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After a few more moments of appreciating the sky-scape, and listening to aurora explain it, her friend was eager to show her the next room almost as soon a she'd asked. The first explanation conjured the image of a cute little spa pool connected to the bedroom, but as Aurora went on to describe her process a little more, it sounded increasingly like she'd put an entire hot spring behind the door. Lyntael clambered to her feet with a growing curiosity.

Passing through the doorway, Lyntael again found herself stopping to marvel at what seemed to her like a fairly awe-inspiring surprise. The feeling of space caught her by surprise, but she quickly darted across to the terrace balcony, looking out across the valley, and then back again, to the artful mountain-side appearance of the home they'd come from, as it looked from this side.

“This is huge... how did you...” After a moment, the train of thought was caught up by her more rational mind, and she reminded herself that just because her original home was a tiny box, that wasn't indicative of others. She glanced back at Aurora and laughed softly, putting a hand to her mouth as she did.

“Hehe, sorry... I forget things sometimes. I have to remind myself that just because it's a place 'inside' someone's PET, doesn't mean it has to be a little bunch of rooms with fixed space. This is lovely, Aurora! It feels so magical...”

As she glanced around again, a sense of familiarity struck her suddenly, and a second glance at the spring itself and the surrounding stonework set a sudden fire in her cheeks as she realised why. There was no real covering her sudden falter, or the bright blush that accompanied it, but Lyntael still ducked her head slightly, rubbing at her neck as she hid the embarrassed grin. She distracted herself by wandering back to the edge of the pool itself and crouching to run her fingers through the water, feeling the warmth of it and breathing in the steam. A warm dip would be really nice, all things considered...

She stood again, as aurora surveyed her own handiwork, grinning back at the other woman's offer, and stretched, arching her arms above her head and rising to her toes for a few moments before relaxing loose again and letting her hands swing.

“There's no rush... Eternalis is having a rest, anyway, isn't he?” She rolled her shoulders a little, grinning as she raised an eyebrow at her friend. “I wouldn't want to wake him up early again, if he's tired. We can head back to my place once he's awake...” In her own mind, she recognised the way she was jumping at any chance to delay the story she'd promised to tell, but for now she pushed that thought away and began looking around for a change room. After a quick scan, however, she stopped herself. Of course not. She still had to remind herself that most people and places wouldn't cater to that, not when everyone could magically change their outfits with a though, or at least with an operator's command. Instead she looked at the area and picked out a few of the set piece boulders around the edges of the spring and near the water inflow. That would do. She walked across to it and paused to look around again, just double checking that no large blue individuals had wandered in in the mean time. She didn't feel quite right asking if the door could be locked, not when it was his own home, and Aurora was here with her, but there was ample enough steam anyway, or at least there was around the water level. She looked back at Aurora again and grinned, stifling a small giggle.

“I think we can spare a little time for a dip, if you're offering. Can I just leave my things here?” She nodded her head slightly to one of the outer-most stones around the edge, far enough away from where the water flowed in that it would avoid splashes, but still raised enough to keep things off the floor. After another cursory glance about, she reached up to begin unfastening the catches on her vest, pausing for a moment or two once it was clear what she was doing, and glancing again at Aurora just to make sure it was okay. Provided her host kept the invitation extended, she quickly unfastened, slipping the garment off and folding it neatly on the rock, before unhitching her skirt and slipping out of her underwear as well, adding them to the neatly folded pile. Unconsciously, she paused to slip the undergarment in underneath the skirt so that they weren't visible in the small pile of clothes.

She skipped quickly back to the edge of the pool to find a place to slide in; she was comfortable, as long as it was just Aurora around, but with no changing space it still felt a touch naughty, even so. She sat at the edge and tested the water with her feet for a moment, before another thought occurred and she turned back towards Aurora, putting one knee up on the edge and leaving her other foot to dangle in the water.

“Oh, um... Are there towels somewhere? I didn't think about that...” Probably better to confirm that before getting in all the way, she realised.

Aurora giggled to herself as she watched Lyntael run about the place, continuing her childlike awe at what was essentially a copy of someone else's handiwork. Still, it didn't stop her from acknowledging that it was indeed a beautiful place. "Glad I could show it to someone," she said. As Lyntael surveyed the area more, Aurora saw her catch herself for a moment on something, accompanied by her turning scarlet red. The host Navi was confused for a moment, before she realized that Lyntael had mentioned talking about one particular memory from Eternalis that she had reacted to with similar embarrassment.

Her eyes automatically lingered over to the very spot on the other end of the pool that she had been in on that day, and she moved to cover half of her furiously blushing face with one hand, while Lyntael continued to talk. She closed her eyes briefly, looking as if she was deep in thought. Indeed, as Lyntael had guessed, she confirmed through her mental link with Eternalis that he had fallen asleep once again, so there was no current risk of being intruded upon. Aurora kicked herself mentally for not having any kind of locks installed on the doorways, though in hindsight it hadn't been a big deal; there was no need for them with just her and Eternalis, after all.

When she opened her eyes, Lyntael had already wandered off to the side, looking about the area before asking her if she could leave her things on the side. "Ah, yes, sure," she said absentmindedly. She snapped to attention much more readily when Lyntael took her up on her approval and started stripping down. Her eyes widened in surprise at how easily she did so, considering her previous behavior. As she averted her eyes instinctively, she noticed the distinct lack of a person that they had been together with beforehand, and with the memory she had viewed by accident, it made sense that she was acting differently, at least.

Aurora's embarrassment subsided, replaced with a brief pang of pity, but she couldn't bring herself to look just yet, lamenting her lack of foresight in having a proper changing area. She wasn't expecting to have anyone else other than her and Eternalis to use it, after all; both of them could simply will any clothes (really, just her) on and off. It didn't seem necessary, and the original place didn't have one anyway, but for Lyntael, that was a different deal--or was it? Her guest didn't seem to particularly mind, as she sat at the edge of the water, and asked her about towels.

"Ah, yeah, I'll go get some. There's a place over there where you can wash yourself down with cooler water before going into the pool if you'd like. Get rid of any dirt and all that," she said, gesturing over to the side, where a stone reservoir was fed through a bamboo pipe from a trickling stream. Two ladles bobbed about on the surface of the water, clinking together occasionally as the water overflowed constantly into a sunken gutter around the reservoir. Aurora hurried herself out of the room to leave Lyntael alone with her thoughts for the moment.

It would take a couple of minutes, but if Lyntael paid attention, she would see her neatly folded clothes to the side shuffle about quietly, before two thick white towels appeared out of nowhere on top of the stack of clothes. One of the ladles in the water reservoir would then fly into the air and pour water onto some invisible figure in front of it a few times, with the running streams of water revealing a general female shape. The invisible figure then walked over to the pool's edge, and tapped their foot on the surface slightly, before sinking slowly into the water. A familiar voice exhaled audibly as the invisibility cloaking shimmered to reveal Aurora's head leaning back against one of the large boulders that surrounded the pool. Suitably disrobed for the occasion and running a hand through her long wet hair, she grinned at Lyntael without saying a word.

“Oh, right! Thank you!” Lyntael had started with a small nod and a smile as Aurora moved to find towels, but quickly pulled her other foot out of the water again when she mentioned the cool reservoir. There would be a cultural traditional element to this, naturally, she realised, even if it wasn't native to either of them, so best to observe it properly. That was only polite, really.

As Aurora disappeared from sight, she pushed herself up and wandered across to the separated area that her host had indicated, gingerly stepping into the cooler water and pausing a moment to take a longer breath. She bent to retrieve one of the water ladles, playing with the trickle of water for a moment, before looking at her reflection in the gradually stilling water, and then down at the rest of her body. Goosebumps ha started since she'd stepped into the cool water, and she was glad there was no breeze, but as she looked around the spring a small giggle escaped her all the same. It felt so excessively extravagant, and even more so when it was just her here alone.

She lifted the water, hesitating at the edge of upending it over herself. It was cold... She hesitated a moment more, stalling, then winced and tipped it up. As the first rush of water cascaded over her, however, as she let out a soft gasp, it wasn't actually as cold as she'd imagined. Reassured she started the process of sluicing herself down a few more times, letting each fresh ladle of water run over her and using her free hand to gently rub herself down along with it as she went. There was a brief temptation for the hand to linger slightly longer on her more sensitive areas, but she pushed it away firmly. Now was certainly not the time for that, no matter how luxurious the setting.

Instead, she stretched as she set the ladle down in its place again, arching her back and rolling her shoulders. At the end of the flexing, her hands came to rest on her chest and she stole a quick glance around the spring again. Aurora had been gone for a couple of minutes, perhaps she was getting changed. That was a little unsporting when she didn't have anything, but it was her home after all. She looked down at her hands, frowning slightly, and pushed them together for a moment before pressing them flat and lifting from underneath as well. She felt a little guilty for how often she noticed that particular difference between Aurora and herself. Not that she was unhappy, but the extra mass didn't really seem to affect or hamper the other woman at all, despite the stories she'd read about how problematic they could be, and maybe a little more might be fun. Probably wouldn't suit her though, she had to admit. Oh well. She relaxed again with a shrug and moved across to the actual spring, taking her time as she gradually slipped in and closed her eyes.

A sound a few moments later caused her eyes to snap open again, and the impression of movement made her breath catch sharply. On instinct she drew her knees up in the water, one arm crossing over her chest as she shrank back against the wall of the spring and scanned the room quickly.

“Aurora...?” The brief moment of panic subsided again and the girl relaxed, dropping her arm and uncurling as Aurora revealed herself. She gave a vaguely nervous giggle in return. “You scared me... I thought it might be someone trying to perv...”

She relaxed for another few long moments, crossing the water once or twice and swirling her arms and legs through it as they grew accustomed to the temperature. After a little while she settled back, about a foot or two from her friend at the edge of the spring.

“Hey Aurora... this isn't the thing, but there is something I want to ask you about. It's a bit related. Just, working up to it, you know?” She closed her eyes, taking another moment to enjoy the water while one hand lifted to rub unconscious circles around her emblem. “So... I haven't spoken very much about it, but, the work that Rogan does, it's not just a little dubious, or a little illegal. It's very illegal. I know I kind of hinted and said a little before, but I'm not supposed to talk about it at all.” She looked down at the surface of the water, waiting for it to still enough that she could see her reflection.

“He infiltrates places to gather or destroy information, for whoever wants to pay him enough to make the job worthwhile. Since I've been with him, he makes me do it too. I'm... if I have a terminal to work from, I'm actually really good with data manipulation and redirection, seamless loops, feedback loops, stream diversions... all of that... but I don't like what he does, and it's dangerous.” She shook her head then looked up and glanced at Aurora, twisting to face her properly.

“I want to keep him safe, but I don't want to do the things I have to do to do that... if that makes sense... It's wrong, but if I don't help him, he'll end up in real trouble, or worse.” She drew a breath and let it out slowly. “He's... gotten tangled up with the Sharo mafia family. He'd rather I didn't know that. He's trying to investigate them, while they've got him investigating something that a different group is doing... something that involves the...” she looked away, hugging herself as she continued. “I'd call it the kidnapping, enslavement and murder of unoperated navis... but... technically, legally, the way they're doing it... it's...” she shook her head looking down at the water. “It's just... 'data theft' at worst.” She looked up at Aurora again. “I'm not supposed to know any of that. Rogan's been keeping the details from me deliberately.”

“I just don't know what to do other than to keep trying to help him, even though I know it's wrong. I've never had anyone I can talk to about it... Rogan would be very angry if he knew I was telling you, but I...” She swallowed and forced her body to relax again, closing her eyes. “It's just too much, and I have to talk to someone about it... and I trust you and Eternalis.” It felt nice to say it, she realised. She really did trust them both, even though they'd only known each other for what amounted to a short while.

“What do you think I should do? I can't just let Rogan get caught or exposed... some of these people might kill him.” As heavy a topic as it was, talking about it to aurora with the steam of the spring around them felt oddly refreshing, like a release of a pressure she'd only been subtly aware of.

"Sorry, it's just a little embarrassing for me," said Aurora, though her mischievous grin betrayed her other intention somewhat, of simply wanting to give her friend a good spook. It wasn't that she was averse to being exposed; rather, it was more that she didn't want to do it if she didn't need to, and her cloaking ability enabled her to slip in and out of such situations with ease. She would have stayed invisible the entire time, but it felt rude not to at least be face to face with her invited guest.

Sinking into the pool down to her ears, she watched Lyntael traverse the large pool to and fro a couple of times. She gurgled a few bubbles from under the water, but the mineral-filled taste of the water prevented her from doing it too many times. After about a minute or so, the temperature made her feel slightly light-headed, and she rose from the water, shaking her wet hair slightly to get it out of her face.

Taking a small breath, she drew her knees to her chest into a curled up position. As she did so, she looked down at her endowments, with her eyebrows creased. Had she grown at some point? She cupped them to test whether her suspicions held water, but she couldn't remember the last time she'd done it, so it was a mostly useless action. It felt heavier, at least. Normally it would be strange for a data-defined body to change without her knowing. Thinking back, she recalled a specific event where her body had been "modified" in a similar manner, into much more extreme proportions. Her eyes lingered over to the doorway, behind which her prime suspect was currently sleeping.

It was then that she realized that she hadn't heard Lyntael make any noise for some time, and she looked back up to see her a couple of feet away on the pool's edge. "Sure, what is it?" she replied with a smile to Lyntael's introductory bit, while tucking herself into a comfortable sitting position at the edge of the pool as well. As soon as her operator's name was mentioned, Aurora's smile mellowed out into a serious expression, as Lyntael divulged her worries.

She had had a hunch of what exactly her operator did, with how he had called for the Ezariths' cooperation on such secretive terms, and investigative work wasn't too far off from her worst guess. Or, rather, she was trying to figure out a line of work that wasn't as close to the dark side as her previous one. With how Lyntael was skilled at things like manipulating an emulated link such that it didn't notify her operator, her closest guess was something akin to network administrative duties, as their work coincided with visiting dangerous and sensitive locations alike, more often than not.

Lyntael's mention of the Sharo mafia made her cast her eyes down into the water. Her previous dealings with them told her that they were not friendly folk, and she had lost contact with one or two of her colleagues after being sent on assignments involving them. At the same time, it was people like Rogan that had provided them the kind of information that allowed "units" like her to act, though they were hard to come by, since they were "disappeared" rather quickly when it came to Sharo. She sank into the water, willingly shutting off parts of her memory as it threatened to sink her further into her past.

As such, it was hard for her to say anything regarding Lyntael's problem, now that it was presented to her. She had, after all, been a part of the "problem" itself, however small. When Lyntael asked her on what to do, she closed her eyes, trying to think of an answer that would both sate Lyntael's worries, as well as provide a solution for the entire situation that she was in.

... Of course, nothing was ever that simple, and she was forced to face the stark truth that she had arrived at. Namely, that Lyntael wouldn't be able to help her operator be safe--in fact, Aurora was questioning why Lyntael had such a strong connection to Rogan in the first place, when he had treated her as badly as she was letting on. Aurora knew that Navis had a basic propensity to serve mankind as part of their black-box Hikari AI, but if she was to be believed, Lyntael hadn't been "born" from the same source, in her own words.

The most sensible option, given the current situation, was to provide Rogan with a battle-functional Navi that would be as specialized to the task as Lyntael was, as well as having more ability to defend themselves, and for Lyntael to not be associated with her operator's work in any capacity.

"Hey, Lyn," said Aurora, opening her eyes as her head rose from the pool. Isn't it better if you let some other Navi help him with it, if you're so hurt by doing it? She meant to say it, but her words caught themselves in her throat. Several times, her mouth hung open, as if to continue her statement, but she simply closed it again. Finally, she parted her lips again. "Do you... like Rogan? I don't mean in the way of being concerned for his safety. That's another thing entirely, and if it was just that, then I don't think you would have been stuck like this. But... do you like him?" she asked.

A few moments stretched as the smaller woman watched her companion for some spark of enlightening, easy answer that she distantly knew probably wasn't coming. She knew that Aurora was skilled, and experienced, and she had the impression that the other woman had a lot of difficult work in her past that she didn't like thinking about. The amount she'd already revealed said as much. Initially, she had been hoping that her situation might be similar to something Aurora had been in, and given how capable and confident the other woman was now, she'd been hoping for some kind of solution, but as she watched thoughts and emotions flit across Aurora's face as she thought, Lyntael began to recognise the sorts of struggles she herself knew all too well.

She cast her eyes down at her own reflection, then back again as her friend started to speak. The pause... the look of being lost. The hesitation and inability to say what she wanted to, or find the right words for it. The quiet few moments were all things that Lyntael recognised far too well, and she waited, her own expression soft; Aurora would likely see her hopefulness there, but tinged overall with an understanding sadness. Why were words so difficult sometimes? Why did it always have to be so hard to share your heart or your mind? She waited, still in the water. The response that finally came caught her off guard and made her eyebrows jump and a brief look of surprise replaced her concern, followed by confusion, and then worry.

“I...” The answer was there and obvious, but there was more to it than something simple, and she paused, biting her lip in thought.

“I know that Rogan.... I know that he doesn't... treat me very well. I'm not, ah... I don't pretend that he doesn't. But it's not...” She found herself working in small phrases as she tried to put them together in a way that was clear and truthful. Her chest felt tight and she looked down again, breathing deeply. “It's not because he's a bad person. He isn't. I know... I know that he's a good man, when he lets himself be. It's just, you know... to him, we're not... 'real people'. We're not humans... we're not even living animals...” Her finger circled her emblem again, rubbing softly, and she shifted in the water, watching the ripples fan out.

“I know that he tries to tell himself that we're just data... not alive, not 'real'... but I know... It's like... He has to remind himself that that's what he 'believes' all the time, and he gets angry at himself when he 'slips', because I know that the real Rogan, he knows that's not true. He just... I don't know... he can't admit it, or accept it, because... because... Then he'd have to feel bad about everything he's done.” She looked up to Aurora again, eyes pleading. “And he would, Aurora, you know? He really would. The guilt would overwhelm him, if he really started admitting I was a person. So... he can't. It's not his fault.” She fell quiet and let her eyes drop again, shifting to hug her knees to her chest and rest her head down.

“I know... Eric has told me a lot, about what they've both been through. I know... Rogan isn't really the man he pretends to be all the time. I can see it. No-one else really seems to, he's far too good at wearing that face, and being that man... He has to, you know? He has to be like that, for his work. All cold and methodical, calculating and uncaring... He can't give anyone any kind of edge or insight, ever. I can see it though, when we're alone. When he's working and I watch him. When he sleeps, and has bad dreams, and I can see it. He doesn't sleep enough, ever... but he won't listen to me. But...” As she spoke, the clench in her chest grew tighter and Lyntael could feel heat building up behind her eyes. She swallowed.

“I... I love him, and I'm scared for him.” She blinked and drew another breath quickly. “I want him to trust me, but he can't. I want to keep him safe, and I want to be there for him, when he stops wearing that face, but... he doesn't see me, and he never stops wearing it.” She blinked again and shook her head, her throat felt tight as well now. “And even if he did trust me... then I'd be all that stood between covering him and getting him killed, and I can't... I'm terrified of that. I can do that... but I can't... I'm too scared... and he knows it... and that... that just... just feels...” her words broke off as a small spasm made her sob. She choked it back, putting a hand to her mouth, then lifted both to cover her face and press at her eyes.

“Sorry... um...” She sniffed and scrubbed at her face for a few moments. “I do. I do care about him, a lot. He's thoughtful, and respectful to others... he's kind, and he values people's rights to be free and to make their own choices, no matter who they are... he hates cruelty... but he's... he's stubborn, and he doesn't ever like to admit it when he's wrong. He's very clever, too... He knows so much about so many things that I don't.” She took a longer breath, letting it out at a shuddering pace, then leaned her head back, looking up at the sky instead as her chest heaved slowly.

“I want... I want to be with him, with the man I know he is, underneath... I want to share that with him... I wish that he didn't do the work he does. I wish he didn't have to wear that face all the time... and then maybe other people might be able to see what I see, when I look at him, in the times when he doesn't know I'm watching. I'm just so, so scared, Aurora... I'm scared that one day, it's all going to go wrong, and I won't be able to do anything, and then he'll be gone... or, or... or I'll get killed, or worse, trying to be what he needs, and that's terrifying too. I just can't see any way out, and he just keeps going deeper and deeper...” She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the water moving gently around her form. The feeling of it against her skin was soothing.

“Sorry... We're supposed to be relaxing, I didn't mean to get so worked up... It's just... It's a real mess, isn't it? I don't know what to do.” She splashed her face with the water and ran fingers through her hair, before pushing away from the edge slightly so she could float on the surface and stare up at the sky some more. “I wonder what Eric would say. If I told him everything, he'd want me to come home. I'd like to be home again... but I don't want to leave Rogan. He needs someone in his life. Someone he'll actually trust with his real self. Someone to remind him which version of himself is the real one...” A small chuckle crept through her briefly, and she splashes the water with one foot. “He should take a day out in a hot spring.” On her back, the difference in temperature between the water an the air was making her nipples stand and her skin develop goosebumps, but she stayed as she was, focusing on the contrast of sensation while she calmed herself.

It was difficult for Aurora to hold back tears of her own as she listened to Lyntael flood her with her feelings, and she reached out under the water to take hold of Lyntael's hand to help calm her down. However, she hesitated, and drew back her hand, leaving Lyntael to float away towards the center of the pool. Lyntael's feelings towards her operator was something that she wasn't able to personally relate to, yet the sincerity of the confession crept into her heart all the same. Still, a small part of her worried that Lyntael's love was blinding her, and that further complicated matters in her head. She drew her hands through her hair again. "Ahhhh, don't worry about it. It's good to get these kinds of things out sooner than later," said Aurora, resting her head on the edge of the pool.

A few moments of silence ensued, while she went through her head for little ideas, provided with this newfound perspective on the issue. "Still, I can't really think of anything that would suddenly convince your operator to switch jobs, honestly... The only realistic thing I can think of is if he kept a low profile on his side, and stuck to strictly network-side operations... but that would just shift more danger to you, and it doesn't remove the possibility of him being tracked down by other means, either," she said. Even as she put it out, she realized that the last suggestion was only lip service. From what she could glean from Lyntael's explanation of how Rogan's job worked, and her own prior experiences, he worked with places that were air-gapped away, physically separated from the public Internet. Physically infiltrating into dangerous facilities was a necessary component no matter how you sliced it, so her suggestion would now only serve to give her ideas for further endangering herself. Aurora wanted to kick herself for it.

Turning over to prop her head up on her hands on the edge of the pool, she began voicing her more outlandish thoughts. "We could go the other way around from that hot spring relaxation idea. Like, I was halfway considering just keeping you locked up here for however long it took him to track you back down. It'd be fun to act out the villain once in a while," she said, cackling in an exaggerated enough manner that her joking was (hopefully) obvious. Doesn't sound like he's quite at the point where he'd care enough to do that, though, she thought, but held back from saying.

Her mischievous cackling quickly subsided, and she turned back to a distant smile, as she turned back to look at Lyntael, still resting her head on one arm. "Yeah, what a mess..." she murmured. After a few seconds, however, she straightened back up, stood up in the pool, and shook her head a little. "Think I'll get out now," she declared, stretching her arms out with fingers crossed in front of her. The dim illumination about the pool reflected off of her fair skin, illuminating her lithe figure with nary a blemish or hair to be seen below the neck. Droplets of spring water ran down her upper curves, compressed against her arms. The moon appeared to give her long white hair an almost ethereal glow as she retracted from her stretching with a sharp exhale.

Turning around, Aurora pulled herself out of the pool and headed to the water reservoir again. She started pouring the water onto herself with haste, shivering and tensing up gratuitously to the stark difference in temperature. Quickly going to retrieve one of the towels on the pile of clothes that Lyntael had taken off, she began hastily drying herself off. After her long hair was sufficiently worked, she turned to Lyntael. "Oh, you don't have to hurry to get out. If you'd like, I can fetch something to drink from the pantry while you're still in there," she said while drying off her back.

Lyntael let her eyes drift shut as she lay back in the water. Aurora's reassurance was still good to hear, even if there wasn't a miracle answer to her situation. The other woman hadn't even made any judgement over how much she'd admitted about her feelings for the man. It wasn't really appropriate for a navigator to feel as she did about an operator; she knew that. At the very least it wasn't practical, and it led to certain... frustrations... that she would just bottle away whenever Rogan flirted with another woman or bought drinks or meals for someone. But Aurora seemed to take the admission in stride, and she was grateful for that.

She nodded lightly, though it was a touch wistful as the other woman began to make suggestions; they both knew there wasn't much that would dissuade Rogan form his work, especially not when his personal speciality was physical work. It was true, though, that it was her own presence, and her theoretical capabilities that had led Rogan to attempt contracts and missions that he wouldn't have normally taken on, just on his own. Aurora's next suggestion made her open her eyes more suddenly in surprise, and she shifted in the water, reaching one foot down to feel for the bottom awkwardly so she could stand. It took her an extra moment as she looked at Aurora, just to be sure that her friend was joking. The maniacal laughter let her relax and giggle along. She settled back a little, sinking down again until her shoulders were back below the surface. One hand still lifted partly in front of her mouth as her giggle subsided.

“I think Rogan would be very angry if you did that, hehe... I wonder what he'd do.” She pushed herself back to aurora's edge, resting her arms on the side of the pool to join the other woman, and letting her feet kick lazily in the water behind. “Hmm... He definitely wouldn't leave me with you, no matter what anyone here said. He'd talk about data trails and evidence and things like that. Not wanting to be traced, and such... but... I think a part of him would genuinely want to get me back, and make sure I was okay... He'd never admit it... and if he did, he'd explain it away, as...” She paused a moment lifting her head and putting on a stern, cold expression in her best imitation of Rogan's voice. “ 'An irrational reaction, based on the instinct to respond to realistic emulations.', or something like that, probably...” she shrugged, smiling softly, then shook her head. “But it would probably be bad... let's see...” she frowned as she thought about the scenario. It wasn't a happy thought, in the end.

“Without me, he'd stay with what he knew. He knows enough about Harke and Karen to know a lot, lot more, if it was important. He'd observe and stalk until he was sure, then he'd electronically isolate this PET, and steal it once it was unable to connect to anything or make any outbound signals. All in blind places, no other witnesses or testimonies. He'd do it in person, physically, with one of his static pinchers. He'd probably have to subdue whoever had it at the time, but he wouldn't hurt them if he could avoid it... What would he do then... He'd keep us isolated, and then contact Harke or Karen again to talk about recompense and restitution... and he'd eventually ransom you both back in the guise of a friendly caution and favours owed, that kind of thing...” After a moment, Lyntael seemed to realise the seriousness of the scenario she'd run out in her head and blinked, then bit her lip.

“Ah... Sorry, I didn't mean to... Um, it's just, his work is very dangerous. He doesn't like leaving anything to chance or uncertainty... when he's wearing that cold, business face of his, nothing is ever light, or a game... there was a time when I thought he'd leave me behind or abandon me, for all the trouble I was causing him, but I know now that he won't ever do that. It probably shouldn't make me as happy to know that as it does, I suppose...” She rolled her shoulders and pulled herself out of the water to sit on the edge instead, letting the air pass over her form as she dripped. She sat with her hands on the edge by her sides and her knees apart a bit so she could splash the water gently with her feet.

“But you know, it would be nice to have a few days of just... nothing. No pressure, no responsibility, no worries or fears. Just, some time where I could know that nothing was happening, and nothing was going to happen. And we could just... I don't know... Play board games and wear pyjamas all day and drink tea and watch those really light-hearted animated movies with no real conflict that just make you feel all happy and warm. A few days like that would be neat.” She grinned, trying to lighten the mood again.

Eventually Aurora stood to get out, and Lyntael couldn't really help her eyes travelling over the other woman as she stretched. Her eyes wandered high, briefly, and below her hips briefly as well. appropriate or not, she was unable to resist the curiosity, and she wondered if aurora's smooth-skinned situation was a result of any kind of self-care, or if it just naturally stayed that way. In the back of her mind, she knew that a lot of navigators didn't have anything at all in that region, but it was usually something she had to consciously remind herself of if the thought ever came up. Fortunately, the curiosity didn't make her take more than a brief glance, before it was drawn to the other woman's mid-section.

The Aurora she'd known had always been like that, with the slightly more transparent, slightly less solid portion at her middle, but almost none of the memories she'd received had born that detail. At first she'd thought it might be something to do with her suit or armour, but seeing it clearly here as they bathed together in their skin cast that idea away. Her eyes did linger for a few longer moments before she blinked and looked up to meet Aurora's eyes again.

“Oh!” She swallowed, blushing slightly. She stood as well, following Aurora across to the rinsing reservoir, and slipped in after her, taking the other ladle and beginning to douse herself down again as well. After the hot spring water, the cold was even more pronounced, and she gasped sharply, taking a couple of short, quick breaths and giggling through a sudden shiver after she poured the first one on herself without thinking. While Aurora got out quickly, Lyntael lingered, lifting another scoop of water to douse herself with, and another. The rapid chill was bracing and refreshing after the suffusing warmth of the main pool.

“It's okay, it was only meant to be a quick dip after all. Oh, but a drink might be nice, thank you. I'm not picky, hehe...” She grinned as she glanced across at where Aurora was quickly drying off. Unconsciously she watched the other woman as she continued to rinse herself, trying to see what happened when she got to her mid section.

“Hey, um...” she started to form a question about it, but then shook her head and waved her free hand. “Don't worry, I'll ask when you get back.” She waited until Aurora had slipped from the room before getting out of the reservoir herself and grabbing a towel to begin drying off.

Lyntael's yearning for uneventful days caused Aurora to stop briefly and pause for thought. After her own crisis-filled days, the days that followed seemed to fade into a blur of contentment. Even with Lyntael's crash-landed introduction into her life, it didn't change much in the fact that she was definitely happy with her life now, for the first time. It made her appreciate being wanted. "I'll be back quickly, then," said Aurora. She finished drying herself as best as she could, before hesitating briefly; she contemplated restoring her original suit. Looking down at the towel in her hands, she shrugged to herself, and quickly wrapped herself in it, only to discover that her fluid-like midriff clung to the towel. It hadn't absorbed any water or the like from her dip, but it still had liquid-like properties.

Aurora frowned slightly. It looked a little silly, but she was still otherwise properly covered. She was then about to leave, when Lyntael motioned to stop her. "Hm?" she raised her eyebrow, only to be waved off by Lyntael. Her frown turned into slight concern, but she left it for the moment; after all, she would only be gone for two minutes or so. "Well, alright, I'll hold you to that, then," she said, disappearing through the doorway to leave Lyntael to her own devices.

When she got to the entrance lounge once more, she froze briefly as she found Eternalis was back to being fast asleep, before she tiptoed her way to the kitchen area. The long metal hallway that was the walk-in fridge stood before her once she passed through to it, and she strolled over to where a set of shelves housed countless glass pitchers of differently-colored liquids. She hefted one filled with milk off of its shelf, and carried it over to the kitchen area, where she retrieved a tray to put it on. She took out two glasses, as well, and her hand hovered over a third.

Aurora struggled to keep the three glasses and pitcher of milk from clanking around her tray as she tried to quietly make her way across the entrance lounge. However, when she was about to pass by Eternalis, she halted in her tracks, and stared down at his sleeping face. She glanced about the room--no one. Checking her mental link confirmed that Eternalis was indeed asleep, and she was reasonably sure Sparky wasn't capable of convincingly faking anything that required sitting still, so she could assume he was also asleep. Gingerly letting down the tray in her arms, she narrowed her eyes on Eternalis's slimy body, trying to look for a suitable spot.

Eventually, she reached out, and pulled gently at some excess off of his less stable arm. A decent handful of slime easily separated itself into her hands, and she glared at it as her face twitched slightly. Her attention was divided between it and her mental link. After some time, neither of the events she was expecting happened; the blob didn't disintegrate in her hand, and Eternalis didn't appear to be waking up at any point. Aurora nervously gulped for a moment, before closing her eyes, bringing the blob to her mouth, and swallowing the entire thing whole. It went down her throat eerily smoothly, and she tasted the familiar subtle sweetness on her tongue vanish as quickly as it came. Bringing a hand up to her mouth, she heaved a small breath, and looked about the room. She quietly chuckled and shook her head with a small smile. "What am I doing..." she murmured, as she reached over to the tray to pour out the milk into the glasses.

She reentered the hot spring pool shortly after with a big smile, carrying a tray with two full glasses and a half-empty pitcher of milk. "I'm back!" she exclaimed.

Once she was on her own, Lyntael dried herself quickly. It always felt like drying off from cold or cool water took more effort than after a hot shower, for some reason, but she mentally shrugged at the thought as she rubbed herself down, propping one foot on a rock as she moved down to her legs and intimate areas. By the time she was done, more drips had worked their way out of her hair and she brushed her shoulders dry again before using the end of the towel to give the spiky mass another once over.

When she picked up her skirt, the thought occurred to her that she'd been more than five or six feet from the small pile of clothing, and she hadn't set them aside in her shoulder bag or any other extension to keep them from degrading. The thought hadn't even occurred to her, and for a moment she caught herself blushing at the thought of being caught here with everything gone. They hadn't, though, which was strange. Maybe it was because she was in a PET, so everything was being maintained, even if it wasn't her own home. A curious thought.

She hitched her skirt around her waist and fastened it, getting the basics of proper cover taken care of, then paused to reach both hands down to her navel, gently unfastening the back of her piercing and taking it out so that she could dry the area, as well as the small sunburst charm itself, more carefully. Lyntael was fond of it, and thought it looked cute, though Eric denied having designed it at all. He'd seemed surprised by it the first time he'd noticed. Even so, she's swiftly discovered that she still needed to care for it properly. She couldn't resist giving the charm a small flick after she put it back in, grinning to herself.

A moment later the doorway gave way to another figure, and on instinct Lyntael grabbed for her vest quickly. A second after the action she knew that it would just be Aurora, of course, but the reaction had kicked in swiftly all the same. A delicate splash made her wince as the smaller garment, tucked up in the vest tumbled off the rock and into the cool reservoir as a result of her hurried grab.

“Oh... drat...” She made a quick grab, reclaiming the article, but it was already too late. A soft sigh and a rueful shake of her head accompanied the more relaxed motion of pulling her vest over her shoulders once she recognised Aurora's form properly. She left the straps of her vest hanging open for now, in favour of wringing out her smallclothes and attempting to bundle them in a dry end of her towel for a few moment. She looked up from the task to grin at Aurora properly and wave with a free hand.

“Welcome back! You know, one of these days, I'm going to have an outing that doesn't involve some kind of wardrobe mishap. One day...” she pressed both hands on the towel, squeezing tightly to try and get as much moisture as she could out of the wrapped up fabric within. There was no real way she was going to get them dry enough to wear comfortably right away, so instead she settled down on the other end of the towel, sitting with her legs out flat and one hand behind her for balance. Undergarments or not, her skirt was more than up to the task of keeping her decent, now that she was attempting to look dressed again. She rocked her heels back and forth in a relaxed way, and accepted whatever drink Aurora decided to give her.

“So, ah, I was going to ask before... but I wasn't sure if it would be rude...” She hesitate and her eyes went down to the other woman's mid-section, though it was still covered by a towel at this point. “In the memories I saw, from earlier, you didn't have...” she paused, grimacing at a poor choice of words and not immediately finding a better one. Instead she made a slightly helpless shrug of her shoulders and set her glass down to gesture at her own middle briefly. “Is it, um, a change you made to yourself, or...” she still felt awkward. If it had been a voluntary alteration of her body, suggesting that it seemed like an injury or an accident would be just as hurtful as implying that it might have been deliberate, if it actually was an injury. She sipped her milk, looking down.

"At this point, I have to wonder if it's not just some higher power messing with your ability to keep your drawers on," sighed Aurora, only being able to offer Lyntael a sympathetic expression and a glass of cold milk. She looked around the place, and mentally noted adding a place to sit down somewhere later. For the moment, she sat on the edge of the pool, setting the tray next to her as she dipped her legs into the hot water. Lyntael seemed to have simply used her towel to sit on, but at least she was mostly fully dressed, making Aurora the less dressed of the two for once.

"I think we've gone past the point of being rude, really," she snickered, before she noticed Lyntael looking at the more translucent part of her towel. Eternalis's memories came up as the topic once more, and she leaned back to prop herself up on her arms to look up at the sky. When she closed her eyes, the vivid memory of her body being violated in her struggle to save her loved one played out in her mind. The sense of panic, fear and revulsion... but also desperation, in her fit of defiance.

As she began to recall how her body had been churned around from the inside out, her eyes opened again automatically, subconsciously refusing to relive the moment. It was strange how outwardly calm she was about the whole deal. Unlike actual humans, there was little in the way of less desirable psychosomatic effects for Navis like nausea unless their systems were actively tampered with, so all she experienced at the moment was a sense of lingering emotions from the memory.

She exhaled through her teeth. "Yeah, my body went through a lot of messy changes in that battle. A lot of my code got mixed up with Eternalis's, and they couldn't revert this without just loading a previous state from before the battle," she said, looking down at the part in question on her body. After living with it for more than a few days now, she was surprised to the degree of adaptation she had towards the change. Turning to the tray next to her, she picked up her own glass of milk, and swirled it around lightly.

"I don't want to erase my memories of it. It's a reminder to me that I made a difference, that I took fate into my own hands," she said, before downing the entire glass in one go. Tastes kind of similar, she noted. The coldness felt a lot better down her throat, though, and she exclaimed her approval for it with an exaggerated exhale. "Ahhhh, nothing like it!" she cried out, setting her glass down while unaware of the white mark left above her lopsided grin.

"I was thinking of trying out some alcohol I got, but I didn't know if you'd be up for that. Maybe next time," she said, pouring herself another glass and drinking it all up in one breath. Aurora continued to wear the goofy-looking happy expression as she set the glass down. "This is just too good, though!"

Aurora's assessment of her frequent mishaps made Lyntael duck her head again slightly, another hint of blush tinging her cheeks. It really was approaching ridiculous in places, but this time it had been her own fault, more or less. Besides, they'd be dry enough to wear soon anyway. Hopefully. Her gaze moved between Aurora and her drink as the other woman explained her slightly unusual physical situation. It seemed to take her a few moments to think about it, eyes closed, and Lyntael wondered if she had touched on another difficult memory. She looked down at her milk while she waited for her friend to find words.

“That sounds tricky...” She murmured at the conclusion of the explanation. “Sort of like a reminder of unpleasant things, mixed up with the things that matter, and no way to really part them.” She shrugged in a small motion, reflecting. “I guess that's just life, though, isn't it? Better to keep the things worth keeping, right?” She smiled as aurora forcefully moved the topic of conversation on quickly, but broke into outright giggles as the other woman finished her somewhat over-zealous drinking. She finished her own glass more delicately, then set it down so she could unroll the end of her towel, and shake things out, before re-rolling it again with her drying garment in a different dry spot. She paused towards the end of the process, perking up and glancing back at Aurora with a curious expression.

“Oh... I've, um... I suppose I've never really tried anything alcoholic before.” She sat back on her heels, letting her hands rest on her knees after she finished rolling the towel. “I know they make all sorts of drinks for navigators of different capabilities. You can get ones that simulate the, er, effect for navis that normally don't or can't, and you can get ones that mimic the taste of different drinks but nothing else, and you can get ones designed to act like real drinks, for navis capable of the full experience, too. It's a major market for navi recreation, especially in unoperated communities and sanctuaries!” she grinned, then looked down. “Ah, I've just, um, read a little bit about it, here and there, in passing. Not with any real intent, you know?” The words gave her pause and she looked up to find Aurora's gaze just as quickly.

“Ah! Not because I can't, or, ah shouldn't, or anything like that. I could, I mean, I can. I'm old enough! Not that that means anything anyway, I guess, but, I'm an adult. I mean...” she fumbled, digging deeper into a flustered response than she needed to before stopping herself and looking at her knees again, cheeks pink. After a moment she peeked back up at Aurora.

“Umm... what were you thinking of trying...?” She ventured cautiously. Aurora herself seemed to be enjoying her milk a lot regardless and Lyntael refilled her own from the pitcher, sipping it slowly. The taste was a little different from the milk she had found to use at home, but she couldn't put her finger on how. She wanted to say it was 'thicker' but it wasn't, physically. Like there was more body to it, she guessed? It was hard to describe. It was odd. She busied herself with the glass while she waited for Aurora's verdict.

"Hahaha! Well, you sound more well-read on that than I am!" laughed Aurora, reaching over to pour herself a little bit more out of the pitcher. She took smaller sips out of her glass now, looking out towards the mountainous scenes to the side. "I've never liked the sound of getting drunk, honestly. Especially, since, well, losing yourself doesn't sound like something I'd particularly want to do," she paused slightly, rolling her shoulders, giving Lyntael a wry, knowing look, "but I wanted to try a little bit once to see if I'd like the taste of it."

"That said, I'm not sure what I got, actually. It says it's something based on cream? It sounded like it tasted good, so I got a bottle of it, but I've haven't actually picked up the courage to try it myself yet. Eternalis tried some when we got it, though, and, well..." Aurora shrugged. "I'm not sure what I expected. It seems like it didn't do anything for him. He just automatically heals off the effects, so it's just a sweet drink for him, apparently," laughed Aurora. She swirled the milk in her glass a few times, watching it nearly spill over the edge. She then downed the whole glass again, and placed it on the tray.

Aurora hauled herself out of the pool, and stretched out her arms again, this time with a bit more covering her body than last time. She then took the towel off, draping it over her arm as her body was suddenly engulfed in a bright rainbow shimmer. Soon after, the light disappeared, and she was now fully clothed in her basic suit yet again, with the towel still draped over her arm. "Anyway, we can bring some over to your place if you'd like. Like, a housewarming gift or something. How about it?"

Uncertain whether she'd really sold Aurora on the concept of her own maturity, Lyntael shared the other woman's laughter with a slightly less certain giggle of her own, though the thought occurred to her that, given what Aurora had admitted earlier, it didn't seem quite honest that she'd never been drawn to losing herself to escape her problems. She let the thought go. Instead, she scrunched at her towel a little more, crimping the roll tighter with her finger tips before unravelling it again and seeking another dry spot for her now only mildly damp article.

“He mentioned that eating in general was new to him, didn't he? I guess it's no surprise it didn't have much effect...” She mused on that; it was another difference between some of the memory flashes she'd seen. She'd always known Eternalis with the face he had now, but it seemed the mouth had come more or less at the same time as his unsettling arm. Another lingering after effect of the horror they'd both been through. Her eyes glanced up to Aurora again, and she stood again as well, stretching and tucking the rolled towel under one arm. She envied the other woman's ability to summon her clothing from the ether like that, but pushed the feeling aside. Aurora's suggestion as she dressed made the smaller woman grin with a sudden mix of mischief, excitement and nerves.

“Hehe... um, I suppose, if you want, we could do that. Just a little maybe?” The nerves won over for clearest emotion as she answered, and Lyntael caught herself ducking her head a little bit, and peeking up at her friend almost like she was asking permission, rather than discussing a plan. She distracted herself by plucking at the roll of towel.

“Probably a few minutes before these are dry enough. Did you want to show off anything else here? I feel kind of embarrassed now. My home is...” she glanced down and shuffled a foot with an awkward gesture. “I mean, you've doe all of this really cool stuff, and it's so fantastic, and you know.... It's like... a real house couldn't ever be like this, but you can, and you've been so creative with it. I'm, um... I mean, I'm really happy with what I've done, but, um... it's really just a home, you know. Pretty simple, at the end of things...” She shrugged, seeking a different thread of conversation to jump to.

“Ah, I meant to say thank you properly for the books! I started the first one of the series you sent me, the other night. Not very far in yet, but, I think it seems interesting so far!” She grinned but cast her eyes down after a moment, a little bit shy on the matter. “I'm... I'm a bit cautious about how she's depicting women, I guess, but I've only read through the prologue so far, so, we'll see!” She shrugged softly then stretched, putting the rolled towel behind her neck as she flexed for a moment, then bouncing on her toes as she waited to see if aurora had anywhere else to show her.

"All right, it's settled, then!" said Aurora. She seemed to look a little relieved, for some reason, but it quickly vanished as Lyntael exhibited her insecurity over her grandiose displays of her living space. "I do still want to see it, though. The real fun is in sharing what you've made with others, and seeing what they've made, you know? I think it'd be interesting to see what you envisioned for your home, since I've had to compromise a few things around here when I was designing it with Eternalis. He said I did most of the work, but he's had some hand in it, too," she said, looking around a little. While she had already made a bathing space connected to the middle area, it had been Eternalis who floated the idea of replicating the area that they had been to before directly adjacent to the bedroom.

While she was distracted, Lyntael brought up the topic of the books that she had sent to Lyntael. It had been a simple gesture that she had already forgotten about, but her face lit up as Lyntael expressed her excitement for her recent reading. "Oh, glad you're getting into it! I'd like to see what else you've got, too, so let's hurry on. Just one more place I'd like to show you, and then we can head over to your place," she said, leading the way out of the area.

As they passed back through the doorway to the entrance area, they saw a familiar figure just starting to rise from one of the couches. They were able to see his back as he stretched his limbs, appearing to just have woken up from his nap earlier. Just as Aurora was debating whether to call out to him, Eternalis turned about and noticed them at the doorway. He raised a hand lazily in greeting, through half-lidded eyes. "You two finished yet?" called out Eternalis.

"Almost, just one more room," Aurora replied, wandering over towards the middle area. A glance towards the couch showed that he no longer had Sparky on his torso, but instead, bizarrely, the pup was sound asleep and curled up, while also floating conspicuously in mid-air. It appeared to be the exact spot where he had been sleeping earlier, just that there was no longer an Eternalis underneath the pup.

Eternalis himself didn't seem to pay this detail any attention, and and nodded to Aurora's answer. "Oh, alright. I'll let Harke know, then, just to check up in case something goes wrong with the transfer," he said.

"Thanks! Oh, could you fetch something from the food storage, too? I wanted to bring something over for a housewarming thing," said Aurora, glancing over towards the kitchen.

Eternalis followed her gaze, and blinked a few times in response. "Sure, as long as it's not too hard to find in there."

"It's the one we tried the other day. "Cream Prog"? Just get a new bottle from the pack."

"Oh, that one. All right, I'll see you two back here, then," he said, getting up from the couch to head over to the kitchen to leave the two to their devices once more.

Aurora turned to Lyntael. "Okay, let's head over to the last room, then," she said, leading her to the last remaining area, which was the doorway with the racket and ball icon.

Meanwhile, on an adjacent end of the room, Eternalis paused for a moment before passing through the doorway to the kitchen. He blinked for a second, before turning to the two girls that were just leaving. His eyes narrowed slightly, before he seemed to realize something, and hurried into the kitchen.

---

Passing through to the last room, the sight that greeted Lyntael's eyes was... less than spectacular, compared to the previous rooms. The same backdrop of a blank room of tiles in the middle of an expanse of water greeted them, except the room appeared to be completely barren. Aurora stared in front of her in puzzlement for a moment, before her face lit up in realization.

"Oh, I forgot, it's set to nothing for the moment. Hold on..." she said, looking around the area, before stopping on what appeared to be a blank space in the air. She reached out towards it, and a console screen appeared, with accompanying floating keypad. Some commands inputted into the console later, and a bright flash of white suddenly washed over the entire area, blinding all sight for a moment, before it rapidly receded.

What was displayed next was instead of a suspended area in the middle of a body of water extending out into infinity, a large, open field spread out before them, with what appeared to be a short bed of synthetic turf. Shortly up ahead of them, a rectangular area marked by lines of white paint was bisected by a long net of string, hanging from two metal poles. All in all, it seemed to be a completely ordinary-looking tennis court in the middle of a blank grassy expanse. Next to one of the poles, two pairs of tennis rackets rested on the grass, with a pair of yellowish-green tennis balls to match.

"It's meant to accommodate a lot of different playing fields, but Eternalis seems to like the tennis field the most. Haven't had the chance to use it too much yet, though," said Aurora, pausing for a moment before inputting another command into the console. The tennis field began to warp about, and the net and tennis equipment vanished into thin air. The air began to shimmer slightly, before a basketball court appeared before them, complete with baskets on either end of the field, and a small cage filled with orange basketballs to the side.

Reassured, at least a little bit, Lyntael nodded and let a small grin creep back onto her features as she resettled her bundle and followed after her companion. Despite only being part way in, and knowing hat Aurora herself knew the whole series, she couldn't resist talking at least a little more about how far she'd gotten, as they moved back through the bedroom and towards the living area.

“I am, but I'm expecting a lot of big story redirections, hehe... I mean, with how long the series is, it's just too simple for the lauded great evil to actually be it, at least not for long. It's a nice scary start, but, you know... both he, and his icy-demon minions seem far too 'neat' for that to last.” She bit her lip and cast her eyes off to the side with a brief, forgiving shrug. “Not to mention, the term they use of them is the name of an actual race of people that existed, in the north, in ancient times... The author had to know that, but I bet she was banking on most of her readers not.” She giggled into her hand again.

By the time they emerged into the living area again, Eternalis was up, and Lyntael waved to him with a grin. A moment later, she recalled her state of dress and a brief flush of nerves threatened to pink her cheeks, but she managed to keep it under control before any sign could show through... at least she thought she did. Any blush was probably safely covered by the other signs that they'd just been for a short swim, she guessed; her hair still looked a bit damp, and her skin had that fresh, warmed colouration of being not long out of the shower as well. She unconsciously squeezed the towel roll under her arm and wondered if she oughtn't to have taken the time to put things back on regardless of lingering damp, before coming back out. Too late now.

Instead of drawing any attention to herself, Lyntael drifted about the room for a few moments while Aurora and Eternalis sorted out the minor details of heading out again between themselves. She paused when her eyes lingered on Sparky, hovering exactly where he had been before, now minus the Eternalis underneath him. She grinned and stifled a giggle with one hand as she bent down a little bit to look at him, and try to peek at his underside without waking the pup. It left her wondering if it was a conscious decision from him or not. Probably not, given how easily distracted the little guy was. Once the logistics were arranged, she stood back, paying attention again, and darted through the transition after Aurora to see what was left.

The room beyond was inactive to begin with, but as Aurora got it set up Lyntael shielded her eyes with one hand, wincing against the flare of light. When the resulting green field had loaded up fully, Lyntael curled her toes against in the grass with a small smile. after a moment she stepped forward to the edge of the court itself; the synthetic texture felt peculiar under her feet. She had a few moments to take in the tennis equipment with a bright expression before Aurora changed it again, showing off the room's different game settings.

“This is neat! I've never played any proper ball sports before, but I always thought they must take a lot of team-work to get right. What other ones do you have? Do you know enough other people to actually play full games?” She glanced back at Aurora, in between the rapid questions, and set her towel down by the edge so she could tentatively pick up one of the balls from the storage cage, bouncing it on the court under one set of fingertips experimentally. Her stance was cautiously wide as she did, and the ball sprang back more vigorously than she expected, with a satisfying sound. A few bounces later she caught hold of it again with a giggle, then stood, aiming carefully at the hoop set up at the other end. Her initial throw travelled quite well, but the arc and angle weren't as she'd intended to make them and it struck the base of the ring and the backboard, rebounding up high. A few curls of wind bent past the girl, making her clothes flare a little, before spiralling around the far end and guiding the rebound to drop more accurately through the ring below. Lyntael giggled and opened her eyes, glancing back at Aurora.

“I guess that would probably count as cheating, wouldn't it? Oh well...” Despite her self-directed reprimand, the girl was smiling brightly, small white teeth showing. She ran to retrieve the ball and drop it back in the cage. “Do you have other things built in as well? I've read a bit about all of the kinds of olympic sports that people all over the world play together with each other, and I've tried to watch some, when I can, but the gymnastic sports always look the most amazing to me, hehe...” She stretched for a moment and curbed her pressing questions.

As he entered the walk-in fridge and started looking around, Eternalis opened up the communication link to Harke at the same time. It took a little while to answer, but Harke eventually showed up on his peripheral display, looking a little groggy. The display showed him reclining in his chair with bleary-looking eyes; Eternalis guessed that his operator had chosen to take a short nap, just as he did. Harke rubbed one of his eyes and half-yawned, "Heading out already?"

"In a little bit, Aurora's finishing her house tour," replied Eternalis as he picked up a black bottle labelled "Cream Prog" from a wooden crate of similarly-labelled bottles. He recalled the odd way in which Aurora had eyed the item when they were looking through food stock for her kitchen at an establishment in Internet City, as if she badly wanted it, but was holding back for some reason. After several minutes of flip-flopping, he had ended up making the decision to buy it for her. He had heard of its intoxicating purposes, but trying it out didn't seem to have said effect on him, which was somewhat disappointing, in a way.

"Got it," said Harke, before raising an eyebrow at the bottle in Eternalis's hand. "Might get something to drink..." he murmured, and his face disappeared from the display, as he got up from his chair to amble out of his room.

With his errands settled, Eternalis closed the communications link and made his way back to the entrance area. As he hadn't taken very long, Aurora and Lyntael hadn't returned yet. He glanced over towards the doorway, through which the two girls had entered, and rolled his shoulders. No harm in checking up on the two, he thought. Recalling his earlier observation of noticing that the two girls had slightly damp hair, he lost himself in a bit of daydreaming its implications before shaking his head. Why was he even thinking about these things? There was nothing like that here, it was just the recreational sports area, he told himself, as he walked through.

---

"Oh, sorry about that! I've got to fix those flashing lights at some point..." said Aurora when she saw Lyntael shield her eyes from the room transition. She had unconsciously closed her own eyes to avoid the flash, and had forgotten to warn her friend to do the same. Thankfully, Lyntael seemed to recover just fine, and began to inspect the area itself. She set down her own towel, neatly folded up, next to Lyntael's, and began to follow behind her as well, smiling with her hands clasped behind her back.

She was about to answer her rapidfire questions, but it looked like Lyntael wanted to try her hand at some baskets, so she simply watched Lyntael land a somewhat assisted toss into the basket, which made her giggle. "Good shot!" she called out good-naturedly, despite the obvious "assistance" Lyntael had given herself. As she returned the ball to the cage, Aurora found it a good time to return some answers to the questions. "There's lots of settings built into this room, but it's mostly for field sports. There's things like a running track and such. We just use the ones that only require two people, though, since, well, uh," she trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck. "We haven't exactly invited anyone else here yet. I keep finding new things I want to change; I'm not quite at the point where I feel like I can call people over to visit. Inviting you was an on the spot decision, but I'm glad I did!"

She looked at the balls in the cage, and casually picked one up. "Also, I prefer to call it a balancing factor," she said, a smug-looking grin on her face as she walked towards the court herself. Holding the ball close to her chest, the air around her hands crackled with blue electrical arcs, before she threw the ball. Rather, more accurately, she launched the ball, as an electrical burst propelled the ball high into the sky, and out of sight. "... Ah, I think I put a little too much into that," she said, as her earlier smug look turned into a more sheepish expression.

"Wow, that's some distance."

Surprised, Aurora turned quickly towards the source of a sudden third voice, only to find out that it was Eternalis, walking up with bottle in hand, with the other hand over his eyes as he gazed out towards the distance to see where the ball could have ended up. Still, it didn't look like they would be able to spot it, so he ended up just raising the bottle in his hand with a smile instead. "Ready to head out," he said.

Aurora walked over to the edge of the court to meet him, and he approached with the same intent. However, his stroll was stopped when he felt something under his boot, and saw that he had stepped on one of a pair of folded-up towels. "Oh, oops," he said, picking up both of them. Holding them out, he asked, "You guys still need these? I can go put them back."

Aurora tilted her head slightly. They both seemed dry enough already, though perhaps slightly damp. Certainly nothing a bit of a walk back to Lyntael's PET wouldn't fix. "No, I don't think so, we've dried off enough, I think?" she said, looking towards Lyntael.

As she stepped back to let Aurora take a shot, Lyntael stretched, lifting both hands over her head and arching up on her toes for a few moments with a small, swiftly stifled yawn.

“I'm glad too! You've done so many awesome things with the space, and I really like it. Having it all set up to just change rooms over to other things at a button push is really cool! I didn't think of doing anything like that.” A brief moment of surprise startled her and she skipped back a half step as Aurora put rather more effort than necessary into her own basket shot, and she put a hand over her mouth to cover a giggle as the ball sailed away out of sight. The arrival a moment later saw her turn quickly, along with Aurora to see Eternalis. She grinned and waved to him, though her eyes immediately drifted to the bottle he was holding; the prospect of trying drink for the first time was now at a point that was about equal parts excitement and nervousness, with a little sliver of feeling like it was something naughty, mixed in. Without really being aware of it, she paused to smooth her skirt down, despite the fact that it didn't need any such attention.

She nodded along with his question, quite ready to be home despite the uncomfortable transition that the return jump would bring, but found a sudden jolt of nerves taking over when Eternalis noticed, then picked up the towels. She stated to reach out one hand, but hesitated.

“Oh, um, that's...” She swallowed, and found herself unwilling to blurt out exactly why she needed the rolled up towel. In a moment of mild panic, her eyes darted to Aurora, just as the other woman waved him off to take the towels away. Her eyes widened a little, but the feeling of nerves was mixed. What was Aurora doing? Was it a dare? She looked at the other woman for an extra moment, failing to mask her wide-eyed surprise, then slowly let her hand drop again, swallowing and biting her lip. She ducked her head, fighting hard to stop herself from blushing, but found a traitorous grin creeping onto one corner of her lip as she peeked up at Aurora again and gave her a slightly nervous nod. It was pretty naughty, and it was only Eternalis, after all, and she'd be home again and able to change in less than a few minutes anyway... her heart was beating very quickly as she relaxed her body language carefully, and nodded again, more clearly and firm this time.

“Ah, yeah, all dry now. It's fine.” She took a breath and swallowed again, then turned her attention to Eternalis. “We just took a dip in the spring while Aurora was showing it off... I'm, ah, I'm ready to head off whenever you want. I really love everything you've done with the place though. I know you've both said it was mostly aurora, hehe, but you both helped, and it's really impressive!” Unconsciously, she smoothed down her skirt again, making sure it was straight.

Lyntael's reaction to Eternalis's query of whether she needed to dry off puzzled both Eternalis and Aurora. The panicked look in her eyes had Aurora recalling that one of the towels Eternalis was holding, was, in fact, wrapping up Lyntael's undergarments at the moment for them to dry off. Her brow furrowed a little as she made the connection, and her mind raced to try and find an appropriate way out of the situation without alerting Eternalis, who was already looking more than a little baffled. The situation was made even more confusing with Eternalis being suddenly rejected by Lyntael, stating that she was, after all, not in need of it. Aurora's eyes widened a little, looking over at Lyntael. The girl's expression clearly looked like someone who was getting into something daring, and she was torn between letting the situation go, or intervening. After all, they were only a short walk to Lyntael's own PET--but judging from previous "mishaps" of hers, she wondered if even that short distance would become a problem. Even if she retrieved the garments, it would probably just complicate matters more.

On Eternalis's side, he seemed to doubt the way Lyntael simply sped into a different topic, and still continued to extend his hand out with the towels in it. "Uh, thank you, but, I mean, I can leave if you actually do need to dry off or something," he said, still with a quizzical look.

Then, Aurora suddenly stepped forward, and took the towels. "Ah, I'll take them. I want to bring them over as a present," she blurted out. Her eyes went over to the bottle in Eternalis's hand. "You know, like the liquor bottle isn't really something nice to keep after finishing it, so, I was thinking, like, something a bit more permanent."

Thankfully, Eternalis was quick to surrender the fluffy white articles. "Oh! Sure. That makes sense," he exclaimed. Perhaps it wasn't quite as urgent as the situation made it seem, he thought. It still felt like he was being left out of something, but he figured he could just ask Aurora about it later, out of earshot of Lyntael. Then, a screen opened up next to him, showing Harke's figure sliding into view, with a large plastic bottle of soda in hand. Twisting its top open, he gulped down a large swig of it, and set it down next to him.

"Alright, I've got what I wanted. Finished up in there?" he said.

"Think so," replied Eternalis, turning to Aurora.

The Support Program exhaled a little, and glanced down at the towels in her hand, then at Harke. Nothing was going to happen, she told herself. Something like this was less important than having Lyntael safe in her home, where she would have much more peace of mind. "Yeah, I'm done. Lyntael?" she said, turning to Lyntael, along with Eternalis and Harke.

It only took a few moments for Lyntael to calm herself down properly, despite the odd situation. It wasn't as though she hadn't gone 'breezy' before, in other unfortunate circumstances, and it certainly wasn't as though she was intending to show off to anyone in a way that the lack should matter – she reminded herself that her skirt was coded specifically to help prevent that anyway. She could play this game; if nothing else it was proof that Aurora didn't really think of her as a child, so that was a fun positive to take out of it. She grinned, more relaxed by the time Eternalis showed his own uncertainty and confusion and shook her head, still thankful that the overall warmth of her skin from the swim was still enough to hide the very slight pinking of embarrassment that might otherwise have been showing through.

“No, it's okay, really, we dried off in the spring, I was just—” Her thoughts raced quickly to come up with another innocuous answer but Aurora stepped in quickly with one of her own, claiming the towels from Eternalis in the process. Lyntael's eyes moved across to the other woman and down to the bundle, then back. So, she was taking 'custody' of the garments. That was something of a relief, she thought. It would keep the game being discovered later if the towels were washed or digitised in some way.

“Yes, I'm good!” Her response was quick and enthusiastic as the others made ready to head out and Harke returned. “We should just have to head back to the same place, and I'll be able to find the link again easily enough.” For a moment she winced and shuffled a foot, standing between her friends. “Er, it'll still be a bit rough, like before, I'm sorry... If Rogan were actually operating from his side he could make it smoother but... you know, if he were there then he could just jack me in properly and it wouldn't be a problem... and if he were there he'd never let me do any of this anyway...” She folded her arms and huffed slightly, then shook it off and looked up again. “Should we go?”

Provided there were no more reasons to wait, Lyntael was ready to be home again, after the long outing, no matter how nice Aurora and Eternalis' home was. She followed the pair back through towards the living space, and the exit pad, glancing to see if Sparky was awake and wanting to come as well as she did.

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((Lyntael, following to => Yoka Rogue))

"Going through an emulated link, huh..." muttered Harke. There wasn't much he would be able to do about it, considering emulated links were tenuous at best already. There was the danger of having it severed from the other side somehow. On the other hand, Lyntael had already risked her own link to visit their PET. "Well, I can't do anything about it on my end, but seeing you guys are already set on it, I can't really stop you," he said.

"We'll make do. It'll be the second time around, so I think we'd be able to handle it a little better," replied Eternalis.

Harke shrugged. "Let's get it on, then," he said.

However, he hesitated slightly on actually sending in everyone, as when he looked over the team members, there was the distinct feeling of having something missing from the lineup. He narrowed his eyes for a couple of seconds before he realized it. "Oh, what about Sparky?" he asked.

Eternalis craned his head over towards the doorway leading to the entrance lounge. "He's still sleeping. Maybe some other time," he said. In reality, however, he mainly feared having such an excitable pup in someone else's home, recalling that they had to actually permanently affix the vase that was on one of the tables in the entrance lounge.

The operator nodded in understanding. "All right. I'm transmitting," he said, as the group was enveloped in a beam of bluish-white light, before being transported to where they had been before.

[>> Sneaking out with friends - Yoka Rogue Net.]