Neptis
Ironhand 10405, The Hissing Lobster
It was after midnight in the Inn, and Eigengrau was finishing up another research paper on temporal metaphysics. She wasn't exactly sure why she kept writing them, as they all contained knowledge far too dangerous for anybody except another God to read, and nobody else was interested. Still, it was calming in a way. Her thoughts were interrupted by Neptis.
"Hey Eigen!" Neptis shouted from the lounge chair she was sitting in. "What are you writing? Another love letter to Vaust?"
"Hardly." Eigengrau flatly replied. "This is merely a theory I have been developing regarding the concept of-"
"So nerd shit." Neptis said, cutting Eigengrau off and jumping up. "Lemme see it!"
Eigengrau didn't see it, but Neptis's demand caused Vordea to look up from doodling on the table. She didn't see Vordea's tentacles twitch slightly in excitement either, as she was too busy keeping the papers away from Neptis.
"You will not understand this. Why do you want to read them so badly?"
"That's what you think! Now gimmie!" Neptis shouted, grabbing the papers straight out of Eigengrau's hands.
The moment Neptis's eyes hit the title and abstract, her eyes and tone hardened.
"Pen." Neptis said, her voice hard as stone.
"What?" Eigengrau asked. This was interesting, and not within usual parameters for Neptis at all.
"I said pen!" Neptis shouted, and one appeared in her hand, as if the universe decided it didn't want to make her angry.
For the next several minutes, Neptis tore through the thirty page paper, wordlessly writing in the margins, and at several points holding the paper upside down, sideways, and for a brief moment Eigengrau was sure she turned it into a four dimensional object.
Eigengrau did not say anything, or outwardly react at all, but internally she was wearing a grin a mile wide. Neptis was far smarter than she ever let on, she thought to herself.
"You've made several impossible assumptions that aren't internally consistent with each other." Neptis suddenly said, neatly stacking the papers and holding them out.
Eigengrau wordlessly took the papers back from Neptis and skimmed through it. Neptis was right. This was entirely unexpected, she would need to adjust modelling for this behaviour. But first there was a certain War Goddess standing in front of her to be dealt with.
"It appears you need to speak with someone more your speed." Eigengrau stated, giving the faintest smile.
Smoke suddenly filled the room in an instant, blinding the rest of the Gods. Just as quickly it dissipated, and Eigengrau was gone. Or rather, changed. Sitting in her place was a young woman with dishevelled brown hair, bags under her eyes, and stained fingers. She smelled of cigarettes and coffee, but most noticeable was the smile on her face as she stared right into Neptis's eyes.
Vordea reacted first, making an involuntary gasp, before quickly covering her mouth. Eigengrau's gaze shot her way, and gave the quickest wink before darting back to Neptis.
"Finally, a worthy opponent. Do you know how long I've been waiting for someone like you?" Eigengrau asked, her smile growing larger.
"Come along darlings, none of you will understand what's about to happen anyway." Vordea said, quickly ushering the other Gods gently but firmly down the stairs into the basement. "Do let us know when you're done."
Neither Eigengrau nor Neptis heard what Vordea said. The argument had already begun.
"You're not accounting for the interaction of the manifold with the lattice of-" Eigengrau started to say, but was cut off.
"What about the third transformation of the invoked-" Neptis shot back.
"It's been accounted for in diagram 745, on page 28, with regards to-"
The argument continued for hours. Neither of them won. Both of them felt like they did.
---
Sargon was the first to speak once Vordea barred the door back up the stairs.
"What was that?" He asked, arms crossed.
"That, my lovely Judge, was Eigengrau the mortal." Vordea said with a smile. "That was Sirene Ignitis, the woman who published her way into divinity."
"Hang on, published?" Zalas interrupted.
"Oh yes." Vordea smiled, and sat in the nearest chair. "Fifteen thousand research papers over the course of two thousand years, as she learned more and more about the metaphysics of time until... well... the universe agreed she simply was time."
"Show me." Drota said. "Show me one of her papers. And don't be coy I know you of all people can pull one out of some awful corner of reality."
Vordea pouted. "It's no fun if you know my tricks. But I suppose I can humour you."
Vordea peeled open a hole just big enough for one of her tentacles to root around in before it retrieved a small pile of papers.
Drota looked at the title. "Interfacing with four dimensional temporal lattices using three dimensional shadows of higher order beings? Vordea this is word salad."
"Normally I'd agree with you. But that was one of her early ones, and she wrote that while still mortalhuman. If you can't understand even that one, you'll never understand Eigengrau the scientist."
"A human wrote this?" Drota asked with some fear in her voice, as she leafed through it.
"Yes, and that human is arguing with our little sword upstairs right now." Vordea responded with a raised eyebrow. "I haven't seen her in... well, a very long time."
"No human mind could have written this, Vordea." Drota said, her voice quivering.
"You've no idea how close you are, darling." Vordea pulled a cigarette out of her coat pocket, and popped it into her mouth. "Even when she was still Sirene, she had a truly alien intelligence."
"Darling you're supposed to smoke them not eat them." Zalas said with a snicker as Vordea chomped the cigarette to pieces. Vordea gave him a strange look, but continued.