The Tattoo Summoner [System Apocalypse]

Chapter 33: Measure Twice Cut Once


The next morning, Tanya worked in silence. She'd missed the rest of the chatting from deep in her sketchbook. It wasn't only sketches though; she kept coming back to this huge mindmap of how all of this worked and how to note down Mrs Eceer's attitude about tools. Even quizzing her for exact wording didn't help, and instead, it ended up being an entire page of its own.

The floor groaned beneath her as she pried up another board, slid it aside, and then slotted a new one into place. Her palms were scraped. Her knees ached. She didn't care; she was just glad that the stabbing pain from yesterday had improved.

Her mind had barely stopped moving since the night before. Even now, in the warm stillness of the morning, the conversations looped in her head—Mrs. Eceer's probing questions, Olena's joyful absurdity, Boris's quiet certainty. Chain logic. Interactions. Synergy. Combinations she'd never even considered.

Combatting the danger of The Magic Touch had been most of her musing.

Keep the initials simple. Track the drain. Increase power, then compare results.

Her new Ability gave her control. Absolute, terrifying control. That meant no excuses anymore. No vague metaphors from The System or unpredictable side effects. If something went wrong now, it would be because she had built it wrong.

That meant testing. Methodical, structured, clinical testing. No clever flourishes. Not at first.

She placed another board.

Version A: single-effect construct. Minimum viable product.

This brought her back to her GCSE Design and Technology class days. She'd write three takes for each design. Version A would be the simplest possible form—a proof of concept. Version B was a moderate strength with some nuance. Version C… well, C was the goal. The finished product. She had Version C's in mind, but she was aware they might be too idealistic. She could always temper expectations after Version A and B, or at least that's what she told herself to excuse her tangent brainstorming. Ideas for final versions were by far the most fun.

Each time, she'd do the tattoo on herself. That way, she'd at least know how they interacted with her own Vitality levels, even though she knew the target having more Vitality could change it further, and could change it in ways she didn't even see coming yet. The numbers were a godsend in a way, literal data being handed to her so she didn't even need to rate how she felt or use any guesswork.

Each time she thought about 'Passing the Mark', she couldn't control the grin or the butterflies. None of this would be possible without it. Even rejected earlier designs might be useful to someone else. This process would allow her a catalogue.

A map of boundaries.

"You are being spooky again."

Tanya jumped slightly, spinning around to see Olena. "Mornin', Olena. Didn't see ya come in."

Olena dropped cross-legged onto the pile of old boards. "Boris say you were in here hammering since dawn. That mean good ideas or bad sleep?"

"Both," Tanya said.

Boris arrived with a cup of tea, passing it down without comment.

Man, I really was deep in thought if they walked past me and made tea.

"I've been thinking," Tanya added, voice still hoarse. "About yesterday. The more I sketch, the more I realise how little I've actually tested."

"You test all the time," Olena said.

"I improvise all the time," Tanya corrected. "I don't think I've tested anything properly since Assistant, an' even then I was basically feelin' around in the dark."

Boris nodded slowly. "So what's the new approach?"

"Versions. Minimum, median, maximum. For every idea."

"You test all of them?" Olena asked.

"One at a time. Safely. I ink the basic version first—no special triggers, no branchin' logic. Just one effect. I time how long it lasts, watch the drain on my Vitality. Then I try the next."

Olena nodded, surprisingly serious. "Smart."

Tanya sat back on her heels and rubbed at her eyes. "Like the stealth idea you mentioned, Boris. I spent a while thinkin' 'what is the basic form of stealth.' I started with camouflage style stuff but then I realised in magic system stuff like this, it's normally more 'bout how good the other person is at noticing stuff. So I think the first would be, like, bein' more forgettable if that makes sense. Just enough that someone glancing past wouldn't clock ya right away or be able to describe ya well later."

"Like a soft skip in attention," Boris said.

"Exactly. Version B might bend light. Not really sure how the logistics of this System stuff is yet, so I thought maybe I start with what we know an' thats how mirrors work. If I get what I'm gettin' it to do, I feel like I'll get more control."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"And Version C?" Olena asked, leaning forward with a keen grin.

Tanya placed her finger on her chin and stood up to pace. "That's the tricky one. I think Version C would have to mess with memory. No matter how good I bend light or sound or whatever, it doesn't fix someone like Mrs Eceer seein' ya anyway."

"Memory? Whoa," Olena said, wide-eyed. "You think you can do that?"

Tanya grinned. "No idea."

"Sound terrifying," Olena squealed. Only she would say that as a good thing.

Tanya finger gunned. "An' that's why I'm testin' in stages."

Boris sipped his tea. "So what are these stages really about then?"

Tanya didn't need to be asked twice.

She grabbed her sketchbooks from the side and opened them, flipping through pages crowded with pencil sketches and a lot of notes with question marks.

"It's all 'bout baseline," she said, tapping a quickly sketched cannon design. "I've been tryin' to work out how much each concept costs. Like, not just if it works, but how hard it hits me Vitality pool. You'd think somethin' flashy like a cannon would take more than a calm field, but it depends, right? 'Cause one's explosive and short, the other's subtle but sustained. Duration, intensity, complexity—I wanna see if it factors in."

She turned a page, revealing three more versions of the same cannon. Each one grew slightly more intricate, with additions in the margins. Quicker projection? Heavier projectile? Better aim?

"I started thinkin' 'bout combinations after what Mrs Eceer said," she continued. "The chain logic thing. Like, a stealth glyph that only activates when the doppelganger gets hit. Or the calmin' field kicking in when someone uses a cannon nearby." She smiled faintly. "Those ideas are really good. But I don't wanna jump straight into stacking effects without knowin' how they behave alone. Otherwise, I won't know which part's the problem if it all goes sideways."

Boris nodded slowly. "So you need your variables clean."

"Exactly," Tanya said, clicking her fingers. "Start simple, isolate outcomes. I'd wanna know if the cannon-back idea drained fast 'cause of the intentions, or 'cause I used complex visual design, or just 'cause the concepts are inherently expensive." She scratched her head. "Although I think that might be too much for these tests."

Olena's eyes lit up. "So we get many tattoo from you test?"

"Well, that's the other bit," Tanya said, turning back to her notes. "I dunno how much of the Vitality drain scales with the user. Like—what happens if I tattoo the same version onto someone with less Vitality than me? Do they collapse? Do they get a weaker version of the power? Or does it just drain them faster?"

"So you're testing on yourself," Boris said.

"Nooo, really?" Olena moaned.

Tanya smiled and nodded. "At least at first. Less risky for others that way. Wouldn't forgive meself if I made another portal mistake. Oh yeah, I can transfer the tattoos if they work."

"Transfer? What is transfer?" Olena asked, looking between Tanya and Boris.

"Like giving someone something," Boris replied after a moment.

Olena's mouth widened into a large o and then even further into a large grin. "Tattoos going between people! I want to hear everything!" Olena demanded.

Tanya looked down at the sketchbook. She'd pulled pages out to rearrange them last night. She scratched the back of her head. "Oops, we should maybe be fixin' this mess, not adding to it."

Olena yanked a rotten plank out of the floor. "You better tell me every upgrade you get soon!"

"Promise," Tanya replied.

Tanya shifted the sketchbook to the side to help Olena. She'd stared at it so much now that she remembered most of the main things without reference. "So first batch is the main four from last night. Haven't decided quite how I'll simplify 'em yet, but I'll work that out in designin'. Got more of a process than exacts so far."

"This so exciting!" Olena declared, thrusting a plank above her head like a sword. It split in half from the swing, and the debris rained down on her head in a mixture of chunks and splinters. "Oof. Ouchie."

"Yeah, don't do that," Tanya offered.

"I'm impressed," came a voice from the doorway.

Tanya turned around and met eyes with Mrs Eceer.

Tanya shooed her. "Oi, ain't you got better things to do than listen to me gab?"

Mrs Eceer held up a finger, and her eyes sparkled. "Not where experimentation is concerned. You'll be stopping at sundown, hm?"

Tanya looked at the other two and was met with nods and shrugs. "Yeah, probably."

Mrs Eceer gave her a sharp nod. "I will see you here then."

She was gone before Tanya could put together a cohesive reply.

"She's proper weird sometimes," Tanya said.

Olena sighed happily. "She my ghost animal."

"Ghost animal?" Tanya asked.

Boris snorted and then chuckled. "Spirit. Spirit animal."

Olena wrinkled her nose. "What difference?"

"Spirit is like your innards—" Tanya said.

Boris gently poked Olena's sternum. "The part that makes you, you."

"Or what we were drinkin' last night," Tanya joked.

"And ghost?" Olena asked. "OH! Ghost is like Oleg from mannequin container—maybe dead but never leave you alone!"

Tanya huffed a laugh and picked up another board. The rhythm of it returned—lay, check, nail, shift—and for a while they worked without speaking. Tanya tried to get lost in the rhythm, but it really just made more mental space for her to review her plan again.

• • •

"What about names?" Boris said absentmindedly, a while later. "Do we name them or do you?"

Tanya shrugged, speaking through the nails she'd put between her lips. "Depends."

Olena gasped. "We get to name? I call emotion one 'Chill Zone!'"

"Absolutely not," Boris said.

Tanya grinned and put the nails to one side, stretching her arms and yawning. "I'm writing it down." She flipped open her notebook. "Chill Zone. Sounds pretty superhero eh?"

Boris glanced at her scribbles. "And the doppelganger?"

Olena was nodding with increasing enthusiasm. "Can I name it? Pretty please? Pretty please?"

Tanya narrowed her eyes.

"Clone Olena." She held both of her hands out with fervour. "Can combine into Clena."

Tanya snorted. "Oof, absolutely not."

"Boom Twin."

Boris blinked. "I… don't hate that one."

Tanya sighed, laughing despite herself. "Alright, Boom Twin goes on the list."

Olena cheered.

• • •

They'd gotten into the rhythm of pulling up each plank and placing a new one in its place as a unit now. Boris pulling it up, Tanya laying the next one, and Olena hammering. As with all things, it took more time and energy than they expected, with the counter dismantled in the back and the sofa up on one end in the stairwell. The sunlight crept higher across the wall, basking the shop in a golden hour glow.

Boris glanced up from where he was prying out one of the last planks. He let out a happy sigh. "This plan all sounds rather splendid."

The way he worded it reminded her of the Paddington bear voice her father had put on while reading the books when she was a kid. It created a warm feeling in her chest.

"And once I've got the drain data," Tanya said, getting giddier, "then I can start thinkin' about the rest. Is it harder to hold an effect? Does layerin' make it much worse? Does placement affect anythin'? I don't think The System gives us limits arbitrarily. There's probably structure here. An' I want to find it."

Boris leaned back, watching her. "You're not just making tattoos anymore."

"No," Tanya said, smiling to herself. "I'm mapping a language."

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