Consortium 1-2: Chekov's Gun Chapter 2

Story by MigeYeFoxe on SoFurry

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#13 of Consortium

While TD14 is mostly about Richard and Anon, I wanted to make Chekov's Gun a bit more about going into Cerise's life, so there's a lot more focus on her this episode, even though she has very little to do with the plot. Also introducing another of our major but not main characters, Eric Elution. One of the main things he does is just help educate people, especially the readers on what all Con Magic is about.


Cerise usually wakes up about as early as most of the command staff, but she's usually later to her station than any of the others, which is fine. As the one in charge of the politicians it isn't necessary for her to be out and about until they're also out and about, which usually isn't until later on in the day. But even amongst the other kitsune it usually takes her far longer to get ready. For she is Myobu. It is expected that she be above anyone else. Which also means she's not allowed to simply magic away any imperfections. She has no need to disguise her tail count like the other two. Simply being who she is would be enough. Though she is still older than those two as well, she takes pride in her pure white coat of fur. And she has by far garnered enough of a reputation to earn this spot. And having several hundred years' worth of experience in handling the politics of the other races certainly helps.

The only thing she truly doesn't like is how because of what she is that everyone else always treats her as if she were some fragile doll that would break if handled poorly. That she must be protected over everyone else simply because her fur is white. It's been that way for her entire life, even on Mars. After taking a nice quick shower she flexes her hand and heats the air around her fur enough to dry everything out. Water is certainly a luxury, but since it isn't leaving the station showers aren't really a problem, so long as the water is cleaned thoroughly before going back into circulation. Unfortunately there is no simple magic spell to get ones fur back in line and so she has to spend a half an hour just brushing everything back in place.

And then once she is done with her own personal grooming she grabs a quick bite to eat and then heads over to a part of the station typically referred to as the farm, where all of the familiars are cared for. For those that are more difficult to deal with they're kept in a sort of semi-sedated state. Unlike Anon who walks around with that childish little snake or Riu's dragon child, Cerise's familiar is left in the farm. Fana is quite docile all things considered, but that may because her familiar is getting on in years. Fana was with her for most of her life and was even with her on Mars. But they're quite old and probably won't last the decade. Almost completely blind at this point but one of the gentlest creatures she knows of. She takes care of him, making sure he has plenty of food in easy reach of him as then brush the mane of fur around his neck and his flanks and finishes up by polishing the horn on his head. She's always loved her little unicorn and it'll be very difficult once he's gone. Shame he never showed any interest in any of the females they came across. Just like her Primary in a way, she supposes.

Once she has finished taking care of him does she finally head over to the main council room for them, so that if any of them need her they can reach her. On some days it can be a bit boring, but then anyone's job can be boring at times and in their work the boring days are the better ones. And she'd actually prefer for this to be yet another one of those days where absolutely nothing happens other than having to settle a dispute from a couple of the systems over something trivial. But her magic has felt off this morning. It does that on occasion. The balance of phasic energy doesn't align just right. Not nearly enough to cause any events, but enough for her to notice. Her body rejects the normal back and forth and it's built up inside her, putting her on edge. And she's grown superstitious about it. The last time it happened a ship came to the station armed with an anti-matter bomb. But that one was a trifle, barely even noticeable. As she takes the lift to the council she stares at her hand for a moment, clenching it a few times. The last time she had felt this disruption this strongly was when she was on Mars. Her last day on Mars.

But there is nothing for her to really do at this point in time. With no sign of what might be triggering it she'll just have to be especially cautious regarding expressing her own magic. She goes into her scheduler and arranges to have some time set aside to burn off some of her power. Won't necessarily solve the problem but it'll at least take her mind off things and prevent any sort of incidents that may end up happening. And in the process she begins looking at all of the proposals that the various leaders have elected to talk about today. Most of it is fairly inane but there is always something going on and it is her duty to keep all the various delegates in check. Else one may decide to pick a fight with another and start an interstellar conflict because the two delegates just happen to not like each other.

"At least with the Raeshael they're always insulting each other and everyone knows they will and that nothing will come of it as it'd interfere with their balance."

Though, she supposes, there is one advantage to the humans not being here at the moment. The Raeshael have their own conflicts but it's relatively tame. They bicker and insult their other factions but won't actually call any action that would turn the other two against them. The Jhereshi are always fairly private and deliberate and only ever take action when it suits them and then only when they actually want something done. The Habenceun are opportunistic and generally of the opinion of act first, ask forgiveness later so a lot of complaints can often be waged against them, most of the time actually getting them to back off. But they themselves are fairly quiet in the chambers. The Fringewards and her own people are similar in that they have agendas for their own planet and empire in total and do act on that, but understand the process required to get them. And then there's the humans, who have this sense of entitlement about them. That because their military is fairly powerful and because they not only lost to the Consortium but also lost their home world that they are entitled to more privileges than the other member races. They often would make demands of some thing or another. When it's against the Habenceun doing something it usually gets done. But when it's just demanding the other races concede to them it usually goes about as well as one would expect and usually, they throw a fit at not getting their way. The humans being gone means that baring a major incident there really isn't all that much activity and she can mediate actual concerns or preferably administrate trade deals between the worlds and not simply playing babysitter. As the lift reaches her stop she gets out and heads off towards her seat.

Elsewhere in the station Mige floats through one of the commercial districts of the station. He looks and sees Richard walking through the station aimless and decides to float over to the human, and immediately flicks his head to put them both into the Language of Intent. "So hello there, again, human." He says cheerfully enough. Richard turns to look at who was talking to him. He had been just wandering around trying to get a feel for how this place was structured. And for the most part everyone seemed to be just ignoring him. He turns, expecting to see one of the station's security people and instead sees the floating fox.

"Um, hello again, uh," Richard responds recognizing the other but not remembering their name.

"Ah, yes. I don't think I formally introduced myself the other day. I am Prince Mige Se Yieno. At your service."

"Richard," he says, not thinking about saying his surname at the moment. "A prince? Am I supposed to bow or something?"

"Nothing of the sort," Mige laughs. "You see, seeing as I'm the last of my kind, I decided to have a vote on who should be royalty. And let me tell you, it was an unanimous vote. And so I was elected a prince to my people."

"And not a king?"

"Of course not. Why would I want to be king? Kings have responsibilities and duties. Princes have expectations but don't have that responsibility. They just have to represent their own people gracefully. And I can't complain about how I perceive my own performance."

"Right," he says, not sure what to say in response. "I want to thank you again for the other day."

"Oh, think nothing of it," Mige floats around upside down for a while. "So are you busy at the moment?"

"Not particularly," Richard looks down at the watch he was given, "I think I have a few more hours before I need to be back there. Felt like exploring a bit."

"Oh, good, good," Mige nods as he steers Richard over to a large open room, one that has the symbol of the Language of Intent above it. "In that case I strongly suggest you attend this seminar. I think you'll find it most informative."

"What's it about?" Richard asks, staring more at the Language of Intent symbol more than anything.

"Con Magic. Master Elutin has apparently decided to set up shop in this station. He's one of the most skilled practitioners of the craft, if I say so myself. And he's holding a free seminar right now to explain what Con Magic is all about and try and feel for interest in joining a class where he'd help people improve at it all."

"And you think I should go to this?"

"Oh, of course. I think it would be a good idea for you to get the feel of all the kinds of magic that are in our world. That way you won't be surprised when you see it. And what better way to learn of such things than to do so discretely where no one will judge you and taught by a master of the craft."

"I suppose," Richard says. "Are you going to go in there as well?"

"I will, just have to take care of one small thing first. Go on ahead, this is more for your sake than mine anyways, after all."

Richard is rather reluctant to go in but it's not like the fox really led him astray in the past. He looks in and sees that it does seem like a decently enough crowded room, about half full. The room seems like a modified auditorium but with two levels of seats and a display area in the main portion of the room. Richard slips in and uses the stairs on the side to get up to the second floor, hoping it'd make him less obvious. At least with the Language of Intent thing being active he doesn't have to worry about trying to translate everything the speaker would say. Richard sits there for a few minutes, watching the people come in and waiting to see when Mige shows up. Most of the ones that come in seem to be all sorts of various races and he sees a human walk in and stand around with a large bag at his shoulder. He moves up to the center of the room and then jumps off the ground, seeming to fly up into the air. And then kicks off against the air and moves to land into the seat right next to Richard.

"This seat taken?" he asks to which Richard just shrugs. "Name's Eric," he offers his hand to the other. Richard takes it and shakes it briefly before staring back at the entrance. "Don't really see many humans taking seminars like this. Most are of the sort of flashy Dis magic or nothing."

"Well there was a fox person who had helped me earlier, told me to come and see the seminar. Said he'd be in shortly thereafter but haven't seen him."

"I'm sure it's fine," Eric offers and after a few more minutes the crowd starts to get a bit louder as everyone seems to be wondering where the speaker is. Richard even looks at his watch to know how long he has before he has to get back. Eric seems unconcerned and instead takes the bag off his back and opens it up, revealing that inside of it is a large clay-like blob. He then picks it up, winks at Richard and then breathes onto it as forcefully as he can, saying a quick little incantation in the process. He then stands up and hurls the blob onto the center of the floor, eliciting some laughs from the general audience.

At first Richard was confused by the act and then his mind was completely in awe of what happened. The blob of clay starts to move and stretch and right before the eyes of everyone in the assembly hall quickly starts taking on a humanoid form. It isn't until colors start to form on the outside that Richard realizes that the doll is becoming an exact duplicate of Eric. Once the doll has finished forming the bottom Eric bows slightly and everyone in the room applauds the trick, something Richard feels like it'd be wrong to not contribute in himself.

"Welcome everyone to my little showcase of everything that is involved in Congruent Magic. Now I'm sure that everyone here is aware of another form of Con Magic that is in effect in this room as well," the bottom Eric says, a few people in the audience pointing at a box along the wall. "That is correct. The Language of Intent is also an example of Con Magic. In all actuality Con Magic is probably the most versatile of all the three kinds of magic, being able to do a wide variety of things that the other two kinds cannot. But unlike the other kinds of magic there really isn't all that distinct a way to qualify how good someone is at the type of magic. Whereas both Sym and Dis magic both have very distinct and objective ways to determine skill level, with Con magic you just get a grade. This grade is a measure for how easily you can fool someone looking at you. A grade of F would look something like this," he says and then reaches behind a table and unfolds what looks like a cheesy cardboard drawing of some alien creature. "Would any of you be at all convinced that I was a Jhereshii right now? Likely not. The Language of Intent and this body would both be classified in the B grade of spells. What a B grade means is that to any ordinary person this is indistinguishable from reality. Only an expert who knows what to look for will be able to tell it's a fake. If you saw someone using one of these dolls you would never know the difference. In fact you'd be surprised by how often these are used by celebrities and in cinema. I have every memory, every thought and will perfectly match the behavior of the one that activated me. However, what keeps this from being a perfect illusion?"

"No blood?" One of the audience shouts out.

"No, this doll will still bleed, though it is highly toxic so I'd highly advise against trying to taste it. Anyone else?"

He looks at the audience to see if anyone else is willing to offer an answer. The Eric next to Richard is frantically raising up his hand, trying to get the attention of the speaker but is being ignored by the other Eric. Eventually getting tired of getting ignored the upper Eric leans over and raises Richard's arm for him and whispers at him, "no magic."

The lower Eric points at Richard and he reluctantly repeats the statement whispered at him. "That is correct," the lower Eric affirms after the answer. "This doll cannot use magic at all. Which means the best chance of uncovering a doll is to try and put them in a situation where they would have to use magic. However, if you don't have to use magic these are perfect for having to go into any location where you don't want to be physically. You'll actually find that celebrities are the most likely to use this kind of Con Magic, that and a lot of politicians. The greatest impact of this is that anything that this doll experiences can be downloaded for later. This means if you are at all concerned about your own safety you can simply use this doll, have it go out and do everything you want it to do and if it kills the doll you have evidence of who did it."

"But at any rate unlike what most people tend to think of when it comes to Con Magic, it's not at all about just for criminals as degenerates. Just about anyone can make use of it. Some can be more utilitarian like this doll and the Language of Intent box. There's a lot that can be done with Con Magic, and those that are willing to keep coming and seeing more then I'll help all of you to improve your own skill at the craft as well as even help you develop a project of your own of Con Magic. Though I am legally required by the station to make two concessions about all this. First despite what some people may be hoping, I am not legally allowed to just teach people how to use the Language of Intent. I can guide those that want to be able to do it through the proper channels and smooth things out for them. Secondly I cannot teach you how to break the law. So I can't teach you how to dodge cameras or take the exact appearance of someone else. I wouldn't really want to either as it sets a bad image for Con Magic in general and I'd like to promote a more positive side of things. That all said I am perfectly okay with explaining the mechanics regarding certain Con magic spells or even some of the trade secrets I've gained from my years in the business. So why don't I do a quick little Q and A session regarding all this while my other half starts setting up for the next demonstration," the bottom Eric says with a flourish to the one sitting by Richard makes an audible groan before finally getting up and hopping off the platform, heading on down back to the bottom, making sure to take his bag with him.