Entering another dream Ever since returning home to find that most of the issues she had been trying to fix while in the living city had been fixed in her absence, lending to new troubles, she had been trying not just to fix things at home but also to find a way to reunite with all the friends she had made in Nautilus.
She had been working in her sleep again, thankfully this time still in her adventuring gear, when she saw the portal. Which opened in the middle of the workshop she'd been offered. She frowned, tapping a spanner to her lips. Was she actually awake now? She thought she might be. But she wasn't certain. Caution said to call her friends and guards. Caution said she had enough problems already from portals very like this one. Caution said find a way to close it.
Science said it needed to be examined. And that it could be ephemeral. And she wanted to experiment, itched to experiment. She didn't fear the experiment, for that was science. She feared the result. But that fear could not override her curiosity. And so she quickly gathered the bare minimum - a huge bag of tools and parts, goggles, a leather jacket with many pockets, her weasel, her Pokemon, and a few dingbots. She really should leave a note... But the portal....
She hesitated just a moment then took one of the Dingbots back out of her pocket. "Get the others, have them follow me." She considered. "And bring more tools."
There, that was enough, right? Right. And with that, and a nervous touch to her locket, she stepped into someone else's dream.
Her Own Dream
Agatha's dreams weren't always as weird as they had been when she was first Breaking Through, but for those not of her world they were probably still plenty weird.
In her dream she was in a version of Mechanicsburg. One that wasn't locked away and hidden, and that also wasn't half destroyed. The town, from a distance, almost could pass for normal. So long as that distance was extreme. The walls around the town were crenelated and dotted with odd bronze and glass structures. The main gate in the town had a stone carved dragon leaning out over it, and the portcullis looked disturbingly like metal jagged teeth. There was no moat, but there was a burned circle of ground outside the wall that implied some sort of defenses.
Unluckily for anyone who came to the town from outside it, the gate was open. They were being subtly welcomed.
The town, once entered, was one that got weirder the more you looked. Perhaps the adverts for new varieties of snacking snails and minimamoths on a stick weren't that odd. The clockwork pigeons were from her memories of Beetleburg, but hardly seemed out of place compared to the Dingbots running all over the place like a living metal carpet, carrying tools back and forth.
Because it was a dream, the statue of the Heterodyne Boys was visible as soon as anyone entered the gate. And the road went past the coffee shop - which was oddly large in this dream and issuing forth dark smoke that smelled wonderful, a large tavern called Mama Ginka's, and a museum of historical battle armor, up to the castle that hovered at the top of the hill.
Sitting on a bench outside the Castle was Agatha herself. She was building another small Dingbot as she chatted with... something. The voice that answered her shook the ground and sounded old and... petulant.
"I don't know why you are making such a big deal about a little remodeling," Agatha said, with a mix of amusement and patience. "The Jägers do far more damage dancing than I'm proposing. And besides, you're hideously over built, especially since we repaired you."
"I just rediscovered that lab!" the voice boomed.
"Yes, and it almost killed us all," Agatha said, still seeming amused.
"Exactly!"
"So you agree it must go?" Agatha asked, looking at the Castle, seeming suspicious in the extreme.
"No! So I need to study it! I do not at all care for the woman whose lab it was and would gleefully crush her if she even set foot in your town again, Lady," the voice boomed.
"Who wouldn't you gleefully crush?" Agatha asked, distracting it.
"Um... Well...."
"Well?"
"Well you, I suppose."
"Just me?" Agatha sounded a little annoyed now.
"And your minions I suppose..."
Agatha set down the now finished Dingbot and crossed her arms, somehow without impaling herself on the very sharp screwdriver she'd been using. "I need those. Who else?" Her voice was almost demanding now.
"I mean I wouldn't crush them until after you had heirs of course..."
"You won't crush them at all," Agatha snapped firmly.
"But... What if they really need crushing?"
"You sound like Bang," Agatha said flatly. "If they really need crushing, I am perfectly capable of crushing them myself!"
"Last time you did that you took out four of my walls! One was load bearing!"
"You survived," Agatha said. She turned to whatever poor unfortunate had wandered into her dream, green eyes flashing behind her glasses. "You agree with me, of course. Right?"
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momijizukamori
Agatha Heterodyne | Girl Genius + Wake CRAU | OTA | CW: Mad Science
Date: 2025-10-16 08:14 am (UTC)Entering another dream
Ever since returning home to find that most of the issues she had been trying to fix while in the living city had been fixed in her absence, lending to new troubles, she had been trying not just to fix things at home but also to find a way to reunite with all the friends she had made in Nautilus.
She had been working in her sleep again, thankfully this time still in her adventuring gear, when she saw the portal. Which opened in the middle of the workshop she'd been offered. She frowned, tapping a spanner to her lips. Was she actually awake now? She thought she might be. But she wasn't certain. Caution said to call her friends and guards. Caution said she had enough problems already from portals very like this one. Caution said find a way to close it.
Science said it needed to be examined. And that it could be ephemeral. And she wanted to experiment, itched to experiment. She didn't fear the experiment, for that was science. She feared the result. But that fear could not override her curiosity. And so she quickly gathered the bare minimum - a huge bag of tools and parts, goggles, a leather jacket with many pockets, her weasel, her Pokemon, and a few dingbots. She really should leave a note... But the portal....
She hesitated just a moment then took one of the Dingbots back out of her pocket. "Get the others, have them follow me." She considered. "And bring more tools."
There, that was enough, right? Right. And with that, and a nervous touch to her locket, she stepped into someone else's dream.
Her Own Dream
Agatha's dreams weren't always as weird as they had been when she was first Breaking Through, but for those not of her world they were probably still plenty weird.
In her dream she was in a version of Mechanicsburg. One that wasn't locked away and hidden, and that also wasn't half destroyed. The town, from a distance, almost could pass for normal. So long as that distance was extreme. The walls around the town were crenelated and dotted with odd bronze and glass structures. The main gate in the town had a stone carved dragon leaning out over it, and the portcullis looked disturbingly like metal jagged teeth. There was no moat, but there was a burned circle of ground outside the wall that implied some sort of defenses.
Unluckily for anyone who came to the town from outside it, the gate was open. They were being subtly welcomed.
The town, once entered, was one that got weirder the more you looked. Perhaps the adverts for new varieties of snacking snails and minimamoths on a stick weren't that odd. The clockwork pigeons were from her memories of Beetleburg, but hardly seemed out of place compared to the Dingbots running all over the place like a living metal carpet, carrying tools back and forth.
Because it was a dream, the statue of the Heterodyne Boys was visible as soon as anyone entered the gate. And the road went past the coffee shop - which was oddly large in this dream and issuing forth dark smoke that smelled wonderful, a large tavern called Mama Ginka's, and a museum of historical battle armor, up to the castle that hovered at the top of the hill.
Sitting on a bench outside the Castle was Agatha herself. She was building another small Dingbot as she chatted with... something. The voice that answered her shook the ground and sounded old and... petulant.
"I don't know why you are making such a big deal about a little remodeling," Agatha said, with a mix of amusement and patience. "The Jägers do far more damage dancing than I'm proposing. And besides, you're hideously over built, especially since we repaired you."
"I just rediscovered that lab!" the voice boomed.
"Yes, and it almost killed us all," Agatha said, still seeming amused.
"Exactly!"
"So you agree it must go?" Agatha asked, looking at the Castle, seeming suspicious in the extreme.
"No! So I need to study it! I do not at all care for the woman whose lab it was and would gleefully crush her if she even set foot in your town again, Lady," the voice boomed.
"Who wouldn't you gleefully crush?" Agatha asked, distracting it.
"Um... Well...."
"Well?"
"Well you, I suppose."
"Just me?" Agatha sounded a little annoyed now.
"And your minions I suppose..."
Agatha set down the now finished Dingbot and crossed her arms, somehow without impaling herself on the very sharp screwdriver she'd been using. "I need those. Who else?" Her voice was almost demanding now.
"I mean I wouldn't crush them until after you had heirs of course..."
"You won't crush them at all," Agatha snapped firmly.
"But... What if they really need crushing?"
"You sound like Bang," Agatha said flatly. "If they really need crushing, I am perfectly capable of crushing them myself!"
"Last time you did that you took out four of my walls! One was load bearing!"
"You survived," Agatha said. She turned to whatever poor unfortunate had wandered into her dream, green eyes flashing behind her glasses. "You agree with me, of course. Right?"