a Key, which meant...she could access the In Between at, apparently, Fathom Point. It would requite some walking and she'd have to see how far it was from there to the fae realm, though probably not far at all, and she could go home.

Getting back may be tricky, but she could hassle family for a ride back. It did mean she could do her own shopping and get some fruits she couldn't get here. Molly headed straight to the garage, key in her pocket, to test it out. The drive over wasn't bad and she headed into the building confidently. She had been here often enough to know the way, and the key let her head down to the central axis. She didn't always understand what the jinhai meant when they spoke, but she could understand enough. Everything else she chalked up to trying to speak in a foreign language. She had sounded similar when she first started speaking english she was sure of it. Her Emile had put up with it admirably, and she could do the same with the Jinhai.

[littlekreen]

Clinks emit from a pocket as the keyring quietly interrogated the ones on her person. Though the spell's opinion of 'thing that identifies an exit' was different than the average joe a temporary transfiguration to copy any mundane ones stacking along the ring. The search more pointedly intended for the other key given to her not quite so easily replicated for each to vibrate. The Fathom Point key however as a true Key was a thing of subjective observation. While in her hand the pin and bit would flit between appropriate shapes whenever her eye passed over another keyhole. Any keyhole. Though as she arrived at the building itself the skeleton key thrummed in tune and the lock clicks open on its own. After her last visit, the building itself since acquired a certain depth between the floorboards and a larger awareness was present behind the walls.

As she entered the elevator it quietly creaks in response as the anchor above her shines on. Only when the doors closed the car descended instead of rose as it did before. Though gravity listed sideways ever so slightly as the machinery accessed time-space the buttons turn dark as it did so. It took her to the destination of her strongest key as the elevator dinged, as its mundane parts quietly interacted with those not, thus the door opened to an expanse of the dark. That unlit void though to magic reveals the twisting endless labyrinth of angles and passages in all directions out of their responsive construction to the dreaming. A foundation of concrete was a solid thing among a substrate to support a building. This construction itself a stable imposition of logic on the otherwise sloshing dirt of the in-between. Though that meant its magic was a weak synthetic feel which strong wards would find of particular temporary exhaustion much the same as magical beings.

The faint glow of a yellow lantern erupted shade and form into her environment from inside revealing the elevator hovering at the edge of a stone platform of a two-story building equally dark. Upon the door etched the same as the key, 'Fathom point'. It hung loose and wavered slightly open as the machinery did not expect her to enter from this side. The building had the same dark grey construction as everything else upon a stone block anchored only by axles and supports bent out of normal space by strange angles.

"Some'un out there? Stromumin, we dropped the delivery and this place is bloody creepy.", called a very dwarven accent from inside.
"What, you afraid of the deepest dark shortbeard? There's new food and beer in the fridge and I hate for it to go to waste." roughed out a well-weathered throat.
"But, cucumber beer?" Replied the other voice that scoffed.

[demikara]

That was a distinctly dwarven accent and not what she had been expecting at all. Molly stepped out of the elevator and cast a light spell, setting the gentle glowing orb to settle over her shoulder. "Hello?" Fathom point was not what she expected was it? Either way, it should be interesting. She pushed the door open and looked around. "Is someone there?" She had heard voices, so there was someone there, but it was polite to ask, she supposed.

This was interesting. Not the adventure she had expected, but an adventure none-the-less. Still, she had caught the note of cucumber beer and couldn't help but wonder at what that would even taste like. Something awful, probably. Fae beer was the best beer as far as she was concerned. Humans drank absolute swill and she didn't tend to drink human alcohol because of it.

[littlekreen]

Two dwarves sat at a table bearing vests for "Smoked and Mirrors" and one quickly grabbed and rose a lantern in Molly's direction. Several dozen wooden crates and pallets of ingots around them very much contrast with its insides. Though on the surface it looked like a tavern it was one built entirely out of sandstone from an era before electricity. The table and chairs were all that same grainy dark grey of angular forms from something that writ buildings in raw brutalism. A host of brightly colored containers of eclectic make and material lie on their table.

The older dwarf had a very bushy salt and pepper beard with a metal mining helmet on his head and spoke first through a pipe in his mouth, "Oi, how'd you get here from the outside, miss? It's a big block o' who knows floatin' in the middle of the damn void. Strangest order I've got in a while."

The other was younger and still just a thin scruff by dwarf standards, "A big box hanging out there, Stromumin? Where's that even go? Figure if she's here she got her own key somehow, yeah?"

"Fair stone, shortbeard." Replied the other with a rise of his brow.

[demikara]

"I took an elevator." Molly admitted and looked around curiously. "Though I'm no stranger to being in the middle of a void." The question was, was it an actual void or was it the In Between? That meant testing. "Though I was given a key. The question is what is here?" She wasn't sure at all. It looked like a tavern of some sort, though she certainly wasn't expecting that, not here. Well, this was an adventure after all and she was going to enjoy it. So long as nothing went off that meant she needed to head back to work at least.

Somehow, she doubted she'd get cell service here. She really needed to come up with something that would work across the planes. The problem, of course, was the potential for time distortion. And there was definitely time distortion between the planes. Molly had a normal life span for but in the human realm, she may as well be immortal. It was an interesting difference.

She wasn't, of course, immortal. She was just long lived.

[littlekreen]

Cell signal quietly flickers between 'No Signal' and one bar when she checks it. Though it responded as it ought strange stable imperfections were everywhere like the battery indicator occilating its percentage. As the signal stabilized it quietly showed a Ψ where the emergency calls only icon ought to be. In dreams, one found a confusion of magical figments which only half-remembered how to be real things but in this case quite the inverse. Time quietly ticked forward on the display as ever the timer had even as other bits of its complex reality fluctuated then corrected.

The younger with his fairer tanned face leather gear looked down to a bandolier pocket to pull a keyring full of heavy keys with one identical to her own, "Good as stone you got a key like this'un fits in any keyhole. Didn't know that till after t' ring copied all m'other damn keys. Took one off then poof turned to dust."

Stromumin's weathered pale face looked her over then stroked his beard, "A bit light on details ourselves but this place got an odd smell. Dark as Dubnos in here our lantern don't even go far as it oughta sometimes. Air got tunnel wind but no dust. Four lefts don't always circle. Ain't built by dwarven architects fer damn sure!"

He made a rather practiced lob of an empty can from the table to a trash can, "Dead on! Anyhow, I'm Stromumin and this here's my helper Dallas side. Fridge keeps fillin' back up and I never even seen half this stuff at Monmack's. Might as well enjoy the perks, eh?"

[demikara]

"It's a good thing I have a spare apartment key then." She'd have to have a duplicate made of that, so she didn't get into trouble when it came time to turn them in. "I wonder if it fits on any lock." And not jsut the locks she had keys for. That could be nice. The fact that it was ceramic was still odd, but it seemed to work by being near something more than anything else. "I'm Molly. I'm not surprised this place is weird. If I'm right about the architects, there's at least some folding of space going on."

The fridge kept filling up with food not even at Monmack's huh? She hadn't had a meal there before, but had heard good things about it. "I mostly wanted to check out what the key went to! I recognized the address it was sent from and headed there first, but ended up here, and not where I expected to be."

[littlekreen]

Stromumin nodded with twinkling eyes as he elbowed his helper, "Well struck to meet you, Molly. Think this'un got some of the keys still on 'im so check all yer pockets! I know new stone when I smell it and the old scout in me burnin' holes in m'boots with this place too, miss Molly! Good to see another curious soul rather'n this soapstone!"

"Y'old granite mountain, I work a desk, not a pickaxe!" His helper hissed back with a smile and pointed finger, "I gotta get the pay back to Monmack and gettin' ate in the damn dark by space folding critters ain't on his job list!"

With no small amount of hard-faced worry and one balled fist placed the keyring on their table between unopened bottles. His mundane keys promptly evaporated into dust with a quick inspection of the pressure in his palm. A sigh of relief was enough to displace his comparatively small beard added, "Well I still got this'un so the others gotta be packed someplace. I need to git gone you take the key and stay!"

Stromumin's wide smile missed a few teeth long removed by knuckle but swiped the keys with gusto, "Git off w'ya then! Us old mountains used to deep 'n dark."

The wily old foreman gave Molly a thumbs up, "What d'you know about the architects? All we got was a purchase order."

Meanwhile, the helper was putting his things together to heave a dark grey chest onto his chair in a loud stony echo of metal. Scoff at it the helper mutters under his breath, 'Bet it's a bloody dragon. Who even pays with gold n' silver coins this damn old?'

[demikara]

"They're extra-planar." Molly explained. "So probably don't understand paying in paper money. They seem to consume metal and other material, but I haven't noticed them 'eating' anything organic. I may just have missed it though. You're probably fine though. If it helps, I can make a lap around the place. I'm a specialist with MCU so should be able to handle anything." Should being the key word. Worst came to worst she'd slap a ward around it an contain the issue then drag Xiaolian here to handle it. Between the two of them, they'd probably be able to handle any critters.

She was fairly confident with her critter fighting skills at least. She had plenty of practice fighting monsters, even if the preferred Ratatoskr way was to get going and stay away from it. Running away was a valid strategy as far as her training was concerned, especially when it came to things that could outmatch her easily. There were, of course, soldier Ratatoskr, meant to shore up Guardian numbers when needed, but Molly was an explorer and scholar, not a soldier, despite her work with MCU.

There were times she wondered if she should have gone into R&D instead of becoming an officer, but it was what it was.

[littlekreen]

The younger helper thumbs at the ingots, "They bought a hoard of high-quality metal then. This is only the first load."

"You seen 'em at all, miss Molly?" Stromumin's brow raised that MCU had heard of them, "They didn't come to Monmack's to sign the contract. Just sent along a human to sign. Monmack's been busied with some other contract of theirs for some cylinder ever since"

He shrugged and picked up the ornate ax next to his chair shifting the leather jerkin his muscular arms fit through, "Seems a mite fishy but they don't seem to raise a fuss. 'preciate yer help looking around. can't be sending the lads somewhere nasty not knowing."

He twirled the keyring on one finger as he approached the door she came in. Crackles spark along the edge as clones of his keys appear while the item rifles through his pockets. Hands well calloused by work press the door close as he fishes out the correct key and closes the door shut with a soft click. Holding the end aloft he looks at the keyhole as the end of the key morphs into a copper blade with soft divots on the flat side. Inserting it into the door, light leaks from a tightly machined sill with a soft amber tone. Brusque canyons of deep voices are heard on the other side that stop soon after. Stromumin pulls the door open to reveal it a side door into Monmack's warehouse.

The younger called from behind with the chest in his arms and clinking up with the chest, "Now that's a sight... careful what creatures ya play with Stromumin. If there be planar things about."

The door handle on the open door wriggles under his touch as if the door refused to open and Stromumin looked back at Molly, "Well lookat that. So what you make of it miss Molly?"

[demikara]

"I have. They're definitely a different sort. But a lot of extra-planar beings are. She had watched with no small curiosity as the key opened into an entirely different door. "Oh that is interesting. The question is, is it limited to this plane alone. Would you mind if I try something?" This could be entirely too convenient. "If it works, I may be able to get some help in ensuring the place is safe for you." Other people like her, trained to handle any nasty creatures that may be from between the planes. "They are considerate though, so I don't think you'll have any trouble with them. They actually coated my key in ceramic so I wouldn't touch the metal. I think they're a little confused on the metal thing, but it happens."

Molly could touch metal of course. It was pure iron that she couldn't touch without being burned. Luckily, in the modern world, there was very little pure iron. Most things were steel or plastic and they were muddled enough that it was fine. She'd never be able to manage a cast iron pot but given how rarely she actually cooked, that was a big deal. Besides, she had steel cookware here, and copper cookware in the fae realm.

[littlekreen]

His helper perked up and hefted the heavy chest clinking loudly once more, "No complaints about mage gates that save me a walk, eh?"

As he rattled by breathed heavy from the effort as he went past them, "A bloody whole bar of void palladium in here Stromumin! 'ow we supposed to appraise whole damn bars!?"

The old dwarf wondered that too and raised an eyebrow to grin at the MCU agent, "No worries, specialist, nothin' illegal. Don't usually see that inna box! Or bars. Maybe small marbles. Dust usually. Hm."

As his helper crossed the threshold the border ripple shimmer into view turning gears amid a lower reality. It then quiets with no obvious mark that there was anything beneath the surface at all. Through the crack of the door as swung closed came a shout, "OI, MONMACK! PAID IN HAUL!"

He stepped back and gestured to the door, "Well then Monmack oughta sit there all mad and happy anyhow. His usual so we oughta get along fine with their custom! You want to have a go now?"

The door would react to her key and on this side replicate one from clones on its ring. Assuming she had a key to where she wanted to be for it to open the door. Or perhaps build a backward simulacra of a ward that kept it out on the other side. The anchor hardware was responsive enough and could find its way across such realities as the Jinhai it required only certain frame of reference in space and time. Connecting to keys she knew not of where they went could often become... problematically inaccurate. If a clear direction found open into the mutable labyrinth they'd made as it folded parts out a long pseudopod in that outer 'direction'. A hail of gears, geegaws, and dark grey sandstone bricks whistling through the dark to form hallway paths or doorways to unlit void. At least until the labyrinth slowly crawled up the tendril of twisty passages to reframe orphan links to its mass.

A very Escher metastasis of reality by a metal animal assembled behind the walls. This place particularly built to stymie dimensional passengers in its non-linear nature as monsters leaking from the Egress, once contained utterly by the now-wounded bulwark, proved quite persistent in their bid for freedom.

[demikara]

And entire bar of void palladium? That was rare. Still, she held up the key curiously. "Does this work with any door for you by the way?" It had worked with the elevator, and apparently to Monmack's place.Still, if this worked, she'd have the ability to go home. To do her own shopping for fruits and vegetables she couldn't get in the human realm. It would be astonishingly valuable as well. More than it already was, given it seemed to be some sort of uber key.

Molly held the key to the door and watched as it changed to a bronze key, then put it in the lock and clicked it open. This was the test wasn't it. If this worked, she'd be stepping into the house she had grown up in. Straight into the min living area, and probably startling anyone who was inside the house, though there was no telling what time of day it was there or if people would even be in the house. Hopefully day time. She could get some fresh bread from the market if that was the case.

[littlekreen]

The old man nodded and stroked his beard then lit his lamp as she removed the key and it shifted to one it had cloned, "You ain't laughed until the helper can't find the real keys to his car to get stuff off the seat and this'un opens to a vent somewhere in this place. It didn't even notice a padlock. Whatever these things are they don't much think much of how big the door gotta be."

Particular places had particular habits and though it could reach across the gap the Fae realms was a place of chaos with reality thickly spread over it. Though the machinery powering Fathom Point could reach across the fae realms had a certain distaste for the regular structure. Though not a thing of law, but Order, and these creatures understood order much closer to what the Fae did than humans. The key turned hard and heavy as the inner machinery clunked and ground with difficulty until it finally released to click open.

Behind it a depth of green and machinery writ in total blackness as one long hedgerow about a city block. Each wall stretching infinitely up and down by simple measure built of ivy-coated bricks and winding staircases flitting across any light sources. Running along walls or between them. Some a dead end until some inner will clanged yet more paths between them. Others a covered causeway as a ceiling of some room-to-be slowly accumulated in large sandstone panes. Though the gangways were a strange metal ivy rectangles each seemed a tight fit as sandstone piping shot in to build railings about platforms. Edges of each erratic brick and wrought ivy mesh flooring sometimes became walls as the gears turn them like paper. Thin snows of metal gears blow through the air in lazy curves as they evade in bounces between the cracks and through the dark to snap into place where the great machine requires them to be. Trundling noises of falling bricks aborting their path as toothed whales redesigning the surface of the walls. Though somewhere the clang of metal seemed less of machine and more of man. The telltale clang of swords, the crack of weapons fire, and the deep rumble across the deep of something lumbering.

Far in the distance, a building would be in view just beyond where the hedgerow abruptly stopped and enclosed it. Like Fathom Point it was a building hovered in the middle of a hollow void but this was a mere shadow upon higher dimensional paper. A compromise of machinery and fae magic that they didn't have to directly touch. Light emits from the room as it was in the real but only those in the door she'd opened was a true light where someone could look perhaps concerned. In that window shows a deeper dark with only one lamplit star and two bodies in the distance.