A Space Reserved, and Forgotten.

Emerging from the reading room, Aurora and Eternalis re-entered the living area to move to the last indoor area that they would be looking at. Before that, however, they simultaneously stole a glance over at the coffee table where they had laid down the things that they brought over. When they saw that the towels had disappeared, they looked to Lyntael, who was now holding them in her hands, eliciting different reactions from both of them. Aurora held a hand to her chest in relief, while a strike of uncertainty overtook Eternalis. From what he had seen, it was either his original thought, that Aurora had accidentally left hers in at some point... or the other possibility, which involved Lyntael instead, who had come to their home without a change of clothes. Neither situation seemed like something he was willing to deal with, though he realized that Lyntael had to have seen that they had been folded up since she last saw them, and--

"Eternalis? Hello?"

A voice at his side brought him back to attention, and he blinked a few times to clear his thoughts. The video feed with Harke's face was showing at his side, while Aurora was already inside the room, leaving him standing in front of the bedroom's doorway with a blank expression. "Sorry, was thinking of something," he said. Blinking a couple more times, he noted something. "You're not observing through Aurora?"

"Nah, just wondering what made you space out like that. Did you leave the stove on or something?" laughed Harke.

Eternalis grinned, and shook his head. "Oh, no, I'm just," he said, pausing briefly to think of a plausible answer, "recalling the stuff we have at home. Comparing it to all this, you know?"

Harke seemed unconvinced, but rested his head on his hand as he turned to look at Aurora and Lyntael inside the latter's bedroom. Aurora was inspecting some trinkets being displayed on the side, while Lyntael was twirling about the place, happily showing off the crown of her domicile. When the latter opened the door to the en suite bathroom adjacent to the bedroom, Aurora skipped over to join her, while Eternalis made his late entrance into the room. Lyntael went past him to leap onto her own bed, eliciting a chuckle from both him and Harke's image at his side.

"Yeah, I can relate. Don't go nodding off now," he grinned. With the hectic day that they had been through, he personally related to being able to lie down in one's own home. Looking around, he recognized it as a place they had been to before. "It's really changed from the last time we were here," he noted. Inspecting the paintings on the wall more closely, they seemed like the same style as the others that he had seen before throughout the home. "Did you paint all these paintings around the place yourself or is it from some artist that you're into? They kind of look like they're all in the same style."

Aurora, meanwhile, was done looking through the bathroom, and was going back to looking through the bedroom proper, slipping by Eternalis. Lyntael getting comfortable in her bed made her giggle, but another thing caught her eye. Ducking down to look at the smaller bookshelf near the bedside stand, she began examining the books, only to freeze in place and turn a shade of red. She was unable to tear her eyes away, however, and hesitated on reaching for one, only managing to clench her hand intermittently.

Now that she was in her room, Lyntael bounced on her bed a little bit from where she sat with her legs crossed, and shook her head with a small blush at the question put to her. It was enough to move her thoughts on from the worryingly distracted expression Eternalis had had once she'd moved the towels.

“No... they're prints. It's from an artist who lived a long time ago... I think it was called the... post-impressionist movement? I don't know as much as I'd like to, I'm still reading up on some of it. But this artist... He...” Her expression drifted to the piece that was on the wall above her work desk.

“No-one ever really... saw him. In life. He wasn't famous, and no-one really thought he was any good at all. No-one ever really acknowledge his art, or thought it was worth the canvases he painted them on. He died really young, and everyone around him thought he was a failure of a person.” She rolled her shoulder, tilting her head as she did to look at the piece.

“But then... the things he did, the art he made... it shaped and influenced so much, moving forward. And it's still with us now, hundreds of years later... and it's so beautiful and inspired and unique, you know? He's famous now, but it took so long for anyone to really see it.” She smiled and closed her eyes, pushing back on her bed to lean against the wall and drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her head down on her hands.

“I really light his night sky pieces. They... I can't put my finger on it, but, they feel like the way the wind moves. I can look at them, and close my eyes, and it feels nice, you know?” After another second or two she shrugged and opened her eyes, looking back to Eternalis with a small grin.

“I've never tried painting before. It might be fun... It seems like it would take a lot of skill to make anything good though....” she relaxed her legs, stretching out again and rocking her heels back and forth on the covers. “Though I guess it's more about expressing for yourself than that, really... I wonder what I'd paint...” He gaze drifted as she pondered, but her thoughts derailed quite suddenly when she noticed Aurora crouched down by the book case looking at the lower shelf. She was unable to stop the small, startled squeak that escaped her lungs as she quickly sprang up off the bed and straightened her skirt in the process of trying to get to her other friend and pull her attention away from the mildly embarrassing personal literature.

“Hey, um, that's just... don't mind any of that, um.... you know... just.. ah, we all get a bit curious, sometimes, don't we? And, well, you know, a girl's got to learn at some point, right?” She stumbled on a nervous laugh, her cheeks going progressively more pink the harder she tried to turn attention away from the educational shelf. She wondered if she shouldn't have hidden the books somewhere more private... but there wasn't really anywhere more private than her own bedroom. She hadn't exactly expected them to go looking through the shelf, or even really thought about it for that matter. The beginnings of a whistling sound, followed by a heavy click from the kitchen saved her from further mortification and she started upright fully with another small squeak.

“Ah! That's the kettle! Back in a minute!” With all the alacrity available to a mortified teenager, Lyntael darted out of the room, fleeing from Aurora and Eternalis in a blue of yellow. She didn't slow until she'd made it back to the kichen, where she leaned on the counter and pushed the back of one hand to her cheeks, fervently trying to cool them.

A few seconds later she drew a longer breath then started making the tea for herself. She made a pot anyway, even though she was the only one having any; it seemed like the right thing to do just in case the others changed their minds, and she'd already scalded the pot besides. After the freshly filled teapot was all taken care of and steeping on the counter-top, she moved to to retrieve the honey and sugar from their cupboard as well. Maybe she'd over-reacted? It wasn't like it was anything to be ashamed of, after all. She was a grown woman, and she needed to understand... certain things. And the rest was still fun to imagine, even if she wasn't convinced she'd ever actually end up choosing to do any of those things any more. With a small motion to shake herself off, Lyntael wandered back into the living room to see if her friends had followed or not.

“It's just drawing now, give it another minute or two before it's ready to pour. I made a full pot anyway, just in case either of you wanted to try it.” Internally she wanted to kick herself. Her original plan had been to find an excuse to send them out of the bedroom ahead of her, and linger back long enough to slip her unders back on, but a moment of embarrassed panic had mostly foiled that plan.

“I, um, I can show you the outside as well, if you like. That's about all that's left now.” She was hoping the awkward discovery would just blow over quickly, but speeding on with the tour only brought the more serious conversation she'd promised them closer and closer.

"Oh, I see... That's kind of sad, but I suppose these nice paintings that he left behind is a nice legacy," said Eternalis. Turning to the other scenic panoramas depicted in the other prints, there was a sort of odd juxtaposition with the painting's rough style over the more realistic-looking depictions of the net world around it. "I've been kind of interested in these kinds of creative projects like painting, too. Never gotten around to it, though, just read up on starting techniques and such—like, Aurora's got her cooking stuff, so I was thinking I could get into painting, too..." he mused.

His train of thought was interrupted with Lyntael suddenly making a startled squeak, making him and Aurora jump simultaneously. The latter's reaction was much more pronounced, as she shot up to full height, completely crimson up to her ears, and waving her hands about in a panic. "N-No, I, I mean, it's okay! I was just curious, too! I mean, I, well, you know, learning's good! It's good!" she blurted out in a cascade of disjointed words.

Her panicked state came down a little once Lyntael abruptly exited the scene to tend to her boiling kettle, leaving her with a thoroughly confused-looking Eternalis and Harke. As Aurora glanced over at the door, her gears still spinning, she turned back to the operator-Navi pair with an uncertain fidget. "Um..." she stuttered.

Thankfully, the human half of the pair was quicker to realize what had likely transpired. His expression looked like he wanted to let out a chuckle, but sense took over, and he smoothed it over with as neutral of a face as he could muster. "Maybe you guys should check on the next place you want to look at," he stated plainly.

Aurora replied immediately, "Y-Yeah! Let's do that! We have see the garden next!" She then walked awkwardly quickly out of the room at a pace barely below running towards the kitchen.

Eternalis blinked, and quietly turned towards the shelf that had apparently been the source of the outbursts earlier.

"Probably just girl stuff."

"What?" Eternalis turned towards Harke in the viewport next to him. The operator had an amused-looking grin on his face, looking towards the bedroom's doorway.

"Girl stuff. Just leave it at that, and walk away from it," said Harke. When Eternalis's face turned into an even more confused expression, Harke's face turned slightly less mischievous-looking, and gained a bit more seriousness. "Trust me, it's from having two big sisters—just, leave it for now, and just ask Aurora about it later when it's cooled down a little. Alright? Just, trust me on this."

Eternalis had an uncertain look on his face, glancing towards the tiny shelf twice. Before his curiosity overflowed, he relented, and reluctantly turned to leave the room. "Okay, if you say so," he murmured, heading out the door to see Aurora, who was fidgeting in front of the kitchen doorway, looking into it from a distance. Lyntael exited shortly after he came through the doorway, informing them of the state of the tea before Aurora could get a word in edgewise. The latter glanced over at Eternalis, who had just joined them, and quickly turned back to Lyntael.

"Sounds good! Let's go!" said Aurora, taking Lyntael's hand in a sudden motion to draw close, whispering a quick, "I'm really sorry," before letting go to make a bit more distance between them and allowing Lyntael to lead them to the last area.

When Aurora moved in to whisper to her, Lyntael felt herself relaxed a small tense knot between her shoulders that she hadn't noticed had bunched tight. She shook her head slightly, closing her eyes and mouthing a quick “It's okay,” to her before leading the way across to the other door out from the main room, the only one they hadn't been through yet. At first there wasn't too much to see as she took the handle and pushed it open; the door led to a small square space with a polished wood floor, only really long enough for two two to fit; it had a mat, and a shoe rack, and a stand that might have theoretically been made to house an umbrella or some such. There was another, identical door on the far side which Lyntael swiftly moved through as well, pulling this one open and dropping a small silver catch into a hook on its inside that held it open against the inside wall.

Beyond, a breath of cool, fresh air met them, along with the fading warmth of the early evening sun. A small step dropped down into grass that spread out underfoot across a small garden space. Above, the sky was a burnished array of evening colours as the sun set, the leading edges of darker hues creeping in behind the brighter golds and oranges that reflected off the scattered clouds.

The garden itself was mostly wild and untamed; the ground wasn't perfectly even, but had a natural roll and rise to it that was never rough enough to actually cause a stumble. A scattering of broad, flat rocks poked out of the grass, and several trees marked the outer edges of the space as well; several looked perfectly made for climbing in, with gnarled, twisting branches and thick limbs, while others were much smaller, and draped leafy canopies over themselves, creating tiny bubbles of sheltered space that one could almost hide in.

Lyntael herself backed off a little as she stepped outside, turning to wave her friends outside; eager to lift the lingering awkward moment. A series of lower thicketed trees and dense shrubs formed the suggestion of a barrier off to one side, and elsewhere around the garden space, though it wasn't too obvious unless you looked for it. The sound of gently babbling water came from the far left of the garden space, where a river flowed by. It stared further back, emerging from the natural barrier in a rocky formation that released a low waterfall. The river itself then ran through a pebbly bed in crooked, uneven meanderings, up the length of the left hand side. At a glance, it seemed to run at least a few feet deep in the centre, but it was probably more accurate to call it a stream than a river.

If either of them turned around as they stepped outside, the sight that greeted them was of a small house, all on one level, seemingly built mostly from natural stone, with a slate shingled roof. It looked to fit the rough dimensions they'd seen inside; a window just along from the door did, in fact, look back into the kitchen area, and another smaller one on the other side would line up with the window they'd seen from the reading room. There was no immediate way around to the other side of the house, the natural bushed and shrubs, along with the rocky bank of the river, enclosed the space without being obvious, but it would seem like a safe guess that it functionally represented the edge of the space, even though it looked to go on into open fields and rolling countryside beyond.

“There's not really all that much space, but I tried to make it feel as open as I could! There are fish in the river, sometimes, and I picked some trees that are nice to climb or lie in, and you can go swimming when it's sunny, and the lie out on the rocks to dry off. Sometimes it rains, and it's so nice to just come out and stand in it.” She waved at various things as she spoke, moving in a little circle as she did. “Have a look, hehe!” For her own part, Lyntael wandered across to the river and leaned on a small wooden barrier fence that had been placed against one section of the bank, looking down into the water that flowed by. After a moment she waved Aurora over.

“Hey, um, it's okay... I over-reacted. It's just kind of embarrassing, because there's all this stuff that I didn't know, and didn't have anyone to teach me, not really, aside from the internet itself, and it's not the best for advice... and once I'd picked up some things that covered the, er, essentials, I was kind of curious about some of the other books that showed up at the same time, so... It's just a bit, er, private, you know? I didn't mean to be rude about it.” She spoke mostly in a low whisper, still looking at the river and, before glancing up at Aurora after she paused. Eventually, she giggled and spoke more clearly.

“It's funny... all of the educational ones that I could find as proper books were written as though they're for navigators to read to human girls, so they're not quite as comforting or as reassuring as they're meant to be, when you're reading for yourself...” She shrugged and turned back to look at the rest of the garden, then looked to Aurora again, biting her lip in a moment of worry.

“Say, um... just to be absolutely sure... it was you who refolded the towels, wasn't it?” She raised her eyebrows in a hopefully questioning expression, not quite certain she'd get the quick reassurance she was hoping for.

Aurora smiled slightly as Lyntael accepted her apology, and allowed Lyntael to move through to open the door to what was presumably the entrance hall. Aurora peered ahead, looking about the place to see if there was anything interesting about it, but it was only an empty passageway. Fortunately, the area beyond was opened up quickly enough, and the warm light that came with it.

Stepping through the second door, Aurora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The rustling of the grass underfoot and the gurgling of the little river out to the side accompanied the scents of the wild and the warmth of the sun, and it felt like all the panicked tension that had troubled her just then evaporated. Close behind, Eternalis brought up the rear, with Harke at his side, both also quietly appreciating the scenery, albeit with their more limited senses.

"Fish in the river, huh?" said Eternalis, looking strangely interested as he wandered over to the little brook. Walking around the barrier fence, he was about to step into the water itself, before halting for a moment. Looking over towards Lyntael, it looked like she was being occupied with Aurora.

"You're going to go into the river?" asked Harke from the viewport.

Eternalis shrugged. "She did say to have a look," he said, before beginning to walk into the river, quickly being submerged up to his chest as he peered about, looking for the aforementioned river fauna. "Aurora said she couldn't find any way to include anything like animals or such, so I want to see if Lyntael managed it somehow." He hunched over the water with his hands out in front of him, grinning to himself. "Plus I've always wanted to try catching a fish with bare hands—I saw it in a video once."

---

Meanwhile, Aurora stayed with Lyntael, surveying the general area with wonderment in her eyes. The image of the house behind them particularly caught her attention, as she ducked to the side to inspect the stone walls. Before she could check the barriers of the area, however, she noticed Lyntael waving her over near the river, and she waved in return before jogging over.

The apology made her look down at the grass, scratching her neck in embarrassment. "Ah, no, no, it's—it's fine, I understand," said Aurora, not having the heart to say that she, too, was interested in the books herself, even as she doubted anything useful would come out of them. Most of what she saw the majority of Lyntael's references, as well as the ones she found, was for Navis that more closely emulated human physiology, rather than, well, whatever Eternalis was. References to the Undernet and its infamously lawless BBS had been thrown around in her searches, but that was a little out of her league. Still, it was fun to... peruse the books, for the most part.

"Well, we are meant to be companions for humans, so I guess that's a given..." mused Aurora. Resting her arms on the fence next to Lyntael, she looked down at the running river idly, enjoying its cool air. A look to the side made her crease her brow slightly in a confused, slightly amused look; down the river, a very enthusiastic-looking Eternalis was dunking his hands into the water repeatedly for some reason, bellowing out with every move.

At Lyntael's query, Aurora turned her head, and tilted her head slightly. Folded the towels? She didn't recall doing anything with the towels before Lyntael had retrieved them. She then realized the only other person who could have done anything with the towels, and turned to the other side of the river, back to Eternalis playing around in the water. Aurora felt a cold sweat as she blinked. He hadn't mentioned anything about it; was there a chance that he had folded up the towels without seeing anything inside? She highly doubted it, at the same time recalling Eternalis hurrying into the kitchen earlier.

Still, she reasoned, there was also no reason not to answer truthfully. It had been her fault that Lyntael had been placed in the situation in the first place, as well. Now that Eternalis and Harke were otherwise occupied, she could use the chance to make amends. She turned back to Lyntael with as apologetic of an expression as she could make.

"Sorry, no, I think Eternalis did it," she said. Putting her fingers together, she continued. "Um, in the first place, I did overlook that you had, erm, put them in the towel back at our place, so I'll take all responsibility for it. I'm really sorry!"

After a short pause, she thought of something else. "Though, actually, was there any reason you didn't ask him for the towel back when he offered it?"

Lyntael's eyes drifted to Eternalis as he moved into the rive, and her small smile became a quiet giggle as she worked out what he was trying to do. She watched him idly, swaying slightly with the light breeze as she leaned on the barrier and chatted with Aurora. The fish weren't particularly complex – just little visual scripts mostly. She hadn't been ale to really find anything else that worked like she had wanted, but they ere still nice to look at sometimes.

What Eternalis found as he fished for them was that the occasional fish that meandered by didn't pay his presence any real heed, though they did attempt to swim around him. They didn't respond like he was anything more than another river obstacle and as swift as they were to dart away from his hands, it didn't take him too long to successfully entrap one. It continued trying to swim away in his grasp, but didn't seem particularly desperate or panicked about its situation. Up close, the fish was one of only a handful of different patterns that existed amongst the ones that swam by, and its visual design was simple; easy enough to look like a real fish when viewed from the bank, or while underwater, but the detail didn't hold up to close scrutiny.

She enjoyed the setting sun for a few moments longer as she watched Eternalis in the river, but her eyes drew back to Aurora quickly with a sudden widening as she admitted that her partner might, in fact, have been the one to reorganise things. Her cheeks flushed in a very sudden rush and she stole a look back towards Eternalis. Creeping thoughts about his momentary distraction earlier edged in and she winced. That he hadn't said anything didn't matter in the face of the mortification that the knowledge entailed.

Aurora as explaining and she looked back to the other woman, trying to cool her cheeks as best she could. At the other woman's determined apology and guilt, Lyntael blinked and took a mental step back. So, it had just been a moment of forgetfulness and not a deliberate game after all.

“Honestly? I thought you'd waved them away deliberately, just to play a game and to tease me! I was playing along to not make a scene!” Despite herself, an oddly relieved giggle bubbled up at the end of her exclamation.

The brief respite from her own clamouring thoughts of embarrassment brought another realisation to mind that had been a little late in arriving. On the scale of things, it didn't matter too much; both Eternalis and Aurora had seen her in quite complete states of undress at least once already, and they'd been very good sports about it, and as considerate as she could have hoped.

So, the idea that Eternalis might have seen her underwear when she wasn't wearing them, or might know now that she was without... at the end of the day it didn't mean too much, especially since she was safest at home, and she trusted both of them. It was no different that if she'd had a shower and come out into the living room in towels, and, she realised, she would be perfectly comfortable doing that here in her own home with these two people. The thought calmed her and she closed her eyes briefly, shaking her head.

“Don't worry.. I guess it's not really a big deal, since we're here and it's private anyway. You've both seen worse already.” The initial panic and embarrassment faded away wit surprising speed after she'd thought ti through, and she looked back towards Eternalis with an amused giggle. She decided to share part of her thoughts with Aurora, just in case it helped reassure the other woman as well.

“I mean, look... now I think about it... If we'd gotten back here and I'd really needed to shower, I'd have been perfectly comfortable to come back out into the living room and chat while I was still in towels... and really, it's not any different to that, is it?” She nodded and turned her grin to Aurora with raised eyebrows. “I just realised I'm not actually upset. It was just a shock, hehe.” Another thought occurred to her and she nodded.

“You know... I think I'm ready. Um, to talk about things. The stuff that happened. I wanted to tell you both, just, to share it with someone and talk to someone about it, but I've been too scared, and I haven't wanted to deal with it... but I think I can now.” This time her smile across to Aurora was warmer, and more peacefully content. She turned back towards where Eternalis was.

“Hey! I'm going to head in and pour the tea now! Come in whenever you like, there's no rush, but should I pour you some?” She flicked her glance to Aurora at the end as well, a small quirk of one eyebrow adding a silent question to include her in the offer as well.

"No, over to the right! Right there, try to catch it between those rocks!"
"Haaa-aaaah! Damn it, it was like a pixel away!"
"It's okay, the next one's coming up!"

Cheered on by his operator, water splashed out in great bursts as Eternalis struck out repeatedly in his attempts to catch a fish in his hands. Several close calls had gone by already, but as unrelenting as he was, he finally managed to snap up one of them in his hands and tear it out of the water. "Yeeeeeeeah!" he roared triumphantly, holding up the fish above his head.

His operator joined in the victory call, having been directly involved in the "yelling like an idiot" part of the fishing venture. "Wooooooo—, hey, wait a minute."

Having the celebration suddenly interrupted, Eternalis was a little confused, to say the least. "What?" he asked. The operator pointed up at the fish in his hands. With a puzzled look, he lowered it, only to find that the fish struggling in his hands definitely looked odd. When it moved about, it clearly warped from a base image, rather than being a full-fledged model. It was difficult to see from a distance, or when obscured by the water, but now that it was in his hands, it was much clearer.

"Aw, that's disappointing," said Eternalis, as he lowered the "fish" back into the water.

"You definitely don't look disappointed," laughed Harke, watching Eternalis's face clearly contradict his earlier words in a satisfied grin from a moment of play.

---

Over on Aurora's side, she braced for any embarrassed outburst that Lyntael would put out, but as it turned out, she seemed to handle it rather well. As was revealed shortly, the whole ordeal was simply a misunderstanding from Lyntael apparently making her out to be an odd pervert by keeping her from her garments. The look on her face that was halfway between dismay and amusement clearly expressed her confusion over being seen as such. Did she give off such an impression?

"I swear, you're such a handful," she chuckled, giving Lyntael a small shove. Aurora leaned a little on the fence, and shook her head. "Even if I didn't mind, it's probably better if you just tried to a bit more of your clothes on. With your luck, your towels would've gotten a freak accident and fell off somehow."

The mention about her memories made Aurora's eyes widen a little, and her smile mellowed slightly. "Alright, whenever you're ready to," said Aurora. When she called out to Eternalis, the blue Navi waved back with a "Sure!" and stepped out of the water. Aurora realized that the question was also directed to her when Lyntael turned back, and stood up straight from her lean on the fence.

"Make that tea for three, then."

Despite Aurora's reaction, the smaller girl giggled along with her as she caught herself back a step from the light rough-housing. She peeked across at the other woman.

“Hehe, sorry if my opinion of you was so high that I never considered you might have just forgotten!” With a wink and a brief poke of her tongue she moved on, eventually standing away from their relaxed perch and heading back towards the door with a stretch, leaving her friends to follow at whatever pace they wished.

Back inside, Lyntael swiftly took two more mugs off the rack and set them next to her own, then gently stirred the tea pot one more time before pouring out all three. Next, she opened the lids on the sugar and honey, gleefully playing with the dipper for a moment or two and watching it run back into the pot, before putting a small amount of both in all three mugs. She hadn't asked how much they wanted, but at the same time, they'd both managed to give an impression of not really having a strong enough opinion to say.

After stirring, she put everything away again and washed up the tea spoon she'd been using, slipping it back into its drawer, then brought the drinks for the others out into the living area again. Each one was set on one of the small coasters on the coffee table for them before she retrieved her own cloud-patterned mug as well. Rather than sitting, however, she set the mug down on a coaster of its own, then moved towards her bedroom.

“I'm just going to change quickly, I'll be back in a minute. Hope the tea's okay. Relax, hehe, make yourselves at home.”

She ducked into her bedroom and closed the door over behind her, leaving aurora and Eternalis to try their hot drinks in peace for a minute or two. In her room, Lyntael quickly slipped out of her vest ad skirt, tossing the garments into the small laundry hamper between her bed and the mirror, then retrieved her erstwhile undergarment from between the towels in the bathroom and did the same. She lifted the pillows from her bed and pulled out her pyjamas instead.

When she returned to the room a minute late, Lyntael was wearing a pale pastel yellow set of soft-looking flannel pyjamas. The top was a button-front with a soft collar, with a slightly tailored gather across the chest but little other detail. The buttons were quite far apart, creating a loose, comfy feeling, though it meant that occasional peeks of pale skin between each button point were sometimes visible. The sleeves went all the way down to a little past her wrists, giving the garment a slightly over-sized appearance, even though it was tailored to fit her properly. The lower half was equally plain; a soft, loose-fitting flannel with a simple elasticated band at the waist.

Lyntael grinned at her companions and scrubbed a hand through her hair in a relaxed way, then moved across to the light panel; evening was more or less here, and the natural light was going, so she closed the sun roof and turned on the living room lights instead before returning to the couch. She reclaimed her mug and curled up in one corner of the long couch, blowing steam from the drink and inhaling it with here eyes closed for a few moments, then taking a sip. A long, relaxed sigh followed.

“That's better... Sorry, just, I'm home now, and, things, you know. Comfort.” She shrugged, looking down at her tea. “How's it taste?” A few extra moments of delay wouldn't hurt anyone...

"She has way too high of an opinion on me."

While Lyntael headed inside to prepare the promised tea, Aurora paused outside, shaking her head at Eternalis making his way out of the water. The blue Navi stepped onto one of the rocks on the riverbank, flashing a goofy-looking grin as he stood up, completely dry. Next to him, Harke rolled his eyes away from the Navi with an amused smile, his chin resting on his hand. Eternalis's strange grin made Aurora giggle as she asked, "What were you even doing in there?"

"Fishing, apparently," answered Harke, his eyes still rolled away.

"You were talking about getting some fish when we were doing the homepage design, but couldn't, so I was surprised when I saw these, so I wanted to see them up close. Bit of a shame that they're not real fish, but I had fun trying to catch one, anyway," explained Eternalis.

Aurora shook her head. "Whatever makes you happy," she muttered, leading them both back inside through the door.

The sound of mugs clinking together greeted them; Lyntael was exiting the kitchen with three piping hot mugfuls and setting them down on the table. When their host stepped away to duck into her bedroom for a change, Aurora smiled knowingly and waved her off, while Eternalis cheerily replied, "Sure, thanks!" Left alone, both of them stared down at the mugs silently, unsure of whether they should actually take their host up on the offer first, or wait for her to return.

"Tea sounds pretty good right about now," their operator's voice chimed in from the viewport next to Eternalis, followed by a yawn. Both of them looked up at the screen to see Harke get up from his seat. "Yeah, I think I'll go make some for myself. Back in a bit."

The viewport was then left empty, and both of them turned back down to look at the beverages prepared, with light clouds of steam wafting up towards them. Aurora was the first to reach for one, before recoiling slightly after touching the mug. "Ooh, it's a little hot," she exclaimed.

Eternalis turned to Aurora with a concerned look on his face. "You okay?" he asked, before trying to take up the other unclaimed mug by the handle. "This one's not that hot, I think," he remarked, offering it to his partner. Instead, Aurora held up a hand to deny it. "No, no, it's fine," she said, picking up her own by the handle as well, eliciting giggles from both of them.

Eternalis took up a seat at the end of the long couch, scooting in his slightly larger frame to allow more space for Aurora and Lyntael to sit on the same one, should they wish to. As he was adjusting his seat, however, he felt Aurora sidle up to his side, mug in hand with a satisfied-looking expression—leaving a generous amount of space remaining on the rest of the couch. Eternalis put on a mock expression of discontent, which she countered by amplifying her beaming smile several fold.

In the end, their faces strained to the point where both of them laughed at each other, and Aurora backed off a little more to give Eternalis an appropriate amount of space. The tea remained untouched as Lyntael reentered the living area. Both of them looked up at the introduction of their host, freshly changed into her new clothes, with positive reactions. "It's cute," remarked Aurora. Shortly after, however, Lyntael sipping on her tea reminded them that neither had yet to taste the tea served to them, and quickly got to doing so.

Aurora began mirroring Lyntael's actions of blowing on her tea to cool it down before closing her eyes to take a small sip. Eternalis, meanwhile, went with a large sip right from the start. The former's reaction was much more marked, her body contorting as a sharp squeak escaped her lips, while the latter simply sighed in contentment.

"It's so sweet! I love it!" said Aurora, her cheeks flushing with a bright, genuine smile.

Eternalis quietly laughed at his partner's reaction. "Warm, and tastes somewhat interesting," he said, reflecting the warmth of the tea through his own smile as he took another sip. "Thanks."

As she settled, Lyntael caught herself glancing across at Eternalis and Aurora, cuddled somewhat close to each other on the other end of the couch, and she smiled down at her own drink. Aside being adorable, it made her happy to see. It was one more little confirmation that, whatever Rogan tried to tell himself and her about navigators, even people who weren't... like her... were still every bit as real as anyone else. She took a few moments just to take in the space and the atmosphere; the quiet and content feeling of being comfortable and warm, sipping her tea and gently shifting to feel the rub of her pyjamas against her skin. This was... just, nice.

“I...” she looked into her tea, watching the tiny ripples as they distorted her reflection. “I wanted to say thank you, to both of you. It's been hard to make friends, when you don't get a lot of time to yourself. And I know, you know, most navigators have duties to their operators and it's where most of their focus ends up going, like it or not... but you've both spent time with me... not for any reason, or any gain... not because you were getting anything out of it, and... and it means a lot to me.” She took a sip, then shifted, pulling her knees around and curling up a little more as she twisted to face Aurora and Eternalis a little more.

“I've know I've been a bit difficult. Getting scared, panicking... I'm bad at keeping myself under control and I'm always in danger of hurting people when I get scared, but... but you stayed, and you didn't have to. Just being here now, like this, I can't really put it to words, what that means.” She could feel the sensation behind her eyes and in her sinuses as she spoke, various ducts and fluids getting ready to make a mess of everything as she spoke. She knew, really, that most probably wouldn't see it as a big thing. They'd hung out a couple of times, and she'd known the pair face to face for only a few days, really, but against the backdrop of the rest of her time so far, it felt like so much more. Without meaning to, Lyntael sniffed and blinked, then busied herself with her tea again for a moment or two.

“I want to explain. But it's hard.” Again, she let a few seconds stretch while she picked her words, rubbing the mug in her hands and feeling the warmth of it on her fingers. “I think you both deserve to know why I've been reacting so badly to things, and I've... realised, I guess... that I've been too scared to deal with it at all. It would be good, I think, for me to share it with someone. To know that someone else knows and understands, and not just carry it all under wraps myself.” Here, she found herself looking up at Aurora in particular before casting her eyes back to her tea. Small motions from other parts of her body; the shifting of her feet, the way her fingers moved back and forth around her mug, and other small fidgets were showing the girl's nervousness even as she did her best to keep herself calm and on track.

“I trust you both. I can't talk to Rogan about this, not in the way I need to. Not in a way he'll hear it, or understand me... and I just... I can't tell Eric either... I... I don't want to do that to him. but I do need to talk about it to someone... and I trust you, and I want you to know...” she was repeating herself a little, she knew. She took a longer breath and stilled her thoughts again. Her chest felt tight.

“It's been hard to approach. Any time my thoughts come close, I just... I divert. It's like an instinct. I don't want to think about it. I can't... but it's there. And then sometimes when it comes too close and I can't stop my mind going back to it, I can't get away from it again and it's all there, all at once, and I can't see anything else... and... I need to get past that, somehow.” She took a longer drink, then leaned out to set her mug down on its coaster and curled up again, wrapping her arms about her legs as she did, facing her companions as she rested her head against the back of the couch.

“So.... I mean...” she swallowed. “Um... Can I? Talk to you both about,” she made herself go on with some determination and a more deliberately steady voice, pushing out the hesitations and falters. “About something bad, that happened to me, in Scilab, a little over a month ago.” Effort or not, she was surprised at how steady and sure she managed to make her voice sound and she swallowed looking back at her friends to see what they said.

Sitting in the middle of the couch, Aurora began to swing her legs lightly, stopping to have a miniature "experience" every time she took a small sip. To the side, Eternalis watched the two girls enjoy themselves in their own way, looking down at his own mug. The warmth and taste of the tea was spreading out from his core, as did anything else he consumed. It was an odd feeling—not at all unpleasant, but he felt the effect might be a little muted; it certainly didn't feel as enjoyable as Aurora made it look like. Still, the sense of serene company made up for it.

Shortly after, Lyntael then broke the idle silence with a gush of gratitude towards the two of them. "To be honest, it's nice to cheer for someone trying so hard," said Eternalis, looking up from the his mug as the warmth of the tea reflected in his own smile. "I know how it feels like to be picked up after a hardship, so it feels natural to extend that to someone else." His eyes lingered over to Aurora, stopping himself short of commenting the same for her. He still didn't quite know her full story, but wasn't quite rushing things, either.

Aurora herself was sitting quietly without comment, her lips slightly pursed as she listened to Lyntael wanting to explain her ordeal to the two of them. Both of them recalled the memory "vision" that they had experienced in their own PET, and their expressions turned a little more serious-looking. Aurora caught Lyntael looking up at her briefly, and a slight pang of guilt sprung in her heart, being unable to tell Lyntael that she may have had already had a small glimpse of her ordeal. Still, she thought, it wasn't the knowledge of the event itself that was important, but rather the courage for Lyntael herself to divulge it, so she continued to keep mum. Eternalis, meanwhile, listened with interest to see whether, indeed, the dream that he saw matched her experience.

As Lyntael set her mug down on the coffee table, a silent text notification appeared on Eternalis's peripheral display. [Bad time for me to be poking in?] the message said. Their operator had returned, but the viewport that had been at his side had disconnected at some point, vanishing into thin air. He frowned slightly; he wanted to let Harke in on the information, but at the same time, he felt that they were both aware that the operator had much less contact with Lyntael, and it could affect her being comfortable enough to share her traumas.

His silent reply to Harke appeared below the text notification. [Probably not the best idea. I'll ask after. Sorry,] noted Eternalis.

[It's alright. Hope she'll come out of it better. I'll still be at the desk, so ping me when it's over or if anything happens.]

With that, Eternalis let out a little sigh, and looked up to see Aurora turning towards him after Lyntael's query, as if seeking his confirmation first before replying herself. "Sure, if it'll make you feel better about it," he replied. Aurora smiled warmly, and turned back to Lyntael. "Let's hear your story, then," she said.

Lyntael managed a small smile and nodded, ducking her head as she flicked her eyes between each of her friends. She made the motions of mouthing a soft 'thank you' to them, though didn't actually manage any sound as a brief wash of relief between her other nerves quieted her voice. She looked down again, casting her eyes over her own form instead. She liked the pyjamas she'd made. They were simple while still being mildly feminine in their cut and, more importantly, they were soft and comfortable.

“So...” she took a breath, rubbing one hand up and down the flannel covering her legs for a moment. “Bear with me... okay? I'm not really sure how... how far I'll get, but I want to try. The thing that happened was...” a quaver in her chest made her throat feel dry as she felt herself mentally stepping up to the edge of the place that her thoughts always skipped and skittered away from. Start further back. Work in to it. She swallowed and started again.

“A lot of the work Rogan does isn't legal.” She shouldn't say there here, she knew, but that was a drop in the bucket of what she was wanting to talk about, and she couldn't really fathom telling anyone about the full details anywhere other than the comfort of her own home. “He specialises in physical work. A lot of places, they're... you know, um... there's no connection, and no signal. They're all...” she fumbled for the term that she knew existed but couldn't bring to mind. She glanced at Aurora to see if the other woman had the phrase to supply; she might know it. “Ah, isolated, you know? No way to access their closed networks externally, other than actually being there in person. That sort of thing.”

“So, Rogan, he does work where he has to get data and other information from places that normal network hacking can't do easily. It usually means lots of heavy physical security, and when he does find an internal network or an electronic storage system, or just when he needs to take care of some of the security on site, it's usually systems that don't accept any kind of navigator signal, or that can't be jacked into normally, or, you know, need accessed through a specific physical terminal with the right identification...” She was distracting herself and rambling. As she spoke, Lyntael's slow, nervous rubbing of whatever part of her body her hands had rested on continued with a very faint amount of trembling to it.

“A-anyway... it's usually dangerous. He needs me to do things for him, to keep him safe. Scrambling things, looping feeds, re-routing data streams, opening isolated system gates... things like that, in places I shouldn't ever be.” She paused, talking slowly as she made the words follow one after the other.

“A month ago, we were... we were in SciLab. Rogan needed to access a specific lab. Needed to be sure that he didn't show up on any of the cameras anywhere as he went in and out. Then, once I helped get him to the lab he needed safely, I just had to hold position in the parallel network, to mask his own searching. He was searching the lab, and he was going through the locked terminals there directly, and I was meant to be there, masking it so that there was no sign that they'd been accessed at all. It... it was... it was meant to be the easy part.” She stopped again, swallowing. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she realised that her breath was coming quicker. Eternalis and Aurora would both notice the nervous fidgets and rubbing accompanied by an increasingly short panting as her distress visibly grew. Lyntael's own gaze was mostly blank, staring through a point on the cushions of the couch between them.

“It... It, it all went fine at first. I was... scared for him, and it was hard to keep him safe, but, I was... I was doing well. The security net was empty on my side. No-one ever sends actual navigators to it except for maintenance. It's all done from other control points and sub-stations, you know? It was... it was going well.” The yawning terror of what lay just beyond the entrance to that lab loomed up in her mind. As she spoke, Lyntael felt as much as saw herself in the moments before she opened that door and slipped inside again. Her body started to rock softly and she gripped her legs tighter, pulling her knees to herself more firmly. She had to keep going. She was safe. Home. With friends. After a moment she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, stopping to take a long, measured breath and counting to herself for a few seconds. After another few moments she continued, still with her eyes closed.

“There was someone in the parallel lab. He was... a navigator. He was wearing boots. Solid ones, well made, well worn. I... I remember thinking it was strange. I couldn't really see his face, at first. There was a long coat, black. The collar was up. He looked bored.” Unnoticed, the rocking had started again, and a small crack of electricity jumped from one strand of the girl's hair to another.

“He spoke, like... like he knew who I was, but, but it was all wrong. I wasn't who he thought. Only... I... I had to stay. For Rogan. I couldn't leave, or he'd be caught. I had to. He thought I was unoperated. Said... he said it was 'the end of the line'. He said he was going to kill me... and, and that I couldn't stop him.”

The memories were there, all around her, and Lyntael tried to focus on the warmth and the comfort of her home. She opened her eyes, blinking and swallowing as she tried to move her eyes across the living room; the table, the carpet, her cute pyjamas, and then up to Aurora and Eternalis. The pair would be able to see a distant, wide-eyed fear in eyes that weren't focusing on either of them completely clearly.

“He said... He said his name was... was Vigilance. He said he was going to... going to...” She heard the voice in her mind, crude and indecent, mocking her with what he planned to do to her body. She couldn't seem to make herself say it at first, looking around again as her hair snapped more and faint electric patterns began to rise across her skin where it showed beneath her pyjamas. Her hands moved, one to cover pointedly across her chest, and the other to cover her groin. “Said he was going to... to...” She shook her head, then looked away, averting her eyes and her face. “B-before he killed me...”

She tried again to work moisture into her throat, then let her breath pant for a few cycles, which only seemed to parch her throat again. Her eyes moved to her tea mug and she reached for it, draining the last portion that she'd left in it. It was still warm. That was good.

“He said... said I was pretty, that he'd like it if I looked older, but it would do...” After she put the mug down again, her hands lifted to hug at herself, fingers curling about her forearms as she struggled to keep herself from falling into the memory completely. She didn't manage to speak for an amount of time she couldn't really measure. It was only a handful of seconds, no more than a minute for Aurora or Eternalis, but for Lyntael it was a struggle that seemed to last much longer. She reminded herself again of where she was, closed her eyes and took a longer breath, let herself feel the way her fingertips were bunching up the soft material of her pyjamas, and the soft give of the couch cushions. She was in a safe place, and that was all past; she had to deal with it. Had to address it, and acknowledge it. Eventually she continued.

“He wanted me to just give in and let him. He was sure I couldn't get away from him, and that I was unoperated and unprotected. He seemed to be worried, that if I fought back, he'd have to beat me down, until I couldn't fight him. He was worried that he might delete me by accident, and not... not... not get his fun.” Unbidden, a rough, disgusted-sounding sob choked its way forward over her words. Lyntael scrubbed at her face with one sleeve.

“I tried to keep him talking, but it didn't work. Rogan needed more time. I wouldn't do what he wanted...” the memory replayed itself as she spoke, but she held it at arms' length without shutting it out or turning away from it completely. As she continued, her voice was more controlled, but she couldn't keep the waver out of it. The trembling wouldn't stop. “ We ended up fighting. It... it really wasn't... wasn't much of a fight.” Memories of the pain passed over her, and Lyntael drew in on herself more, her features winced tightly as she hugged herself and sparks jumped across her skin.

“I tried. I really tried, as best as I could, but... he was... he was so fast, and so strong... and... and so... so violent. He wasn't really trying, I don't think. He said it was stupid, and a waste. He said that someone like me shouldn't be trying to fight. I remember when he hit me once, and I almost passed out, and I couldn't breath, the pain in my chest, blood in my mouth. It felt like I was trying to breath water, and he was so angry about it.” There was a dirty, unclean feeling to the memory of Vigilance being as upset as he was about her fighting. The memory of having her ribs broken, and her lungs punctured, and that man telling her what a crime it was, backhandedly showing more concern for her being in a fight than anyone else ever had before.

“He did things... while we were fighting.” She shook her head. “While he was toying with me. He kept telling me to stop fighting and give up, but I wouldn't. I... I would rather have died, than let him do... that...” She shifted on the couch, thinking about that again. It had been a realisation, for her, she knew. It had been the first time she'd really and truly felt that there were worse ways to suffer than just pain. “He started... started cutting my clothes, rather than hurting me more. I couldn't stop him, no matter what I did. He just... stripped me down, and, and I couldn't stop him. I couldn't do anything. I tried, but I couldn't. I couldn't get away from him, or keep him off me. Couldn't protect myself, or even... I... I couldn't even cover myself or stop him looking, and...” she stopped again, breathing hard. There were tears all down her cheeks that she hadn't felt, and her hands wouldn't stop shaking now, even as she gripped her arms harder, trying to compose herself. She put her head against her knees and focused on breathing until she felt ready to continue.

“He said lots of things. Gross, crude compliments, calling me stupid, but... but the thing I remember most was... sometimes he'd touch me, just lightly. Right in the middle of the punches and kicks, and the cuts from his knives... sometimes there would be a touch, so gentle it made my skin crawl, and he'd whisper something... he said... no-one was coming. No one cared about me. No-one was going to save me or miss me. And I felt it, like it was true, and I was afraid that he was right. I believed it, at least a bit, and I just couldn't keep fighting. I... I told him he was wrong, that it wasn't true, but I felt...” She shook her head again, blinking and putting her head back so she could take long breaths and stare up at the ceiling and wait for her eyes to stop streaming.

“He said... He said he wasn't the real monster... he said...” she felt physically nauseous as she recalled the words he said and relayed them back. “He said I was beautiful. Said someone put their whole heart and soul into me... and... and he said, the biggest monster was whoever had me, and then let me end up all alone with him...” Her body shook as sobs broke through again, and wet, tearful gasps interrupted her efforts. “And I...” She struggled to bring the words out, through the layers of shame they caused. “Just for a minute... I... I believed him.” The last came close to a distraught moan and she let her head drop back into her arms again, heaving tearful gasps.

She needed to stop and recover herself, a part of her knew that, but if she stopped now she'd never get to the end of it, and might never work up the courage again, so she pushed on as soon as she caught her breath, lifting her head enough to speak, though she stared a the floor with a distant gaze.

“I tried to fight it. I did. I really did. I tried, but I couldn't. I burned out, really hard, and then... then... I couldn't fight any more. I couldn't even really move. I didn't even really.... I wasn't quite... 'there', any more... I didn't really know what was happening, or what he was doing to me. He hit me a few more times. Splashed some water on me. I remember he spread me out over one of the benches, and it was so cold, on my back. Just, that freezing cold against me, through all the pain, and the numbness. The cold... I remember that clearly, and the sting of water all across my cuts. I remember seeing him above me, his eyes on me. I remember feeling him...” with a cringe her hands unconsciously pressed between her legs to cover her groin again. “And then I understood again, and I screamed, and then... the next thing I knew, I was... here, but, the old here. It was cold and empty, but I was healed, and the blood and the pain was all gone, but I could still feel it. I could still feel it... I could still see it, still hear his voice in my ears... and... and I knew I'd messed up as well. I'd failed Rogan, because he wasn't ready for me to leave... and I just...” She trailed off, swallowing and blinking for a few more moments, and breathing slowly. Her skin still ripples with undercurrents of electricity and her hair was still snapping, but both began to slowly, eventually, recede again.

“I haven't been able to... to really think about that, without having some kind of panic attack, since it happened.” Now she looked up, eyes red, towards her friends and tried on a very weak attempt at a smile. “I'm... okay. That happened, but I'm okay.” She blinked again, and her expression changed, from the watery, quavering smile to something subtly more genuine. Still a weak and uncertain gesture, but more real than it had been a moment before. She believed it, she realised. For the first time since the incident, when she spoke the words and made the reassurance, she actually believed it.

“I am okay. Hah... I am. I'm alive, and I'm here, and I've got friends. I'm okay.” She laughed weakly, still crying a little. “Sorry. There's more, but, that's... It's actually true.” She paused to dry her face again, sniffling.

“Rogan and I... we had a fight, sort of. Not really, but, we were both upset, and I promised I'd be alright soon, and he wouldn't ask anything of me for a while until I was... and after a while I told him I was, but it wasn't really true, you know? I wasn't... But... it's in the past now, and things are better now, in so many ways. And... and even if I have to face...” she paused, then made herself say the name without backing down. “Vigilance, again... and I think I will... even then... it won't happen like that again. I know that Rogan won't abandon me, and I know I've got friends who care about me.”

“Thank you...” this time she looked at both of them properly. Lyntael was aware that she wasn't particularly safe to touch right at the moment, but she held her friends eyes from across the couch as she spoke. “For listening. And for... for helping me hold onto the courage to sit down and talk that through. I needed to do that. I really did. I feel...” she searched for the right word. Stories she had read that contained moments like this always talked about feeling lighter or like weights had been lifted but it wasn't quite that... it was more... “I feel more myself. More than I've felt for months.” She scrubbed a hand through her hair and rubbed the sparks into the cushions with a tired grin.

As Lyntael started to tell her story, Eternalis and Aurora listened intently, with the former setting down the tea mug on the table to allow himself to lean back a little more on the couch end, and the latter simply opting to lean back, cradling the mug in her lap with occasional quiet sips. Once she was silently prompted for a response, which she replied to concisely with "Airgapped. Isolated physically from the rest of the network," which Lyntael picked up on to smoothly continue the explanation.

Now, Lyntael's line of work that she assisted Rogan with became clearer, and the reason, at least partly, why her operator even bothered trying to utilize her. Despite being less than efficient at combat, it was clear that her role as a supporting program was effective enough to warrant keeping around; it was something that Aurora herself could empathize with, recalling her own role in her previous working environment.

Once she closed and re-opened her eyes to look around the room, both Eternalis and Aurora shifted in their seats slightly in concern, and Aurora slowly set her mug on her coaster. The name of Lyntael's object of fear came up, and they narrowed their eyes, for differing reasons. Aurora was trying to recall if any of her previous work involved anyone with such a name, coming up blank; Eternalis was now suddenly aware that the dream he had had earlier contained such a name, and tried to mentally jump ahead in the story based on it.

A choked-up description followed suit, preceding an unsettling silence. Aurora looked as if she wanted to reach out to her, but hesitated slightly, before Lyntael then continued, halting her advance. Once the tears started, Aurora reached out again hesitantly. She then felt a nudge on her arm from behind; turning around, she made brief eye contact with Eternalis, who quietly gestured his head in Lyntael's direction.

With the push that she needed, Aurora shifted her seating next to Lyntael's and wrapped one of her arms around her, slowly caressing her hair in the process. She felt the crackling sparks from Lyntael's hair across her fingers, her face, and her arm, and absorbed them without complaint. Then, she felt a cooling, healing energy suffuse through her body, mitigating the slight pain in absorbing the sparks, causing her to crack a small smile.

When Lyntael started talking again, Aurora retreated slightly, though she still remained at her side. The process was repeated when Lyntael paused again afterwards, with Aurora no longer needing Eternalis to push her forward. Each time, Aurora carefully allowed Lyntael to recover, and Eternalis quietly watched from the side. There was a part of him that wished somewhat that he could also do the same, but Aurora was already doing a good job of things, and he simply crossed his arms to listen to the remainder of the story.

Eventually, when Lyntael's emotions began to wind down, and she was attempting to clear out her fear with her smile, the concerned expressions on Eternalis and Aurora's faces started to melt down into relieved looks as well. At that point, Aurora blinked a few times, and then realized that her face was also slightly damp. She wiped off some of it with her palm. As the rest of it continued towards the end, Aurora allowed Lyntael her space and retreated further, taking her time to take a few breaths herself—apparently she had been holding it in the conversations.

"Glad to have helped it off your shoulders," said Eternalis, pausing slightly before shooting a glance at Aurora, who was still recovering herself from the story. Aurora shook her head when she realized that Eternalis meant to pass the baton to her, and laughed slightly through a smile.

"Ah, sorry, I got a bit caught up in that, too," said Aurora, looking down at her lap, before pulling herself back up. "Thank you for... trusting in us, I suppose. You've certainly gone through an ordeal, but what's important now is that we can get you through it. Let's make the best out of it." She then reached out for one of Lyntael's hands, and gripped it firmly for a second before letting go.

As she may have expected and been ready for, Aurora's first efforts at reaching out to comfort Lyntael met with small reactive flinches, as well as the potent shocks as the girl tried at first to draw back from the contact. After a few moments of determination from Aurora and her own distress, however, the girl relented, relaxing into the other woman's arms despite the rampant spark transfer, and let herself be held as she continued.

By the time she was clearing her eyes, Aurora was likely quite quietly glad of her partner's attentive soothing regeneration, as there was little doubt that the several protracted sessions of contact would have grown quite painful otherwise.

Lyntael finished scrubbing at her face and linking, and kept trying to rub the remaining sparks out of her hair and off her skin while she took longer breaths. In between, her eyes flicked back to Aurora as her hand was clasped and she squeezed back firmly, before giving in and shifting herself to lean into a proper hug, slipping her arms around and pressing herself to her as she left her head rest down against her friend's shoulder and neck. Her grip was tight – almost unexpectedly so, but once she relaxed her arms and sat back again, Lyntael was smiling again. She looked about and settled on Eternalis, then slipped off the couch so she could scoot over to him as well.

“Come on now, hehe, you too...” she held out her hands, inviting a fresh hug for her as well, holding him just as firmly despite the oddly amorphous nature of the gesture for him. “Thanks for being here. I'm really glad.” The words came as a soft murmur while she held him, eyes closed and taking a long breath in and out afterwards, before she released her hold and stepped back. Briefly, she looked down at her bed clothes, marvelling at the way she could touch the gooey navi without her clothes actually getting damp. It never stopped seeming strange to her. She shook her head and giggled.

She collected the empty mugs and brought them out to the kitchen with small, relieved sigh, then put the kettle on again. This time her eyes drifted towards the tin containing powdered hot chocolate, on a shelf in the cupboard beside the teas. Maybe in a little while.

“So, ah... that's most of why I've been difficult with some things.” She wandered back, but instead of sitting on the couch, the girl sprawled out on the open floor space, stretching out on the carpet and wriggling her back a little.

“Since then, I've been really nervous around men, even when it's not their fault at all, and it's been really hard to shake it and tell myself there's nothing to worry about. I... I wasn't like that before. Hey, Eternalis..?” She turned her head to look up at him, without moving from where she was on the carpet. “I'm sorry if I was ever cold or, you know, abrupt with you, or anything like that. If I was, it wasn't fair to you... I trust you, and I don't even really mind that you've seen... er... you know, the things you've seen...” she blushed and looked away as she spoke, turning her attention studiously back to the ceiling briefly as she recalled her various clothing malfunctions and accidents.

“So, what next? Did you guys want to try the drink you brought? I think it might be fun, and I think I could use a bit of fun, hehe...” Her soft giggle was followed by a luxurious stretch on the carpet as she lifted her hands up and spread her fingers, flexing and reaching above her into empty air for a few moments before relaxing back with a sigh.

The last hug being initiated by Lyntael took Aurora slightly by surprise, but she quickly nestled into it, reciprocating the tight embrace with a few soft pats on her friend's back. There were still a few sparks conducting onto her touch, but by this point, Eternalis's healing process seemed almost prescient in its response time—Aurora almost felt like she had never been hurt at all. It was a little strange, but the feeling left her quickly once Lyntael disengaged the hug. Seeing Lyntael's happy expression afterwards made her heart feel healed all the more.

Behind her, Eternalis watched with a smile on his face, but the expression quickly turned into wide-eyed surprise as Lyntael moved over to his end of the couch and offered him a hug as well. "Whoa, hey!" he laughed, immediately getting swept up in the atmosphere as he responded in kind with his arms around her as well. Shortly after, the slime Navi heard Aurora giggling, and glanced over to her; she was looking at the two of them, half-covering a smile with her hand. Her eyes, however, didn't quite match, looking at Lyntael with an odd sneering sort of look.

Once Lyntael disengaged the hug after expressing her gratitude towards him, he saw Aurora's expression return to normal. "You're welcome," he replied to Lyntael, before she started cleaning up the mugs that they had used and exited to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Aurora pulled her legs up into a cross-legged sit and propped herself up on her hands between her legs.

Left alone briefly once more, Eternalis made eye contact with Aurora, whose smile hadn't disappeared. Upon doing so, Aurora rolled her eyes over to the kitchen doorway, with the smile stuck on her face the entire time. His face furrowed slightly, wondering if he had done something, before Lyntael returned to them, taking her place on the carpeting instead of the couch this time. At the very least, Lyntael seemed to feel that the atmosphere was much less strained now, at least on her end, judging from her laying about on the carpeted floor.

Her apology made Eternalis smile again. As he was about to respond to tell her that he hadn't ever noticed any such cold behavior from her, the confession towards the tail end of her apology caught his tongue midway. There was an odd smell of ionized air coming from next to him, and he didn't need to turn his head to feel the bit of static traveling across the couch over to his legs. Lyntael wouldn't be able to see anything from her end, however, only that Aurora's face would be a little stiff. He caught his composure shortly, recalling what he wanted to say. "Ah, no, I don't think you've been cold at all, I think. You've been pretty friendly as far as I've seen," he said, cutting himself off before he said anything further about the second half of her apology.

His eyes went over to the bottle that he had helped bring over, once it was mentioned. "Oh, right! Could use some ice though, I think, if you've got any?" he said, straightening up his posture in his seat.

The reassurance from Eternalis relaxed another tiny, lingering bundle of tension that Lyntael had been concerned about, and she nodded, as much to herself and the ceiling as towards either of her companions. The floor space she was in meant that the younger girl missed Aurora's more cautious expressions, and instead she stretched her arms back and put one palm on the floor behind her head. When she pushed up, her body lifted in one long, smooth motion that started around her ankles and toes, and flowed upwards in an arch through her body. For a brief moment as she stood, the top of her pyjamas slipped up, showing off the smooth skin of her midriff and bundling slightly just below the modest curve of her chest, but it fell back into place as she straightened fully.

“Right! Ice, I can do that!” Lyntael clapped her hands together as she looked at the bottle and at her companions, then skipped across to the kitchen door again. This time she moved to another shelf, standing on her toes as she reached up and into the back of the cupboard that seemed to contain a few different glasses. A brief clinking produced three small crystalline glass tumblers etched with spiral patterns, which she set on the counter before turning to pull a tray of ice cubes out of the freezer and begin freeing them up an partially filling the glasses.

“Hey... um, is it supposed to be mixed with anything?” She glanced back through to the living area as she called out, uncertain. Truthfully she was starting to feel bit nervous about how it might affect her, now that they were actually doing it, but the desire to go ahead and do something a bit naughty and silly was stronger as she shook of the remaining upset from her earlier recount.

After a few more moments of fussing, she returned with the three glasses on a small wooden tray, and set ti down on the coffee table near the bottle. With a slightly nervous grin she settled back onto the couch with her friends and moved the three tumblers around a little, straightening them and fidgeting, before she managed to swallow her nerves ad pick up the bottle itself.

“Okay, so... hehe... um... Maybe just a little to begin with...” She caught herself biting her lip as she struggled briefly to get it open, then cautiously, with both hands, poured a half glass for each of them. She picked up the middle one and held it, looking into the creamy liquid with its small ice chunks clinking together, and inhaled the scent. It hit her nose almost as soon as she raised her glass and Lyntael blinked a few time, a nervous grin plastering itself across her features.

“It smells... really sweet, but there's something else too, like.. something harder, more... more... I don't have a word for it. Hmm...” she swirled it briefly and inhaled again, then looked to her friends. “There's a thing, that Rogan says when he has a drink sometimes... it's like a toast, it's northern gaelic... it's a call for continued good health and good fortunes... So, I guess...” she shrugged and lifted her glass out a little, tapping it to each of Aurora and Eternalis' glasses if they'd taken theirs up as well. “Slàinte mhath! Hehe...” She giggled again, then took a long sip from the glass, letting the taste fill her mouth.

The first few moments were an impression of almost overwhelming cool sweetness and Lyntael felt her toes curl slightly in the carpet as her body tensed up in response. She breathed in as she did, a quiet moan resonating in her chest and throat despite her closed lips. The sweetness gave way to a much warmer sensation, rapidly creating a sense of strange heat that wasn't heat in her throat and chest as she swallowed.

“Ah.. hahh....” the urge to cough rose up a she breathed out again, but instead she just found herself exhaling hard and breathing in again a couple of times. The sensation of the air leaving her throat felt strange; like there was a fume in the air, but only in her throat and she blinked as she caught her breath and stated to run her tongue over her teeth and around her mouth, savouring the rest of the flavour from the small sip. “Hahh... that's... oh... hahh... that's so strange...” She felt her cheeks go pink as she grew conscious of her reaction, and put a hand up to the base of her throat and the top of her chest, where the strange heat-but-not-heat sensation lingered. Still grinning and blinking as she let the sensation faded, Lyntael glanced to the side to see how her companions were faring with the strange substance.

[... Are you mad about something?]

As Eternalis had asked Lyntael to exit the room once again to fetch the glasses and ice, the text message he sent to Aurora hovered in her peripheral vision for a few seconds. Silence ensued, before Eternalis stole a glance at his side. Aurora was staring down at her lap, with her face puffed up in a pout. She drew her legs up to her chest and hugged them, resting her head on her knees. Her eyes were trained on the kitchen doorway as the sound of clinking glasses and rattling ice cubes could be heard from it.

[I'll tell you later about it.]

Eternalis exhaled slightly at the answer, turning over to the other end of the room to keep his mind off of it. Worrying about it right then would complicate things, he thought, when they were meant to be relaxing on a visit to a friend's. Right then, Lyntael broke the silence, calling out to them about whether they were meant to consume the drink they had brought straight, or mixed with anything. He was about to call out, when Aurora surprised him, responding with a yell back.

"We can try to mix it later!" Aurora called back.

When Lyntael reappeared with the glasses, Eternalis glanced from the side as Aurora seemed to be trying to loosen up slightly, but paradoxically ended up looking more nervous. She stared quite intensely at Lyntael pouring out a small bit of the beverage for each of them, fidgeting with her fingers in the meantime. He shifted over to Lyntael, who was taking a small whiff of the drink. Reaching out to pick up one of the tumblers with one hand, he swirled it around, watching the cream liquor nearly spill out of the edges of the glass.

On the other side of the couch, Aurora gingerly cradled the last tumbler, and gave it a deep inhale as well—regretfully, since it made her recoil a little. It was as Lyntael said; the smell of sweet cream was the main thing that caught her attention, but there was also something else. "The smell kind of stings," she commented, shaking her head to clear it. Still, it was now or never; both she and Eternalis raised their glasses in response to Lyntael's.

"Slàinte mhath!"
"Shla--slant moth?"

Aurora's face scrunched up in bright red at her slip of the tongue, which she immediately attempted to cover up by throwing her head back to drink the entire thing in the glass. "Whoa," exclaimed Eternalis, his part still left unconsumed as he watched Aurora lurch forward. One of her eyes was shut tight while the other twitched, wide open. The sweet creamy texture was certainly something, but what really hit her was the sudden sense of heat—almost like heartburn—radiating from her core. She sharply inhaled, only to choke on her own breath and cough a couple of times.

"You okay?"

"Fine... I think," Aurora blurted out. Her eyes were still wide open, and she took another deep breath, radiating the sense of heat out from her chest. She could feel her entire body loosening up with the radiating heat. Setting down the glass on the tray, she took a few more deep breaths, feeling her head getting lighter. The tension that she had just been in evaporated, and she giggled. "Whew, that's weird. I like it," she grinned. Looking over towards Eternalis, she gestured to the glass in his hands. "You gonna drink that?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," said Eternalis, pushing his concern to the side for the time being. He glared at the tumbler in his hand for a couple of seconds before tipping the entire thing into his maw as well, ice and all. The drink went down in much the same way as the water did earlier, though if one looked at his torso, it would show the amber-ish color spreading through his body. The texture was smooth, and... there was nothing else. As had been revealed to him before, he blinked a few times, before shrugging.

"Same as always," he said.

"Awwww, c'mon, that's no fun!" giggled Aurora, reaching out for the bottle and pouring out a full glass for herself this time. She pushed the bottle over to the other side. "C'mon, Lyn, le's do another one."

Aurora's own laughter was somewhat infectious, and despite her initial caution, Lyntael found herself giggling along with the other woman over both of their reactions to the drink. As expected, it didn't seem to do too much for Eternalis, but she watched the brief play of colour and shape as he drank it, then smirked and poked her tongue out briefly at him.

“You think if you drank, like, a whole lot, it would make you change colour?” A small pout crossed her features for a moment. “I don't think we've got enough to try, hehe... oh well...” She swallowed again, running her tongue around her mouth as the odd vapour sensation faded. Aurora was already a whole glass down and sounded like she liked what she'd gotten, though if she had to guess, Lyntael found herself thinking that it might be getting to Aurora particularly quickly. Not that either of them had anything to really go on, except, she supposed, what they'd seen of their operators.

“I... I don't think I want to go too fast, hehe... I think I'm going to see how much one does first.” she cautiously finished off the rest of the glass she'd taken, and swirled the drink about her mouth for a moment before swallowing it. The sweetness was cloying, but the cut of warmth in the chest that followed it was a very nice sensation. Again, she found herself taking a few long breaths to prevent herself coughing.

The initial blush of embarrassment for her own reaction hadn't really faded away, even though she wasn't feeling self-conscious any more. Her cheeks actually felt particularly warm, spreading up from the sensation in her chest, and Lyntael plucked at the neck front of her pyjamas and fanned them a little.

“Okay, okay, pour, but I'm going to sip this one.” She set the glass onto a coaster beside the tray and then clapped her hands, looking back and forth between her friends.

“Right, we should play something! I've got lots of games!” She exclamation was perhaps just a little bit louder than it needed to be, given that they were all on the couch together, but Lyntael didn't really notice. “What do you guys want to play? There's all sorts here! Who feels like what?” without waiting for much of a go-ahead, Lyntael slipped off the couch onto her knees on the carpet and crawled around the side of the coffee table, looking at the assortment of games that were stored beneath.

“I've got puzzle games, board game, dice games, thinking games, drawing games, wood games, trivia games, party games, card games...” The list went on in a slightly muffled manner as she ducked low and crawled along the length of the table, picking out different things with her eyes as she went. After a few moments she popped up again, sitting back on her heels with her knees apart and reached forward to reclaim her glass, taking a small sip before putting it back on the coaster.

“That's so weird. It's cool, but it's kinda hot once it's in your throat, and it's sweet, but there's the sorta fume taste underneath it... hahh... hahhh...” She found herself making a point of breathing out harshly to experience the sensation a few more times after taking the sip, then fanned the front of her top again with a grin.

“So, any preferences?” She glanced between them for an extra few moments with an open expression, before another idea struck her and she thrust a hand up quickly, one finger raised. “Music! We should have music! Celebrations should have music!” Distracted again, she rolled over and crawled away a few shuffles before getting to her feet properly and darting to the control panel by the main screen in the living room, fussing with it for a few moments. The screen itself didn't change, still showing the peaceful scenic panorama from before, but small text boxes with setting s jumped up in one corner while Lyntael flicked through options. Nothing too harsh... this wasn't a rave or anything, but she still wanted something a little bit lively... what to pick... After a few skips she settled on a playlist that was a blended style; the pieces were long and had a generally relaxed and soothing pace to them, but they still bore a very clear beat and rhythm threaded thorough, and as the first began to play, the tune drifted through the living room with an ambience that didn't have any particular source. Unconsciously, Lyntael started to sway a little, shifting in small, subtle ways with the back beat of the track.

“How's that?” She turned back, grinning and tilting her head as the rest of her body picked up the tune.

"Yeah, I think I'd have to take an entire keg before that happens," laughed Eternalis, leaning forward a little in his seat. Even without any intoxicating effects from the drink, he could see that the other two in the room were starting to loosen up, making it a little easier for him to relax as well. The atmosphere was shifting nicely from the rather teary confessional earlier to a more jovial air.

Aurora, on the other hand, seemed to have entirely let herself go, at least with regards to the drink. "Alright, that's what I'm talking about!" she called out cheerfully, pouring out another glass for her friend. As she picked up her own glass, however, Lyntael brought up the suggestion of having something else to do. "Games! Good idea," she exclaimed. "What kind of games do you have?"

When Lyntael started to list out the kind of games that she had on hand, Eternalis piped up at the mention of one kind. "Oh, party games sound good. We've got three people here," he said. Some of the other kinds somewhat intrigued him; what exactly was a "wood game"? Was it a game played with blocks of wood? Before he could ask, however, something else took his attention. Next to him, Aurora had been seemingly listening to Lyntael, but at some point, her eyes lingered down to the glass that she had poured for herself. The next thing he noticed, she was already raising it to her lips.

In contrast to Lyntael's careful drinking, Aurora then gulped down the entirety of the drink in one shot. Clenching her eyes shut, she allowed the sweetness of the cream and the heat from the alcohol to permeate through her once more. She seemed to adapt to it unnaturally quickly; the latter was less pronounced now, as she was already feeling a fuzzy warmth all over her body. Letting out a loud exhale after finishing it, a tiny belch escaped her lips then. "Oops, s'cuse me, hehe," she said, but given her slightly tilted head and lopsided grin, it hadn't affected her quite as much as her previous blunder.

On the other hand, she seemed to be more affected in other terms, as when Lyntael asked them once again for their preferred games, Aurora muttered out, "Preferences? For what?" before Lyntael got distracted off to one side of the room, having brought up music all of a sudden. "Oh! Music! I like music!" she exclaimed, her hand shooting up into the air. While she was picking the tune out, Aurora swung her head about to face Eternalis, with an expression that seemed to be melting into a hazy smile.

"You sure you're alright?" asked Eternalis.

"I'm fine," slurred out Aurora. Right then, the deep beat from the music Lyntael put on echoed through the room, causing both of them to take notice. Aurora raised her head, and started bobbing it to the rhythm. "It's good!" she exclaimed. Eternalis looked about with curiosity, trying to find the source of the sound, while also unconsciously moving slightly to the music. As he was doing so, Aurora shot up from her seat and began moving her body more visibly as the song picked up its tempo gradually.

"Make it louder!" Aurora said, clearly enjoying herself with her dance.

As she let her head nod and weave a little to the background music, Aurora's immediate excitement took Lyntael a bit by surprise and made her grin. She left the track at an ambience level for now though – much louder and they'd have to talk over it. Instead, she wandered back to drop down onto the carpet again, sitting on the floor across from her friends on the couch, and took another sip of her drink. As she got more used to it, the flavour itself was not unpleasant, though she wasn't quite sure the sensation in her throat was one she'd grow comfortable with easily.

She wasn't quite sure how much the drink was affecting her yet; a part of her was anticipating it with equal amounts of eager excitement for the new sensation, and trepidation for the uncertainty. shew as definitely feeling comfortable and warm – maybe a bit over warm, wearing her cosy flannel pyjamas – but other than that she wasn't sure yet. Aurora seemed to take it straight her her head though, and she seemed to be happy about it. Lyntael stifled another giggle at hear steadily more influenced behaviour. She thought about asking if the other woman shouldn't perhaps slow down, but aurora really was the more mature one between them, and she probably knew her own limits well enough. She'd stop when she wanted to.

For her own part, Lyntael was still getting past the feeling of doing something naughty and adult that she shouldn't be, and still found herself having to remind her own thoughts that she absolutely was an adult and this was all fine. Besides, they'd earned the right to relax and shut off from everything, hadn't they?

“Just going to leave it in the background for now, hehe, I don't want to have to shout over it. Maybe later we'll find something for dancing to. So! Party games! Okay, let's see....” She began sliding out a few boxed from the neatly ordered pile under the coffee table. After a moment, though, her eyes lit on one in particular and she pushed it to the centre of the table.

“Oh, oh, this one! I've wanted to try this one, it seems fun!” The box cover showed an ancient fantasy-style stone tower, in the middle of a ruin in a forest, overgrown with vines, an filled with dangerous traps, and several adventurer-type figures variously traversing the hazards. The title read 'Trouble in Twistwood Shire'. Lyntael pulled off the lid and spread out a folding game board on the table, before beginning to unpack other bits and pieces, including cards, playing tokens, a spinner, a set of dice and a neatly packed collection of wooden bricks, shaped into a circular tower.

She took another sip of her drink, bobbing her head slightly and swaying from side to side in a distracted way as she started setting things out and unfolding the rules.

“So, it's like a board game, but as you move towards the tower, stuff happens, and you have to move the tower blocks as well. And there are cards, that tell you to do stuff as you play, or give you penalties or things and the ones on the back looked funny...”

Unconsciously, the she began humming to herself as she started to set things up according to the rule leaflet, putting cards in the right spaces and lining pieces up on the different start tiles, and then began to carefully build the tower in the centre, some of the bricks were wedge-shaped, and others were flat, and they had graded colour numbers from dark grey through to almost white. As she built the first few layers, it looked like it could make a curving, slightly slanted cylinder in the centre of the game board, at the destination point of the paths. Each floor had sections left sticking out, presumably to hold climbing pieces.

“I've never played a board game before, but I always though the idea was really neat. This one looked like the most interesting one I could find when I was looking for free ones. The little pieces look so cute! You can be the hunter, or the barbarian, or the knight, or the sorceress, or the scholar, or the archaeologist, or the thief, and they've all got special things that make them different, and they go on their own paths...” She ambled on as she worked, talking without really processing or screening hr thoughts at all, intermittently taking small sips from her glass. Her cheeks felt really quite warm and she paused halfway through building the tower up to close her eyes and roll the side of her glass across each cheek, enjoying the cool sensation.

“Hey... this says we might need as many as up to four teaspoons. that seems silly. I wonder what it's for. Weird...” She stood again and wandered out to the kitchen to retrieve the spoons, though as she did she paused at the counter top to pinch the front of her pyjama top and fan it again. It was very warm now. She returned after a moment, still grinning and set the spoons out neatly beside the game board still puzzling over the strange instruction, and kept reading as she applied more blocks to the tower.

“Huh... oh... Oh well. I don't have the 'Necromancer's Curse' expansion pack, so we can ignore any of the little skull symbols show up on any of the cards it says. Never mind. Hey Eternalis... does the arm hurt at all? Like, it's all different, and it's scary and strange, but it doesn't seem to really bother you... and you use it for stuff sometimes, like when you're fighting... so... does it feel different?” She paused to look up at him, tilting her head.