Mykal’s Journal, Page 21

Eureka! After 3 days of meditating on the Unicorn (in between researching a Trump Energy storage device) She put me to sleep, and as if in a dream I visited HER. We were in a wooded glade, then she led me to a Glamour Pool, other lesser unicorns about. She took human form, with black skin and white hair (no horn though, just a gold mark on her forehead) We discuss my reasons for contacting her, and I request her tutelage in advanced trump. She agrees, for an unspecified return favor to be called in the future. (I am SOOOO tempted to ask her if she IS our grandmother, but discretion advises not. No idea how she might react, and I AM begging a favor)

Requesting Trump Duplication training first, she qualifies that I must convince Dworkin to allow use of his facilities, and also to share this information with the other members of the family, not that I would have hoarded the information for myself anyway. She trumps us to elsewhere, without a card I notice. She crafts a trump on the wall of a cliff, using just her fingernails…all 10 at once, and I was very impressed. Not that she seemed to be showing off. I trumped through, into a VERY strange environment, misty, unfocussed, malleable physics, weightless till I noticed it and thought about gravity, and I created it, along with something to stand on. Very strange, I even started choking once when I concentrated on breathing and lost my subconscious train of thought.. it took a minute to relax enough to get it back. I can feel A LOT of trump energy surrounding me and playing a hunch I pull out a coin and Concentrate on duping it, it dupes from the surrounding mist. I then experimented with more difficult concepts to test the capabilities, it seems to be limited to what I can envision completely enough. I dupe several items, then a dove for a living object, it takes quite a push, and I wound up giving it some of MY life energy to animate it. I then went for the REAL test, and pulled out one of my self-portrait Trumps, it duped easily since I was familiar with every brushstroke. And that is how it actually duped itself, painting itself nearly stroke for stroke from the original, which puts me in a bind for duping other peoples trumps I’m sure.

As I’m fiddling with the trumps, and admiring the work, I get a start… a largish, taloned hand reaches past my shoulder and snatches the dove, I hear sounds of eating VERY close behind me! I turn quickly, nearly losing my gravity. And lo, Dworkin has arrived. I must have alerted him with my use of the energies here. Luckily he wasn’t interested in eating ME too, at least not yet. Showing a mastery FAR beyond my pitiful experiments he summons preset pieces of a study from somewhere nearby, and we discuss what I’m doing here, and how I got here, etc.. He also agrees to allow use of this place, for an unspecified favor (OMG, what favor could I do for the CREATOR of our end of the universe? This is gonna be painful I’m sure) He breaks down several rules, such as no sleeping here, no sex here, etc.. Seems the physics of the place makes your thoughts become real, and if you are having an Nightmare.. it will come true. So hallucinogens are not a good idea here.

Dworkin then decides to get drunk, with me as a drinking partner…hmm, drinking and this place must not be that bad. I wind up passed out. I come too in The Grove of the Unicorn with someone poking me in the back, completely naked, and hung over like nobody’s business. Were we REALLY mixing all those liquors? I decide to clear my head in the only way I’ve been trained. And begin to attempt to jog it off…sweat it out of myself. Takes 2 or 3 hours but my head clears a bit, though my stomach is VERY empty by now. Julian’s rangers found me (along with dupes of my clothes, located nearby), and provide escort and protection when a wild boar takes offense at my alcohol-hazed presence. I return to semi-coherency and thank the Rangers for a WILD party. Hopefully convincing them that I have NO idea where I’ve been, it’s been a long time since I’ve played the party animal in Amber proper. Of course, I vaguely remember one of them observing that there were no tracks of me around, so I just Poofed in from somewhere else.

I head back to Amber, take some sober pills and work on clearing my head more. I get cleaned up and get some REAL clothes, luckily he didn’t try to dupe my armor, and the elementals in my sword seem to be in a state of shock, Dworkin’s prodding I’m sure. After a few hours, I feel well enough to shadow-walk and I head off. I walk back to the area She brought me to and locate the cliff-trump. Pulling out my Art-case I begin to paint a trump of the entrance area. The trump itself won’t allow itself to be painted, blurring itself and my vision of it. But I can paint a nearby area, as long as the trump isn’t in the view it doesn’t interfere. Completing this I pack my trash, and trump in to the Trump Nexus. I dupe a few more copies of my own trump, then dupe some copies of the trump of the entrance, they will be useful to give to the rest of the TA’s in the family when I get to brief them.

Heading back to Amber, I request a meeting with Random. Then converse with the guards a bit till he has time for me, They twit me a bit about the Unicorn Grove thing, word travels fast about our family, I pass it off as a drunken binge, with no memory of where I was drinking at. They are soldiers so they know how it goes. Once with the King, I brief him on the whole thing, he is elated and grateful for my efforts on behalf of Amber and the family. Taking my leave, I leave him in a good mood. And I head off to my Townhouse for some much-needed sleep, I will plan my training agenda later. Probably better be mom first, or she’ll never forgive me.

I sleep, dreaming of the Unicorn.