madimpossibledreamer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
madimpossibledreamer) wrote2021-07-20 11:59 pm
madimpossibledreamer) wrote2021-07-20 11:59 pm
Entry tags:
Night of Chaos
I actually like this one better than the last one, which makes me glad I continued despite not having reread the Technomage Trilogy (I was going to hold out for a bit until I'd done that). They're teasing each other but they're definitely friends.
Okay, giving these kids Technomage abilities is forcing them to confront their issues, because Xander’s is his insecurities (and, no, shockingly, magic doesn’t make those go poof immediately), Buffy’s is her violent tendencies, and Willow’s is her power hunger. Add to that their desire to fix all their problems themselves without bothering anyone else…
(I’ll probably revisit when I get a chance to reread the Technomage Trilogy, I just really didn’t want to leave this series on the last installment)
P6 = middle strength telepath.
I wasn't sure whether to include stuff about the canon Technomages before realizing it'd be weirder if I didn't, especially as Galen is a...somewhat controversial figure in the group.
Main Points:
Buffy/Babylon 5 AU (same as The Ushari): Agents of Chaos AU
Chapter Summary: The Technomages arrive.
Word Count: 1984
Rating: Teen
Okay, not out and out spoilers for B5 or Crusade this time, more like just hints, but I'll still tag. Galen doesn't actually appear but he is discussed.
“Tsandar! Thank goodness you’re okay!” Willow runs at him and he laughs a little as he catches her.
“You stole my line, you know,” he mock-scolds her, but can’t keep the relief from his tone. That’s not the only thing bothering him, though. “…You’re shorter.” He wouldn’t have realized if they weren’t standing near a parked car—which clearly has no ability to fly, it’s practically a relic, except the fact that it looks newly manufactured—which quickly comes to another realization. “I’m shorter, too.” True, it’s not as much of a difference, but then, his legs were a little structured differently than a human’s and Ushari puberty worked differently than a human’s, so it’s not as obvious of a difference. “…You weren’t just trying out some new spell, were you?”
“No!” Given how quick her denial is, she might be lying, but quickly follows up with, “It’s not the kind of thing I’d be interested in anyway,” which is definitely more believable. She’d been experimenting a little too much, lately, and if she’s worrying her mentor Aesara, he’s definitely not overreacting.
“True.” He constructs a quick diagnostic charm, and his tech is all working fine, so whatever the spell was, it didn’t mess with that—
Willow pats his shoulder. “Worrywart.”
“Do you remember how we got here? Because I don’t. I think I might be able to do a reconstruction, but if you remember…” They both flinch as a fence bursts into flame, though the spandex-attired human doesn't seem to take any further interest in them. “…I won’t have to cast it,” he finishes slowly, taking in his surroundings. He’s watched a lot of early Human entertainment, and it vaguely looks like the depictions of Halloween. It definitely looks like Earth, anyway, if an early Earth.
“I don’t, but—was Buffy with us?” For the first time, Willow actually looks a little worried, and, well—he’s with Aesara, she’s definitely using too much magic, but at the same time, he’s not ready to just leave any of his friends out in the middle of all of this when he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on.
“You’re better at the reconstruction spells. I think there’s a recording stored somewhere in our tech of at least part of what happened, but I’m having trouble accessing it. I’ll seek out our fearless leader; just make sure you’re somewhere safe first.” A platform. A reinforced door. Illusion hiding a room. Something.
“You’re adorable when you’re worried about us,” she teases, already conjuring a platform beneath her feet and rising into the air, hopefully out of the reach of whatever’s going on here.
“Oh, go chase a—what’s that Earth bird? A pigeon!” he snarls, because of course he is, they’re his friends. He could no more stop that than he could grow a tail just by wishing. Their well-being matters all the more because they’re practically family, more so than his litter-mates, because he’d left them behind.
His hasty exit is slightly ruined when he takes a step and finds his paws are bare, because for some reason he’d been wearing human boots that obviously are not the right size or shape for an Ushari. He lets out a quizzical chirp but quickly remembers that while this is probably a piece of the puzzle, he doesn’t have the time, so as painful as it is going to be running on concrete, he’ll just have to suck it up and deal. He can flex his healing spells later, but he’d rather have sore paws than have a dead friend.
Many of the questionable Earth-creatures he vaguely remembers from hilarious if problematic horror movies of the time seem to have at least some modicum of common sense, since they get out of the way of an enraged Technomage. He takes a slight tumble when he receives the sudden electron incantation and breathes in deeply, relieved, as he picks himself up and tries to dust himself off, trying to act like it’d been on purpose.
“Tsandar, you’re okay. I was trying to call Willow, but wasn’t getting anything—excuse me, that’s rude, I’m trying to talk here.” He feels her consciousness focus elsewhere, and tastes the tell-tale ash on the air, a strange comfort surrounded by all these weird smells he’s trying very hard to ignore. That much might just be filtering through the connection, but he can hear the sound of her throwing one of her patented fireballs, and resists the urge to sigh. The issue with having to play the serious, responsible one is that no one believes it. He’s not very good at it, which means he’s having issues, for instance, convincing Clea that Buffy isn’t becoming an arsonist, no really, or Aesara that he’s talked to Willow, she’s taking this seriously, she’s dialing back her reckless use of magic before they’ve even graduated from being apprentices. Particularly given the number of pranks he’d pulled (to be fair, he’d made it a challenge not to use his implants where possible, but also, not good for their rep as the troublemakers). “I feel like someone’s put a bounty on my head. At least they’ve got the primal fear of fire.”
“On one paw, we’re not supposed to be showing off Technomage abilities to just anyone, but on the other, I think this time we can make a pretty good case of death equals bad, autopsy equals worse.” His fur stands on end as his ears twitch and catch a distant roar that he half recognizes—hold on, it’s on the tip of his tongue… “…Gojira?” he asks incredulously, then shakes his head and returns to the original matter at hand. “Oh, right. Will’s doing a reconstruction spell to try to figure out how we got here.” Floating in midair, which is probably a no-no, but he is firmly on the side of ‘exposing their powers to their galaxy is better than dying, screw the Circle’.
“Good idea.” Buffy nods in approval, and lets the spell dissolve as he strolls into view. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but something’s really familiar about all this.”
The notion makes him feel physically ill. “A Technomage? They wouldn’t—I mean, they couldn’t even. It’d take at least the three of us to even attempt a conjuring of this size, and even then…” He stammers into horrified silence.
She’s in her fighting stance, though, which means whatever this is she’s serious about it. “There’s been whispers about rogues. Surely you’ve heard that with your big ears. Galen, for one.”
He wants to protest that one, but just because the Technomage had been…relatively nice. Sure, he was an absolute oddball, but after Tsandar had gotten over the fear Galen hated him, he realized that the man was just listening to him with the kind of solemn attention he gave to everything. Sure, he annoyed him sometimes, but he did that with everyone, and at least he listened to his weird rambling theories. He suspects the guy had definitely had more of an interest in the abstract fundamentals than anyone else, which makes sense to this Ushari. Knowing how things work, not just that they do, just clicks in a way that some of the rest hadn’t. Plus he’d been nice to Willow when she did the same thing, unlike a few of the others who’d gone out of their way to shut them down. That could never equal evil in Tsandar’s little nest, but then, with everything going on here, maybe he really should listen to Buffy more often. He’d definitely known something more than he was saying about them going into hiding, Isabelle had disappeared, and he’d seemed to age massively overnight. Still, there’s definitely one thing.
“In this case, it’s definitely not him, because he wouldn’t be working with someone else.” He barely pauses their conversation as he twirls his staff and slams it into some monster with really insulting fangs that thinks it can sneak up on them, baring his own fangs and hissing.
“Good point. Plus, there’s something about this that…I don’t know how to describe this, it’s wild and untamed? Galen’s definitely more disciplined.” Which, he supposes, that’s one word for it. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Angel?”
His annoyance instantly changes to worry. It’d been a bit of an annoyance trying to run interference to try to keep the relationship secret from Clea, and from what he’d heard the PsiCorps was not a good organization, but Angel himself was a pretty good guy. He was sweet, and he’d actually helped Buffy figure out some control, which was a good thing. Sure, maybe she should’ve kept it within the Technomages, what with the whole ‘break the secrecy and we’ll flay the tech from your body’ deal, but he’d been good for her and it wasn’t the first time Tsandar had questioned the wisdom of the Circle, who’d seemed more interested in covering their own asses than anything else.
“He might be a P6, but he’s no Psi Cop. Okay, regroup with Willow, find Angel if he’s here, track down the source of the spell, figure out how we got here, how we get back, and maybe actually do that.” He winces. “It sounded doable until I said it out loud.”
“Hey, we take it step by step, we’ll be fine,” Buffy insists with an encouraging smile that he matches.
Okay, giving these kids Technomage abilities is forcing them to confront their issues, because Xander’s is his insecurities (and, no, shockingly, magic doesn’t make those go poof immediately), Buffy’s is her violent tendencies, and Willow’s is her power hunger. Add to that their desire to fix all their problems themselves without bothering anyone else…
(I’ll probably revisit when I get a chance to reread the Technomage Trilogy, I just really didn’t want to leave this series on the last installment)
P6 = middle strength telepath.
I wasn't sure whether to include stuff about the canon Technomages before realizing it'd be weirder if I didn't, especially as Galen is a...somewhat controversial figure in the group.
Main Points:
Buffy/Babylon 5 AU (same as The Ushari): Agents of Chaos AU
Chapter Summary: The Technomages arrive.
Word Count: 1984
Rating: Teen
Okay, not out and out spoilers for B5 or Crusade this time, more like just hints, but I'll still tag. Galen doesn't actually appear but he is discussed.
Tsandar comes online all at once, and it’s immediately obvious that something’s wrong. The biggest is the fact that he’s not where he was.
“Tsandar! Thank goodness you’re okay!” Willow runs at him and he laughs a little as he catches her.
“You stole my line, you know,” he mock-scolds her, but can’t keep the relief from his tone. That’s not the only thing bothering him, though. “…You’re shorter.” He wouldn’t have realized if they weren’t standing near a parked car—which clearly has no ability to fly, it’s practically a relic, except the fact that it looks newly manufactured—which quickly comes to another realization. “I’m shorter, too.” True, it’s not as much of a difference, but then, his legs were a little structured differently than a human’s and Ushari puberty worked differently than a human’s, so it’s not as obvious of a difference. “…You weren’t just trying out some new spell, were you?”
“No!” Given how quick her denial is, she might be lying, but quickly follows up with, “It’s not the kind of thing I’d be interested in anyway,” which is definitely more believable. She’d been experimenting a little too much, lately, and if she’s worrying her mentor Aesara, he’s definitely not overreacting.
“True.” He constructs a quick diagnostic charm, and his tech is all working fine, so whatever the spell was, it didn’t mess with that—
Willow pats his shoulder. “Worrywart.”
“Do you remember how we got here? Because I don’t. I think I might be able to do a reconstruction, but if you remember…” They both flinch as a fence bursts into flame, though the spandex-attired human doesn't seem to take any further interest in them. “…I won’t have to cast it,” he finishes slowly, taking in his surroundings. He’s watched a lot of early Human entertainment, and it vaguely looks like the depictions of Halloween. It definitely looks like Earth, anyway, if an early Earth.
“I don’t, but—was Buffy with us?” For the first time, Willow actually looks a little worried, and, well—he’s with Aesara, she’s definitely using too much magic, but at the same time, he’s not ready to just leave any of his friends out in the middle of all of this when he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on.
“You’re better at the reconstruction spells. I think there’s a recording stored somewhere in our tech of at least part of what happened, but I’m having trouble accessing it. I’ll seek out our fearless leader; just make sure you’re somewhere safe first.” A platform. A reinforced door. Illusion hiding a room. Something.
“You’re adorable when you’re worried about us,” she teases, already conjuring a platform beneath her feet and rising into the air, hopefully out of the reach of whatever’s going on here.
“Oh, go chase a—what’s that Earth bird? A pigeon!” he snarls, because of course he is, they’re his friends. He could no more stop that than he could grow a tail just by wishing. Their well-being matters all the more because they’re practically family, more so than his litter-mates, because he’d left them behind.
His hasty exit is slightly ruined when he takes a step and finds his paws are bare, because for some reason he’d been wearing human boots that obviously are not the right size or shape for an Ushari. He lets out a quizzical chirp but quickly remembers that while this is probably a piece of the puzzle, he doesn’t have the time, so as painful as it is going to be running on concrete, he’ll just have to suck it up and deal. He can flex his healing spells later, but he’d rather have sore paws than have a dead friend.
Many of the questionable Earth-creatures he vaguely remembers from hilarious if problematic horror movies of the time seem to have at least some modicum of common sense, since they get out of the way of an enraged Technomage. He takes a slight tumble when he receives the sudden electron incantation and breathes in deeply, relieved, as he picks himself up and tries to dust himself off, trying to act like it’d been on purpose.
“Tsandar, you’re okay. I was trying to call Willow, but wasn’t getting anything—excuse me, that’s rude, I’m trying to talk here.” He feels her consciousness focus elsewhere, and tastes the tell-tale ash on the air, a strange comfort surrounded by all these weird smells he’s trying very hard to ignore. That much might just be filtering through the connection, but he can hear the sound of her throwing one of her patented fireballs, and resists the urge to sigh. The issue with having to play the serious, responsible one is that no one believes it. He’s not very good at it, which means he’s having issues, for instance, convincing Clea that Buffy isn’t becoming an arsonist, no really, or Aesara that he’s talked to Willow, she’s taking this seriously, she’s dialing back her reckless use of magic before they’ve even graduated from being apprentices. Particularly given the number of pranks he’d pulled (to be fair, he’d made it a challenge not to use his implants where possible, but also, not good for their rep as the troublemakers). “I feel like someone’s put a bounty on my head. At least they’ve got the primal fear of fire.”
“On one paw, we’re not supposed to be showing off Technomage abilities to just anyone, but on the other, I think this time we can make a pretty good case of death equals bad, autopsy equals worse.” His fur stands on end as his ears twitch and catch a distant roar that he half recognizes—hold on, it’s on the tip of his tongue… “…Gojira?” he asks incredulously, then shakes his head and returns to the original matter at hand. “Oh, right. Will’s doing a reconstruction spell to try to figure out how we got here.” Floating in midair, which is probably a no-no, but he is firmly on the side of ‘exposing their powers to their galaxy is better than dying, screw the Circle’.
“Good idea.” Buffy nods in approval, and lets the spell dissolve as he strolls into view. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but something’s really familiar about all this.”
The notion makes him feel physically ill. “A Technomage? They wouldn’t—I mean, they couldn’t even. It’d take at least the three of us to even attempt a conjuring of this size, and even then…” He stammers into horrified silence.
She’s in her fighting stance, though, which means whatever this is she’s serious about it. “There’s been whispers about rogues. Surely you’ve heard that with your big ears. Galen, for one.”
He wants to protest that one, but just because the Technomage had been…relatively nice. Sure, he was an absolute oddball, but after Tsandar had gotten over the fear Galen hated him, he realized that the man was just listening to him with the kind of solemn attention he gave to everything. Sure, he annoyed him sometimes, but he did that with everyone, and at least he listened to his weird rambling theories. He suspects the guy had definitely had more of an interest in the abstract fundamentals than anyone else, which makes sense to this Ushari. Knowing how things work, not just that they do, just clicks in a way that some of the rest hadn’t. Plus he’d been nice to Willow when she did the same thing, unlike a few of the others who’d gone out of their way to shut them down. That could never equal evil in Tsandar’s little nest, but then, with everything going on here, maybe he really should listen to Buffy more often. He’d definitely known something more than he was saying about them going into hiding, Isabelle had disappeared, and he’d seemed to age massively overnight. Still, there’s definitely one thing.
“In this case, it’s definitely not him, because he wouldn’t be working with someone else.” He barely pauses their conversation as he twirls his staff and slams it into some monster with really insulting fangs that thinks it can sneak up on them, baring his own fangs and hissing.
“Good point. Plus, there’s something about this that…I don’t know how to describe this, it’s wild and untamed? Galen’s definitely more disciplined.” Which, he supposes, that’s one word for it. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Angel?”
His annoyance instantly changes to worry. It’d been a bit of an annoyance trying to run interference to try to keep the relationship secret from Clea, and from what he’d heard the PsiCorps was not a good organization, but Angel himself was a pretty good guy. He was sweet, and he’d actually helped Buffy figure out some control, which was a good thing. Sure, maybe she should’ve kept it within the Technomages, what with the whole ‘break the secrecy and we’ll flay the tech from your body’ deal, but he’d been good for her and it wasn’t the first time Tsandar had questioned the wisdom of the Circle, who’d seemed more interested in covering their own asses than anything else.
“He might be a P6, but he’s no Psi Cop. Okay, regroup with Willow, find Angel if he’s here, track down the source of the spell, figure out how we got here, how we get back, and maybe actually do that.” He winces. “It sounded doable until I said it out loud.”
“Hey, we take it step by step, we’ll be fine,” Buffy insists with an encouraging smile that he matches.