Chapter Text
"Our prototype is finally complete ! Behold, the Avatar !" Larna exclaimed.
Prince Geoffrey sighed, hoping the magic tool's purpose would be better than its name. The exhibition of the magic tools department's most recent "masterpiece" had attracted quite a few people in the ministry of magic... some of them were even there to actually watch the presentation, rather than to use the event as an excuse to spend time with Katarina Claes.
Nearly all the princes were here, minus Ian who had obligations elsewhere that day. Nicol Ascart was present as the future prime minister, and had bought his sister along. Maria, Raphael, and Sora were of course here as employees of the ministry. Keith represented the house of Claes, having come to observe his sister's work. Why Mary Hunt was officially here was anyone's guess, but by now the employees knew better than to try and stop her.
Larna Smith, meanwhile, was presenting the new tool. The thing looked like a metallic humanoid figure, not unlike an earth golem created by Keith and somehow painted in a neutral gray color.
"The Avatar", Larna explained, "reacts to a human soul, and is able to host it for a limited time. The golem reshapes itself around the soul of its owner, becoming a perfectly copy-" Her sentence was interrupted by Katarina sniggering.
"Sorry, sorry !" the girl said, smirking at Raphael. She was soon joined by Sora and Laura, much to the apparent chagrin of the redhead.
"You're one to laugh !" he pouted.
"Fine, becoming a reasonably accurate copy of the owner's body. Usually." sighed Larna. "For example, when shapeshifting into Raphael, the Avatar tends to become a little bit taller than the original... and it also loses the bags under his eyes. Our current theory is that the soul hosted by the golem reshapes it in the way it believes it should look, instead of the way its real body currently looks."
The room went silent for a while, as the audience took in the information, after what most of them started asking themselves the same question. Alan finally gave in first, raising his hand.
"Out of curiosity, did you test it on...?" he asked, looking at the local big lug. Guy Anderson, aka Laura, ministry employee and towering bodybuilder, wearing make-up and a frilly skirt.
"We did... and it was glorious !" Laura answered with a large smile. There was a small pause, but apparently that was all they were going to get, so Alan decided not to push the subject further.
"I have a question. If a person's soul can possess the golem, what happens to the original body while the soul is gone?"
"An excellent question ! Thank you Lord Ascard, I was expecting this one !" Larna beamed. "The original body simply goes to sleep, that's it. The Avatar can technically be used for an entire day, but any more would be an inconvenience, since the real body of its user will eventually get hungry."
A few people winced among the audience. The idea of a body stuck in a deep sleep and in danger of starvation raised quite a few unpleasant memories among the former student council members. On stage, Raphael shrunk a little bit, avoiding other people's gaze as discreetly as he could. Fortunately for him, the situation didn't linger on for long, Katarina jumping to the rescue before things became too awkward.
"Don't worry, it's safe ! The soul is sent back to your body anytime you want ! In fact, sometimes even if you don't want to ! Like if you-" she started, before interrupting herself.
A few seconds passed. Then Geordo, already fearing what his fiancee didn't want to tell them, spoke up. She was obviously hiding something, considering she was staring at the floor with an embarrassed look on her face. The only thing missing to complete the well-known picture was Milidiana Claes standing behind her daughter with a murderous look.
"Like if you...?"
"Nothing, nothing !" she assured him.
"Like if you trip on your own feet and make the golem fall down the stairs." Sora said with a smirk.
"Sora !!"
"What? You were already waking up in your real body before the golem even touched the ground !"
Geordo breathed a sigh of relief while Katarina and Sora argued. The incident was very... very Katarina, but nothing dire had happened. For once. Except, apparently, for the ministry employee on the bottom of the stairs, who had to dodge a falling golem already halfway between his Katarina appearance and its default silvery form. It was at this point that Larna clapped, getting everyone's attention.
"In Lady Katarina's defense, the Avatar reacts a bit strangely to her soul. We currently believe that her... unique past experiences with magic are prompting the golem to randomly take the form of any living human. I hoped to work on it, but this behavior has yet to appear with any other user, so it's probably nothing important."
"Wait a minute," Mary interrupted. "You mean that each time Lady Katarina uses it, it will take the form of someone else?"
"Er..." Katarina answered. "I only tried it once actually..."
"That's understandable, it looks dangerous." Alan interjected with his best smirk. "With all those stairs lurking around in the shadows..."
"Alan !! Not you too !"
"More seriously," Larna interrupted. "The Avatar seemed to believe Lady Katarina should be a short girl with messy hair originating from somewhere around the Eastern Kingdoms. She was understandably quite distressed by the situation, which also explains the "stairs incident", and has since been reluctant to take part in further testing... regardless on how interesting the results could be..."
"It's just one person, Director." Laura said. "Shouldn't we make a demonstration? Maybe some of the audience will want to try it afterwards?"
"I suppose so, yes..." Larna sighed. "Sora, if you please?"
"Of course."
Sora stepped forward, and sat in the comfy armchair next to the golem. The chair was clearly designed to allow falling asleep in it, without ending up crumbled on the floor five seconds later, unlike the standard chairs in the ministry's offices. He made himself comfortable under everyone's watchful eyes –and Raphael's somewhat jealous eyes–, then reached to a silvery bracer ornated with a red jewel, and put it on his wrist.
"See you later !" he said, injecting some magic into the stone. In a matter of seconds, he was out cold, and the golem was slowly reshaping itself, getting taller, thinner, more colorful... until it looked like another Sora. As the construct smiled and bowed to his audience, Larna explained.
"As you can see, Sora is now in control of the Avatar ! He will remain so, until we wills himself back in his own body ! Now, any questions? Yes, Lord Ascart?"
"What are the golem's exact capabilities? Can it do everything the user can do?"
"Mostly, yes ! His physical prowesses will usually be superior to his user –as long as your name isn't Laura–, but the drawback is that the Avatar itself doesn't wield magic, so you can't use it to cast spells."
"Still, its ability to go negociate with dangerous people without putting yourself in harm's way can be quite interesting..." mused Geoffrey.
"Oh, it can't talk. We added empty areas for the lungs because the users feel weird if they can't breathe, even if the Avatar doesn't need to, but vocal cords were too complicated for a prototype. We hope to design a wind magic infused tube that can simulate speech and install it in the throat, but for now it's incapable of speech- Sora, stop making it look like you're choking."
The artificial Sora mimicked a soundless chuckle, and removed his hands from his own neck.
"Then it could be used to explore dangerous areas, and fight off beasts !" Sophia exclaimed with a sparkle in her eyes.
"Technically yes,! ...But the user still needs to be in a 100 meters radius, so it can't wander too far away..."
"Then is must be used in case of an accident ! An earthquake, a fire... It can step into unstable buildings and carry victims to safety !" Keithsuggested .
"Of course !" beamed Larna. "Well, except that it's strong, but not indestructible if something happens... And a single one is quite difficult to assemble... And we'd need a lot of training for its users to stay in control no matter what, as Lady Karatina already demonstrated that the soul was instinctively recalled in case of danger..."
"Then it can be used to communicate with people who fell in a coma ! Even without speech, they could still write !" Mary said .
"Unfortunately, the user needs to actively inject magic in the control bracer to start the soul transfer process..."
"..."
There was a moment of silence, everyone trying to think of other applications, then looking at each other. Geoffrey did his best to not even think of the word "paperweight". Until Geordo finally adressed the elephant in the room.
"Sooo... what was it actually made for?"
Another awkward silence filled the room. Sora had never thought he'd be so happy to be unable to speak.
"So, do anyone want to try it?" Larna asked with a big smile. In the end, people had remembered that the department of magic tools was the department of magic tools, and that maybe they were expecting a bit much by thinking they would offer both a cutting-edge artifact and concrete applications for it. It was the department who birthed the bag that can store food smells, after all.
"Come on Maria, give it a try !" Katarina had already taken Maria's hand and was dragging her on stage.
"Lady Katarina ! I can't-"
"You already couldn't last time ! You work here too, you should do the honors !"
"But..."
She quickly understood that it was one of Katarina’s patented ideas, and that it would be faster to humor her than to try and avoid it. She sighed, and sat on the armchair.
"So, I just pour magic into the bracer?"
"Correct miss Campbell !" Larna exclaimed. "It's simple as that !"
"Alright then..."
Maria closed her eyes. Soon after, she was sleeping soundly, and the golem was shrinking a bit, and shapeshifting into a second Maria. Once done, she looked at her original body, thinking that is was a strange feeling to watch herself from the outside.
"Are you feeling alright in there?" Larna asked. The fake Maria opened her mouth wordlessly, then nodded. "Good ! Raphael, can you bring her some paper and a pen? I have a few questions for her !"
While the director was grilling Maria, Sophia discreetly nudged Nicol.
"... Brother? Do you see..." She didn't need to say more.
"Yes. I noticed."
"The real one is noticeably prettier than the avatar... Do you think that means..."
"Probably. Katarina did a lot to improve her self-confidence, but... Maybe being the only commoner among nobles still weights on her. Or maybe is it just being around Katarina, she can make the most gorgeous women look bland by comparison after all."
"Aw come on, why don't you tell her that when you talk to her?"
Nicol went silent. Soon after, Larna did too, having exhausted both Maria and her immediate list of questions. The golem then switched back to its default form as Maria woke up, quickly greeted by Larna.
"And welcome back miss Campbell ! So, anyone else wants to try?"
"You should probably promise that you won't ask as many questions next time, Director" Laura sighed.
"Excuse me ! I'd like to try !"
All heads turned to the girl who had raised her hand.
"Sophia?" Katarina asked, surprised.
"Sister?" Nicol asked.
"I want to see what I'll look like !"
Nicol got closer to his sister, looking... well, looking as impassible as usual to most people, but Sophia caught a glint of worry in his eyes.
"Are you sure, Sophia?"
"Yes. I want to know."
With that, Sophia got on stage, and sat in the armchair. She took her time to mentally prepare herself, and, after a minute, put on the bracer and activated it. The golem soon morphed into what turned out to be a near-perfect copy of her.
"Wow, looking good Sophia !" Katarina cheered.
"It's almost a mirror image indeed. Only a few minor details are amiss." confirmed Nicol, the smile indicating his relief at what he was seeing. For Sophia's self-esteem too, Katarina's influence had worked wonders.
"Now Nicol has two little sisters !" Katarina laughed... "Aaaw, it's already over? You should have stayed a bit more !"
The Sophia golem turned to Katarina to see why she was saying that, after all, she was still in the avatar.
Her eyes opened wide in shock, as did her mouth, voicing a silent scream. The audience froze too, letting out a collective gasp.
The real Sophia in the armchair had opened her eyes and raised her head, looking confused.
"Koko wa doko?"