Arm 18

What the hell… he thought to himself, trying to assert tighter control. He'd never had much of an issue controlling his appendages since he'd been dosed, but for some reason, he couldn't feel the connection to this arm anymore.

A voice rang out from the back of the ruined office floor, "You made a simple mistake, Armando."

Armando hesitated for a moment, watching the arm gutter out to nothingness, losing all feeling of its connection. He turned around and faced the figure in the back of the office. The man was of average height, a little stocky. He wore flowing green robes, and carried an oddly shaped object in his right hand, almost like a mace. His left hand was outstretched, towards Armando, making a slow grasping motion.

Ruslav Diaghilev, Director of the Alchemy Department stood calmly in the now-leveled reception office, walking calmly towards Armando, his body language fairly neutral.

"And what is that, Mister….?" Armando's left arm grew into a new arm made of hyper-dense boron gas.

"Elder, actually," Ruslav rumbled out, with an amused smile, "You failed to consult an alchemist when performing a transmutation, of course. I am Ruslav Diaghilev, Elder Alchemist of the Seventh Circle, and Director of the Foundation Alchemy Department. I'm investigating why there's been a significant disruption of the aethers around the UIU offices." The Director paced forward, coming to rest a few meters from Armando.

Armando grinned, and send his left and right arms flying, one a mass of brightly glowing motes of cesium decaying rapidly, the other a mass of boron gas. The arms swung in lazy circles toward the Elder, who didn't move.

Ruslav raised his right hand, to intercept the cesium decay, redirecting the nascent radiation into a harmless tenebrous flow which dissipated into the ceiling. His left hand made a clawing gesture, converting the boron gas to pure oxygen. "I would ask you to not do that. Your….abilities are significantly disrupting the work that I and my colleagues work very hard to maintain."

Armando growled and started throwing arms faster, two and three, and four at a time. Solids, gasses, some of the arms composed of creatures writhing around each other. Armando's hands, blurred both to and from his shoulders, rapidly filling the intervening space with arms.

Ruslav sighed quietly and replaced his crozier in the holder on his belt. He stepped in sure patterns, akin to a martial artist, his hands moving in slow circles left and right. His fingers splayed and retracted, reconverting the arms in their component aethers, each one winking out a few feet away from Ruslav.

"How in the hell are you doing that?!" Armando yelled, panting slightly.

----

Ruslav stalked forward and made a simple gesture, his fingertips closing in a motion akin to pulling a thread. Armando's arms gradually shifted back into human flesh. He tugged experimentally, confirming that his abilities were still intact, before eyeing Ruslav suspiciously, drawing himself to his feet.

"Apologies for that, but I needed your attention. I am an alchemist, Armando, your abilities, while extraordinary, are alchemic in nature. I don't know how you acquired them, or why you can so easily manipulate the aethers, but that's not really why I'm here." Ruslav stood calmly in front of Armando, his hands only slightly raised from his sides.