Scene #4328: Heart of the Cards (Cheat cheat cheat)

Owner	Pose
Hitoshura	In the residental area is a small park, and a few picnic tables and benches. Hito is waiting at one of the tables with his Thoth and the strange deck of cards. Hito is a man in his 20s in casual clothes. He has black tattoos and bright green eyes (which glow in the dark, but it's not dark here). Thoth is a babboon with a mantle and crown who is turning pages in his book while scrutinizing the cards. Hito's radio gave precise coordinates. Guess this is as good a place as any to see if this is dangerous, especially because no one is using this area other than the three of them.
Valentha Summers	Valentha Summers comes rushing down the road on a rather QUIET-sounding hovercycle. The thing definitely has NO chemical engine because it makes no noises beyond the rush of winds and a faint pulsing hum! The Hovercycle though is a thing of fancy engineering, vaguely resembling hefty motorcycles of Earth make... from the future! Definitely the thing a hardcore biker might like. The gal straddling it's NO hardcore biker though. Looks more like a world war two-era aviator... except few of them were women. The blonde with short-medium'ish golden-textured hair hops off the bike after parking nearby, her leap taking her fairly close to the table Hitoshura's commndeered. Valentha Summers approaches with a confident swagger and a friendly grin in greeting. "Hi! Hope you weren't waiting too long. Valentha Summers of Lazlo. Techno-Wizard... and arcane expert. At your service!"
Hitoshura	Hito checks out the sweet ride, and smiles as Valentha approaches. "No, I wasn't waiting too long. Nice to meet you Valentha." He gestures for her to sit across from them. "I don't think these are cursed, and they're not for predicting the future, according to Thoth. Let me show you what I've learned," Hito picks up the deck, shuffles it less than gracefully, and then draws 6 cards. He shows them. Three of them feature himself with a strange symbol at the bottom. The other three feature Jedah Dohma, a Confederate Elite with a different symbol on them. Hito puts the cards on the bottom, and nudges the deck over towards Valentha, placing it on the table at a comfortable distance to her. "You're welcome to examine them or whatever. Thoth is waiting if you need his help, but I figure it's better to get an Elite to look at them. Thoth is a good priest, but your expertise is probably closer to what we need,"
Valentha Summers	"Weeeell, here's hoping something about them's--" Valentha begins, but freezes and narrows her eyes at the depiction of JEDAH DOHMA. No recognition but... "... Certainly got a dangerous look to him, doesn't he? Sharp eyes. Among other things." Valentha deftly snatches up the deck, then cants her head queryingly at this so-called Thoth. "So you share the name with the God of Knowledge, hm? Lot to live up to." Well, now her attention focuses solely on the cards. She wastes little time. First she sets them down and begins casting some spells. Blueish energy flows through and across her hands as she chants softly. The spells are very subtle, most of their effects not terribly visible. They awaken her senses further to the mystical, letting her sense magic. Although nothing she has will reveal exactly what these things DO, she can begin by judging just how POWERFUL they are. Quite a difference between say, a minor enchanted work of a conman and a deck of cards made by gods, for instance...
Hitoshura	Hito nods. "Yeah, he looks kinda scary." Thoth scratches his chin. "Yeah, it is. Whether he's my ancestor, or as Hito says, archetype, I'm not sure. Just made in his image it seems." The deck is pretty low level magic, but it is magic nonetheless. It can create cards if a new Elite touches the deck and wills their card to be added to the deck. The symbols are akin to rock paper scissors, although the paper symbol is missing, so until someone give Hito another card, that may be a mystery. The deck also clones itself for more people. When that happens, they get a copy of the original owner's card, and their own personal card. The deck always appears to be thicker than the number of cards in it. One would need at least three cards to play it. Whether one draws seven cards or plays it like "War" doesn't really matter. The cards are not dangerous in the least, unless you get a paper cut or the Joker throws them at you with blinding speed or something.
Valentha Summers	"... Ehhhhhhhuh?" Valentha's eyes boggle wide open as though something has her weirded out. It's a very strangely puzzled look indeed. "... There's a bit of something here. Not sure if it's magic..." Her eyes sweep upwards from the deck and onto Hitoshura. "... You, on the other hand... are quite something." She grins knowingly... but how much how cans he actually tell? "Alright. Seconding the opinion that these cards are neither prophetic or cursed. Don't sense danger from them either... ... Creepy though, I'll give them that. Never seen any like these..." But she purses her lips as she raises the deck, pondering on it... But focus shines in her eyes... However this manifests, the new card's image fades into view as something VERY NOT WHAT IS BEFORE HITOSHURA NOW. No relatively perky blonde mechanic wizard. No... Instead, a great, terrifyingly spiky, reptile appears in a majestic pose with wings spread and eyes on the viewer. A towering dragon with thick scales the exact shade and texture of Valentha's hair...
Hitoshura	Hito smiles politely. "Yeah, I'm not exactly normal," he says, widening to a grin. He's wondering just how much is apparent, but that's not why they're here. He listens to her appraisal. As she takes a card or touches the deck, the card falls on the table. It's a glorious looking dragon. "You can make up cards?" Hito asks, not understanding that it is Valentha's picture. He doesn't get it. He seems a little disappointed at the prospect. What's the point of getting cards from new Elites if you can just add whatever you want. "I was just hoping to collect other Elite's cards, and if it's safe, play it with others."
Valentha Summers	"......" Valentha on the other hand, gives the card a VERY hard stare after that display. "...." It takes her a few moments of wide-eyed pondering to come to a realization... and that sparks a grin from the young woman. A sly, smug grin that only those who know more than their fellows can ever sprout. "You say you're not exactly normal." Valentha stands up and backs away from the table, still wearing that look. Then, with an overly perky about-face, she puts her back to him. "Hmmmm. Is it making up whatever I want?" Things get WEIRD fast. She reaches around... and starts... UNDRESSING?! ... Down to the bare essentials, anyways. She only briefly cants her head and glances over her shoulder to show a playful grin to Hitoshura - who she clearly expects to be shocked by this sudden turn of events. Then she starts leisurely strolling forward... and CHANGES. What's left of her clothes are almost instantly shredded to pieces by her rapidly growing body. Human flesh is subsumed into rippling scales and a thick ridge down her back. She falls forward onto all fours, claws like KNIVES scratching against the brick. In a matter of moments, the REAL THING of what that card depics turns her great head around, still grinning at Hitoshura. The Great Horned Dragon is called such for VERY good reason. SPIKES run across nearly her ENTIRE body. Down her back, around the edges of her face... there's a million ways someone could be impaled against her body. It's probably rather discomforting to think about, to say the least. "Whoever made those was quite clever. Neither am I quite normal."
Hitoshura	Hito blushes as she starts removing clothing. Then she transforms. He is shocked. He catches his jaw (not literally) and applauds. After getting over the shock, the wheels begin to turn. "So it can add an Elite's card. Cool. But are you cool with me having this? Surely you don't want everyone knowing you're a dragon. Then again, I'll probably only play with Unionites." He uses a moment to just take her in. He's never seen anything quite like it, not even in the Vortex World. "You're beautiful," he says, forgetting about why they're here. Thoth looks up from reading his book and is also surprised, tail twitching. "I see. So she wasn't kidding about seven centuries of experience. Hmm,"
Valentha Summers	A love of Shock and Awe is, seemingly, one of Valentha's few vices. Quite a flair for the dramatics, this dragon. "Hmmm?" The Dragon blinks a few times... tilts her head... it's a bit hard to tell, but that might be a rather pleased smile she's showing. "Not what I expected to hear about my true form. You're a special one. Well." The great beast drops down onto her stomach and brings her head closer to the table, dropping her voice down to a mere whisper - for her anyways! it's ordinary conversation volume for people - and adding, "The Union knows. ... Many of the Confederates know. Even the leadership of my home knows. It's only a secret in so far as... well. My kind gather too much attention... and don't fit through most doors."
Hitoshura	Hito nods. "I understand. My partners and can be a bit scary. I once rode Cerberus into a recently unified New York. I got all kinds of stares. if it weren't for the meta-humans, I might have been arrested or worse, Yeah, I could see how fitting through doors might be a problem." Hito nods again. "Well, there's one thing left. Do you think you'd like a deck of your own? You could probably get your friends to give you their cards." ((OOC: And I just kind of used my alts and took his card, because.. well, why not?)) Hito looks at the symbol on Valentha's card,"This is a new one. I wonder how many there are?" He puts the card on top of the deck, and the deck chimes,"Deck complete." Hito blinks several times. "So it plays like Rock Paper Scissors I'm guessing?" He asks,"That's pretty simple. Well, we know that it's mostly harmless. I guess mission complete." He offers to (with Thoth's help), clone the deck, giving Valentha his own card as well. So she should have at least two cards. If she's not interested, that's cool, too.
Valentha Summers	"You can... duplicate them, and they'll still work?" The dragon sounds a bit skeptical of this, like she'll have to see it to believe it. Her gaze rather noticeably slides between Hitoshura and Thoth several times... "Rock paper scissors playing cards that make cards using the people that touch them... if this had even the slightest bit more power behind it, I'd worry... As it is, this warrants more study. For how they're doing it."
Hitoshura	Thoth says,"I would think a trading card game would be useless with only one deck. Well, mostly, and I have a spell for it. If they keep their power after being duplicated, we're dealing with something more than just an armchair wizard's amusement." Thoth's hands and eyes glow. He mutters an incantation, and a magic circle appears under the card. Another magic circle appears beside it, and aetheric snow falls inside of it, until it forms another deck. Hito reaches for it, and Thoth slaps his hand. "It's got to be another person. It won't let you make two of the same decks." Thoth's eyes are still glowing, so he's probably analyzing the decks, too. "Ouch, Thoth," Hito says sullenly. "With your own deck, you can study them more at your own leisure. Without some more information like the card's likeness true name, or birthday, or something else, it shouldn't have a strong connection to the other person. Now, if you could scry for the person with the card, that might be problematic, but I don't think the cards are strong enough for that," Thoth continues,"Try poking it with a claw," he suggests. "I don't think they have much potential for evil, but who knows?" Hito alarm beeps on his radio. "Sorry, I've got to go. I've got an ambassador meeting in Ai, my new home. We'll have to continue this later, but with your own deck, you should be able to examine them yourself, maybe even decompile them," He stands to go,"It was really nice to meet you,"