Streets were all but empty when I made my way toward the industrial district for the first ti since arriving in town... an area I had no real need to explore with so many other things on my mind. However, so early morning workers were starting to appear at bus stops to wait.
I can’t say anything myself, as I neither have the personal funds nor the knowledge how to operate a vehicle - but not having one must be quite a burden in its own way. Almost as soon as I had that thought, I saw a bicycle standing chained to a rack outside a convenience store.
> No one is around. Perfect for another quick test. <
Casually approaching with the reluctant whimpers of my wolf inside, I placed my blue glowing hand on the bicycle’s fra. It quickly turned white before I even attempted to store it and the sa thing happened with the blue mist at the edge of my vision.
| LIMIT: Vehicles Prohibited |
"I suppose that makes more sense than the toy. But it’s still strange."
With a hurry, I continued walking before soone thought I was attempting to remove the lock on their chain. If sothing as ’low tech’ as this is no good, then larger vehicles certainly should be as well.
But I need to be sure, which is why in a quiet looking residential street a bit out of my path... I finally found what I was looking for. An older ’sedan’ parked at the curb with no one around, no street lamp shining on it or porch lights active.
Glancing around nervously anyway to ensure I wasn’t observed, the thod for activating the empty lilac square is repeated even faster as I grew used to doing it. Placing my hand on the hood led to the sa results.
"So you’re consistent with this."
While stepping back towards my destination, I pulled the toy car from the tote and stared at it in a bit of exasperation... when a thought struck . Slipping the tote off my shoulder and throwing the ’vehicle’ back in, I try to put it all in the Stash.
No white glow, no warning ssage, the bag just disappeared and filled the square solid. For a long mont I stood there in the dark street stunned.
I retrieved the tote and opened it, checking that the toy car was still inside and that it didn’t fail to co back just because of the supposed ’limit’. The glossy red in the low light stood out against the glow of my phone screen.
"I believe they call this a ’loophole’ in Earth lawmaking. While I will not say all fae are complete masters of the contract, nor do all deities care to be so particular... does this not seem lazy?"
> Combined with the strange sense of using this ability... that there is not really any tingle or feel of magic? Vrika, I am not so sure what has given this Apocalypse System, but either it really knows what it is doing - with a really long plan - or does not know anything... <
My experints proved that, assuming its hint was true, I could potentially store an entire shipping container... and anything I placed inside it. But if it ignores the rules of vehicles, what about inanimate objects?
"Is a restriction different from a limit? Words are important, but their anings are not always clear."
My wolf barks at as I mumble, suggesting that I should not test this unless I was prepared for it to kill the creature I placed inside. I agreed with that sentint and was not looking forward to running the whole gamut to be sure of what happens to each thing.
"Insects, amphibians, reptiles... well, I’ve eaten plenty of those so I can kind of deal with the idea of it dying. Even that it simply... does not co back. Warm blooded beasts might be a little trickier on the feelings?"
After all, I might hunt a rabbit or rodent without much compunction - even that deer in the forest. But there is a large difference between hunting for food and testing a phenonon that feels like I will be ripping them out of the cycle of life and death...
> Plants first? So of them might have spirits, but... well... ugh, I hate this world and this system! Making think of so many complicated situations that no one else has to deal with. <
The giant paw that lands gently on the back of my skull as I croon my annoyance has a spiritual heft to it. For a black wolf belonging to the Duskpaw, I have to wonder how it turned out so ’nice’.
> Are the other spirits of your forr pack also so friendly and caring? Is it just their werewolf partners that ruin things? <
Its fluffy pads slide off of my cream colored fox fur - and it looks away without acknowledging I’d asked anything. Which is as good an answer as any! I shift into my human form and lay a hand between its slightly lowered ears.
> Well, at least you’re a good one. When you aren’t trying to convince to allow Kyrie to do things I don’t want. <
⧖ ☾ ❄ ☽ ⧖
After traveling through the district for a while, a place with wider roads, awful slls, and old buildings... I discovered the area was just a bit busier than I hoped at this ti of day. Still mostly abandoned, but the sounds of machinery and trucks moving through underpasses was consistent.
Fortunately, the security of this rail yard was minimal... with a high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and occasional patrols by what is probably a private firm. Neither obstacle presented much challenge to a determined werewolf.
I’d scented a spot in the overgrown bushes on one side, obscured from the road but with plenty of slls of humans coming and going. Once a security vehicle - taking its sweet ti - passed by, I moved quickly into the plants to find what I expected.
Soone had cut the links of the fence quite carefully, allowing it to lay back in place without seeming amiss at a glance. Using the routes of thieves and smugglers to move through a city is nothing very new to , though it will be the first ti in this world.
"Here we go, keep alert, Citra..."
The area of the yard was also luckily where I needed to be - a maze of these giant shipping containers stacked two and three high in most areas. After looking around for a while, it seed like the largest variety was the most common.
> Now I just need to find one that can’t be seen easily from anywhere else. <
I moved silently between the rows, keeping my werewolf senses alert for security or ’early bird’ workers. The scent of tal, oil, and even sea salt perated the air - many of these containers had co from distant ports, carrying whatever goods were in them from across the world.
At the far end of the yard, away from most of the newer looking things... I found what I was searching for. A row of unstacked containers that appeared older and much less maintained than the others, rusting and even dented heavily on their sides.
"It will be fine. No one will see. Even if they do... goddesses, what do I do if they do? Why didn’t I at least wear my hair down or in so other style..."
The blue outline appeared as I anxiously touched the lilac square, the giant tal container right in front of . It was by far the largest object I’d attempted to store and I wasn’t sure it would work... and I was right to worry.
| LIMIT: Maximum Volu, Standard Shipping Crate |
The change to white glow and the ssage sward my vision. I held in a slight growl, upset that I’d co all the way here for nothing.
> No, I’m being less than optimistic. It just ans this one was no good, right? <
My eyes sought sothing smaller... there were less of them around, but I began hoping I had only misunderstood sothing about what a ’standard’ size was. Quickly, while I still knew that no patrol was near, I tried one more ti.
And the solid, twenty foot long hunk of steel - and whatever might be inside it - was suddenly gone.
Mostly.
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