White Tower

Magistrate continued to sputter as Yumi snuggled up to her, but didn't make any movements to throw her off. Probably didn't think it very lady-like. "This is... What is?... It is purring! Why is she purring?" she asked as she stood there ramrod straight, as if being motionless would cause the creature to not pay attention to her anymore. Yumi wasn't just any old wild animal after all. DragonierMan was chuckling at Magistrate's uncomfortableness. "Seems like she really loves you," he punctuated.

"Enough of this! Release me," Magi commanded before reaching up and attempted to pry Yumi off of her. Assuming Yumi was removed and on her feet, Magi would back up a few feet herself and straighten out her cloak. Magi's hands and face became visible again as her hood was pulled back. Once she straightened herself out to her liking, she raised a hand to stop Yumi from moving closer again. "Ahem. Now, let us start over again shall we?" Magi said trying to get back into her calm and controlled her voice. However, Yumi's actions had caused some exasperation to seep into her tone. "What is going on here?" she punctuated.


The semi-hardened leather pieces attached over the black undersuit of Suzume and Aya's assassin garb seemed to supply two functions. The first function was that it covered over some of the more vital areas. Though there were significant gaps in coverage on the arms and legs. The second function, and probably the primary function, was to make them look more stylish and sexy. The significant gaps in protection, and the fact that they had literal leather miniskirts, raised questions about the historical and tactical viability of the outfits. Though with Navis the actual real-world protective qualities of a proper set of armor didn't really translate.

That was probably why when they were 'upgraded' to their current knight form, they were given full suits of armor. "So what are you thinking you want for your new outfit that makes it yours?" Suzume asked as they worked on the design aspects. "I mean... even though we are twins, that doesn't mean that we wear carbon copies of the same clothes. Putting your own twist on a design conveys something about yourself." Suzu looked down at her current armor and then back at her previous outfit on the mannequin, identical to the one Aya used to wear on the dummy adjacent. "Guess we all start somewhere," she muttered.

Yumi was about to whine about getting thrown off into the the ground. A small yelp escaped her as she slightly hur her forepas lading hard on the floor.

In the meantime, a massive power spike would come out of the other room. If Drago were to go there and investigate, he would find Nightshade just standing there, clad in a completely different suit of armor ran what the older navi would be used to. Purple undersuit, full plates all the way to the thighs, Nighty's feet clad tightly into a pair of talon like boots.

His energy signature had spiked two to three times the intensity, but it was not Aya's doing. Suzume was holding her daggered form. Yet is still felt extremely similar to Aya's own kind of dark energy.

In front of Nighty, there were the charred remains of a empty mannequin.

Nighty was trenbling,partly cause of his unexpected shift Nand partly cause his small body couldn't handle all the power he now had.
DragonierMan attempted to pick up the hurt Yumi and place her gently on the bed. "It's a sleepover," Drago answered Magistrate. "Also you didn't need to get so violent, she is only a child." He attempted to examine Yumi's leg for sprains and fractures. Couldn't be too careful about these things.

"She startled me!" Magi defended herself huffily as Drago took care of Yumi after the fall. "A-Anyways, what was that about being her mother? I did not give birth to such a rambunctious child," Magi questioned. Drago responded with a shrug. "Because you were a large enough part in her creation process, she made the choice to consider you her mother."

Magi was speechless for a moment as she took it all in. "But... Well... I mean, it is true that I was a part of her creation process," Magi mused. "And I guess if you took the other brat as your adoptive son, I guess I could allow this child to refer to me as... Mom," she said, biting her tongue a little. "But I am a busy woman and I have no time for games... young woman," she stated to Yumi. "So as long as you keep well behaved at all times... you can accompany me wherever I travel."


The 'explosion' of energy emanating from the other room came to their attention then. As everyone moved to the other room, they noticed that Nightshade was different. He had unequipped Aya, who was currently being held by Suzume, but still looked different to his normal self. Aya transformed back into her human form a moment later and watched with the others as Nighty began trembling. It seemed the sudden power surge had overtaken his child-like constitution. He might even be in pain.

"Hey, Nighty... Kid... You okay there?" Aya asked with some concern. "Well, that is certainly your own twist," Suzu commented. Drago walked boldly into the room and attempted to place his hands on Nighty's shoulders. "I don't know what's going on just yet, but I believe in your strength," he said. "Embrace and conquer this new power and make it yours," he said to his adoptive son.

Thankfully Yumi did not have any lasting damage to her paw. It would throb for a while though. She sat down on the bed, letting Drago examine her legs. "Sorry Mom..." she mumbled,somewhat visibly bummed out Magistrate had refused to give her affection.

Nightshade seemed to get better once he could feel Drago's presence closeby. He would gently turn around and bury himself into the older navi's chest for comfort. He would soon stop trembling as his energy was brought back in line and kinda melded with Drago's own.

It seemed though that even if he had stabilized, his energy signature remained dark and Aya like. He also seemed unable to unequip the new black body armor that was now tightly clad around his body.

When Nighty finally raised his face up to look at his big sister, he looked at her with a pair of silvery eyes identical to his navi father.

"Y-yeah I think I'm fine now...wh-what happened? I was trying to focus like you did and...it was like by body exploded or something."
"That is a good girl response," Magistrate noted, fixing her hair. "Now explain to me why you thought a 'sleepover' was necessary," she asked Yumi as she summoned a chair to sit down across from the bed. "It is not like you would have problems getting in touch with us if you wanted to spend the day in our presence."


"I feel like we've gone through this before," Suzume commented about Nightshade's 'energy spikes'. "What were they called again?..." she pondered for a moment, stroking her chin. Seconds later her eyes lit up and she slammed one fist into the other palm. "Aha! I remember: they were called Crosses." Aya mentally slapped herself in the head for not noticing that. "Right, Crosses, how could I forget? We've seen so many Crosses at this point that it must have slipped my mind."

DragonierMan patted Nightshade on the back. "When one Navi gets familiar enough with another Navi, they gain some power from the friendship. I like to think of it as an exchange of strength, both mental and physical. The best parts of oneself become a material force that the other can draw on in times of need. Looks like our bond has grown another level."

"Looks more like his bond with Aya grew over yours, Master," Suzu chittered. Aya elbowed Suzu in the stomach in response. "Ahem!" Aya coughed into her hand. "Anyways, I say we take the time to test out this new power before it fades away. Perhaps we should take a trip to Wrangler's booth to see what viruses need poaching," Aya suggested helpfully. Though she might have suggested it to just get out of the sleepover and, to her, do something more productive.

Nightshade nodded, agreeing with his big sister and starting to wag his tail. "Yes Yes, it could be good. I can test this out with you two! Though...I was really looking forward to the big sleepover. Besides, we just came back from a tiring mission...



Yumi sat right in front of his proclaimed mother. "Well...a sleepover is more intimate. It lets you explore your bond with your family or friends and strengthen them. Judging by how Nighty's energy signature is now, i would say it worked. Plus....I really hoped I could...get some cuddles with you, mom."
"I... see," Magistrate noted, a little skeptically. As an administrative program, she hadn't been raised from 'birth' surrounded by family, like real life humans were. She had been created fully cognizant as an adult. "However you must understand, I was not programmed as a maternal figure. Nor was I gifted with much empathy. As such you must harden your heart against the disappointment that I may not be what you seek. That said, I could sit on this bed for a short period and hold you close," she said before getting out of her chair to sit on the bed next to Yumi. Magi extended her arm for Yumi to cuddle up to, and she could probably put her head in Magi's lap if she so chose. Magi would be as physically warm as any warm-blooded creature, though emotionally, she was quite distant.


Nightshade's concern about the sleepover caused Suzume to turn to Aya. "He did interrupt our nap," Suzume commented. Aya furrowed her brow in thought for a moment before nodding. She seemed out of it, not just on the mission, but all of today. "Your right... Also I think I need a check up soon, my memory feels cloudy lately. And... though I hate her guts, I think I'm going to have Magi check me over," Aya stated, pausing with a little shiver, before she started heading back into the other room. Suzume would follow shortly, yawning a little and stretching her arms over her head. "Time for beddy-byes."

"Guess we had our fair share of excitement today,"DragonierMan said. "Time for us to climb into bed." He let Nighty lead him back into the room with the giant bed. "We'll hit up Wrangler in the morning."

If there was anything Nightshade and Yumi wanted to do before/after they all got into their pajamas, climbed into bed, and fell asleep all snuggled together, they would probably be able to do so.


Barring anything with Nightshade and Yumi, the night passed without much commotion. In the morning, the dragoniers all rose more or less at the same time. Rising to the artificial sunrise of Internet City streaming through the high windows above. Magistrate and Aya went into the next room, pulled up the same kind of human-sized glass tank that Yumi was created in, and put the small woman inside it in order to fix any problems with her code. It was revealed, to no one's shock, that she here code was a little damaged and cascaded a little. Using the knowledge gained from when SINN became DragonierMan, Aya's corrupted data was slowly put back together again.

In the meantime, both Yumi and Nightshade would be by Drago's side, making sure both of them would get their morning ration of cuddles before they would all set out to test out Nightshade's improvements in his path to become a dragonier.
When they were done with the requested morning cuddles, they opened a portal to the Wrangler booth.


END OF NIGHTSHADE.EXE AND DRAGONIERMAN.EXE.
((FXP tallied: DragonierMan and Nightshade gain 31 Mutual FXP))
As Lyntael and Suzume came through the portal, they stood at the base of a tall white marble tower with its big doors thrown open. Inside the tower was a lot more spacious than the outside would suggest, probably some manner of data compression, or it was like stepping through another portal into another server. Whatever NET magicks were involved, coming off the street they would enter a large circular white marble lobby with multiple doors set into the walls at regular intervals. The expanse of the lobby was mostly featureless: no columns, or plants, or furniture of any kind besides a single white marble desk in the middle of the white marble room. Sitting at the desk in a white contemporary sofa chair was Magistrate, wearing white robes and working on a holographic vid-screen and keyboard. DragonierMan and Aya standing on the other side, their backs facing the open doorway onto the street.

"I see," they could hear Magistrate's annoyed voice from where they came in. The sound quality of voices reverberating off the walls was better than they probably would be in real life, like the walls were configured for surround-sound. "So, you want me to scan the child and help with her training and any calibrations she wants?"

"That is correct," Drago replied. "Just like you helped Nightshade out with Yumi. Our Lord would want you to do this."

Magistrate hissed a bit under her breath at that, but it seemed to work. She was an administrative program for their Operator, and she couldn't just ignore orders from him. She closed down what she was working on with a few swipes of her long fingers and pushed her chair back to stand up. "Fine, fine, it is not like I will lose much progress in my work if I step out for a moment to do this pet project of yours. Let us go to my lab," she said as she walked towards one of the doors. It opened automatically as she approached, sliding to the side like one of those automatic doors at the supermarket.

The sizable room that was revealed was what most would expect of a lab: filing cabinets, tables, and various devices littered the room. A pair of very large glass cylinders, big enough to hold a person each, stood against the back of the room with a extended control console standing in front of it. Magistrate glided over to the control console and pushed a button, opening a door within the left cylinder. "If you would be so kind as to step within the capsule we can get this over with," Magistrate asked Lyntael without looking up from her controls, her voice pretty flat, as if she has given this speech a million times before. "And do not worry, this will be perfectly safe. You will not feel any pain or disorientation, or be harmed in any way."

Lyntael could either comply with Magistrate's demand, or go take a tour, or something.

((From → The Wanderlust II))
----------

When she followed Suzume through the gateway, Lyntael paused on the other side, turning for a moment as her steps lingered. In the back of her senses, she could feel the emulation link closer and more directed, and her eyes glanced back in its direction, towards the the city itself. In a way it was reassuring. Perhaps she could walk there when they were done, rather than linking directly. It might be nice. After an extra second, she followed Suzume inside.

The interior was functional, and Lyntael felt herself overcome by a strong sense that she needed to be quiet; it had that waiting room feel to it – she almost expected to hear a metronome in the background somewhere. She leaned across to Suzume as her eyes tracked to where Drago and Aya were engaging with Magistrate.

“I feel like I should whisper...” She whispered to the other woman. When attention came her way, Lyntael unconsciously stood straighter, more attentive and bowed her head to Magistrate's administrative glare. “Right! Yes Ma'am!” She wasn't sure why she felt suddenly nervous, but something about the space, and the way Magistrate made it her own was... intimidating. She followed after her at a quick pace, bare feet silent on the floor as she hurried to catch up.

Inside the next chamber, she followed along until Magistrate gestured to the worrisome tubes, and found herself hesitating. Her hands had crept up to a nervous position in front of her chest, and the fingers on one hand traced circles about her emblem unconsciously. She cast glances quickly to Aya and Suzume, looking for reassurance. She'd heard the conversation they'd had before, and she trusted them that it was safe and not something sinister, but the whole set up still seemed very... she couldn't quite put a finger on exactly why it was making her nervous.

“Um... this is just a scan, right? You're not going to do anything else?” As she looked around, the familiarity of the lab setting hit her as the reason for her sudden nerves and she swallowed, trying to push the sudden association away. She took a breath. “Okay, alright. Um... Can I ask that you don't keep the data, once you're done? It's kind of important, I think. Rogan always has me masked any time I go anywhere, because he doesn't want to leave unique identifiers, so, um... you can't keep a record, or um, if you do, it can't leave here... is that okay?” If she got the reassurance she needed, Lyntael nodded once more, then obliged Magistrate's request and stepped up, letting the check proceed.
"No you don't need to whisper, you can talk normally, just don't shout," Suzume clarified as she lead Lyntael further inside. "The walls have amplifiers installed so that our voices don't get lost due to the curvature of the room, or something. I don't know the specifics."

Magistrate smiled a little as Lyntael gave her, and her space of work, a modicum of respect. Unlike the three other dragoniers who just barged in and out of the space as they pleased, demanding the use of her time whenever they wished without any consideration to her own situation. "At least one of you seems to have some proper mannerisms," she said in compliment to Lyn. "Yes, this way please."

As Lyn expressed her concerns over the procedure, Magi sighed. She turned to the small, hesitant woman and tried to put on a calming face, and spoke slowly. "Yes, this will be just a standard scan. I will not do anything else while you are inside that capsule. After the scan is done, you will be free to exit the tube. And just to clarify, the door is not locked, so you can exit whenever you wish. However, if you leave the capsule before the scan is completed, I will not be able to get all the data we need to help you in whatever manner you wish to use this data," she explained.

Lyn further specified that she wanted any gathered data deleted after. Magistrate's face frowned a little, but then nodded. "Very well. After we are done here today, I will purge the data collected from our systems. Just know that if you need any further help, you will just have to go through this whole process again. And any further solutions that a more in-depth study of your data would reveal, would of course not be available. Shall we proceed?" she asked as she motioned toward the capsule.

Assuming that Lyntael had the assurances needed and stepped into the capsule, Magistrate pushed another button and the clear door would shut behind Lyn with a little click. Even though Lyn was in an enclosed space, there was a consistent air flow from the top and bottom of the cylinder, probably an air recycler for ease of breathing. "You may stand or sit, it will not affect the test results. Please continue to breathe and move around normally. This will only take a few minutes," Magi tried to assure Lyn as she started to press various buttons on her control console.

A hum of machinery started up around Lyn before circles of various colors of light began moving up and down the tube she was in. It was possible that the electricity flowing through the systems would react with Lyn's body, raising hairs on her arm or something. Meanwhile, several small vid-windows began popping up around her capsule, and rotating slowly around it, displaying various bits of information for anyone to see. The displays were double-sided, allowing Lyn to read them just as well as those outside the capsule could. Magi's eyes darted around as she tried to keep up with all the information flowing around the capsule.

"Hmm, interesting," Magi's lips parsed as she brought up a readout of a silhouette of Lyn. As she moved her hand across the control panel, the silhouette filled out with a skeleton, then various organs, than musculature. "She has a fully simulated human system, including normal biological impulses. Pain and hunger tolerances are normal. Looks like she is still in need of some rest and a good meal," she remarked. She also noticed other things about Lyn's biology that were more of an intimate nature, but she wasn't really interested in drawing attention to them. Both for sake of privacy and the fact that she didn't really care. It wasn't the reason for this particular exercise anyways. If Lyn wanted help dealing with those later, she could come back and see Magi directly.

She pushed away that window, and pulled up another one. This one was an image of Lyn's Navigator emblem. A bunch of data spilled down both sides of the screen like waterfalls as Magi's eyes darted about. "Looks like her emblem is performing similarly to a Navi-core in most respects - without actually being a Navi-core - sending and receiving signals. As we all know, the Navi symbol is linked directly to the core of most Navis, acting as sort of an identifier and signal booster... But... Hold on..."

She pressed something on her console and the window she was looking at shot out a line of data-energy towards another window that was clustered around the capsule. It tethered to this window and pulled it up to where she was working. This vid-window showed what looked like a bunch of wires running through another Lyn silhouette. "Ahhh, but what is this? It looks like we have our culprit," she stated as she tapped on the screen. The vid-window segmented into five smaller screens, each zoomed into a spot on the silhouette. One was displaying the center of Lyn's chest, where her emblem was featured, and the other four showed similar points on her wrists and ankles, all with the wires running through them. "Looks like her emblem is a powerful generator for her electrical current, which follows along a main thoroughfare, and ends in batteries tied to her limbs... Which apparently store up the charge, pass it back into her emblem again, and then discharge the collected energy through one of her exit points. Her emblem thus pulling a strange form of double-duty in this multi-circuit monstrosity... Very inefficient... And I do not see any proper regulation systems between any of these parts," she said with a frown.

Magi look past her screens to Lyn in her capsule. "Why would someone strap an electrical generator and multiple capacitors to your body... and then not also install at least a few dampeners, or something?" she asked as she pressed another button on her control panels, shutting off the scanner. The vid-windows continued to float and rotate around the capsule, but the lights turned off and the door clicked open. "You may exit the capsule now, I found what we need to be working on. If you want something to eat, I am sure that someone can show you the way to the cafeteria," Magi stated as she tried to shoo everyone out of her lab so she could think.

DragonierMan, Suzume, and Aya were waiting patiently, and silently, during the whole ordeal. "I could get a snack," Aya commented before heading out of the lab and back into the lobby. She crossed the floor to a door on the far side and opened it, showing another white room like the two others before. This one was a cavernous rectangular room with several long tables that could seat a dozen or more individuals each. Several kiosks lined the walls, little alcoves with empty trays stacked besides them. Aya ran up to one of them and placed a tray on a shelf attached to the kiosk, which lit up. "One glass of orange juice, cold, a banana, and a large chocolate chip cookie," she stated to the console.

There was a little hum, similar to the one in the capsule Lyn was placed in, and the items materialized on Aya's tray. She grinned and took the tray with its contents over to one of the tables to chow down on. Drago and Suzume escorted Lyn to the cafeteria if she wanted to go there. "As you can see, you can ask for anything your heart, or your stomach, desires. If you need help, or can't think of anything, you can browse the kiosk's NET system. You can even ask it for suggestions based on time of day and regional meal variations," she pointed out.

Suzume then paused and looked at Lyntael directly, attempting to place her hands on Lyn's shoulders. "Are you okay?" she asked. It was a loaded question.

Reassured, Lyntael complied with the scan, though she couldn't help but fidget during the process; it felt like every eye in the room was on her, and it was a little nerve-wrakcing. Unconsciously,. Her arms folded across her chest as though covering herself from piercing gazes. As Magi examined the data, she tried to watch the reverse side of the images that the other woman was pulling up, but it was hard not to feel embarrassed at the same time. Her pulse raced with the nerves of the situation even as she nodded along with the explanation. As soon as Magistrate gave the word, she skipped out of the capsule with an awkward smile and much haste. Outside, she turned to look at the others properly, rubbing at one arm with her other hand.

“Y-yeah... that sounds, um, about right... Oh, but, I don't think anyone did any of that, you know... deliberately. Eric wouldn't ever have wanted me to suffer. I don't think he even knows how it all ended up working! He never intended for me to fight... I just have to, sometimes, because it's what Rogan needs.” Her head tilted to one side as she looked away, resisting the urge to apologise for the oddities of her own form.

“I think...” Here, she closed her eyes, trying to remember. Warm sunny days and relaxed company. The scent of toast in Eric's kitchen, and playing chess with his house navis. She tried to push further, but beyond scattered flashes of her first moments in his basement computer room ,there wasn't too much. “I think... I think the electricity came later, maybe. Or, it came late, and Eric didn't choose it. Before Sunseed, I think I wasn't really me, I think I wasn't really anything... Um, Sunseed is... that's the thing Eric created to help me become, ah, my own person. I don't really understand it, sorry... but that's when the charge came in, I think... And I don't think I could ever tell him how much it hurts or what it does to me... it would upset him so much if he knew.”

She went along with the others as Magistrate sought to get them out of her work space but, at the mention of snacks, Lyntael found herself contemplating how little she'd had to eat over the course of the day, and Magistrate's own assessment that she should eat and sleep more. She did wonder what they had here, in terms of food for navis, and as the thoughts crossed her mind, her stomach voiced its approval of this line of thinking loudly enough for Lyntael to put a hand over it and duck her head with embarrassment.

“Ah, good idea!” The words became a nervous giggle as she followed Aya through to what looked like a well ordered cafeteria or mess hall. She followed the other girl, watching what she did and copying it for the most part. When the system lit up she hesitated, then decided to try her luck anyway.

“Lemon tart, chilled. Mint chocolate. Tea, Earl Grey, hot.” There was an eager anticipation that translated itself into a small bounce on her toes as the machine hummed, before presenting her order. Lyntael inhaled deeply, trying to catch the scent of the things it had created, then carried her things back to the place Aya had chosen for their snack break. By the time the others arrived and settled, she was already trying the first bite of her acquisitions; the taste was subtly different tot eh first one she'd tried, but the lemon sharpness, cut with a sweet edge still made her eyes flutter closed as small moan escaped past her closed lips. Under the table she felt her toes curl and clench in response to the taste. The reaction wasn't quite as strong, nor as embarrassing as the first couple of times she'd tried new flavours, or food at all, but that was probably for the best, all things considered. Even so, it would be clear to the others that taste itself was a very potent sensation for the girl. She took her time after the first bite, and glanced up to Suzume as she spoke up.

“Ah... I'm... I'm fine, really...” It felt a bit awkward; she'd just shared a lot with them, but at the same time, she didn't really want to bring the mood back down again with a completely honest answer. She sought for a middle ground. “It's been a really rough few months. But, honestly, things have been getting better, they have, well, at least until a few days ago, but...” she shook her head and sipped her tea, looking away. “But it's okay. I'll be fine, really. I'll sort things out with Rogan. This whole thing... joining the shogunate, designing a naughty uniform, all of it... I was angry at him, and angry at things being unfair, and at how nothing ever seemed to go the way it should, no matter how hard I tried, and I just wanted to do something... something ridiculous and wild, just to show I could, and to make him pay attention... But I guess it doesn't matter how much I try to act like some confident, in control professional, I'm still just me. I can't help it.” She rolled her shoulders and shrugged with a rueful smile, then took a bit of the chocolate. After a moment, she let her gaze move from a reassuring thankfulness for Suzume, to Drago instead.

“Thank you, for what you said before. I appreciate it, I really do. I don't know if I'll ever be able to really face him properly... I hope I never have to... but even knowing that other people are there, who would want to help me... that makes me fell a little braver too.” She worked on her tart a little more, breaking up the serious, heartfelt moments with more obvious tactile enjoyment of her desert snack. She let silence, or other conversation if there was any, reign for a few moments, working through her own food with a fairly aggressive pace now. By the time she was finished with the food and was drinking the rest of her tea, she paused again.

“About what Magistrate said... It's pretty bad, I know, but, I am getting used to it, sort of. Slowly. I used to be a lot worse... I could barely output at all before the pain would overwhelm me, or my body would burn out and I'd pass out... but now, I can handle a lot more charge before it get too much. It hurts but, it's not like getting cut or stabbed or crushed or anything like that... I can sort of push it away to the back of my mind, and grit through it, at least a little bit. I'm getting better at it.” She shrugged. It wasn't much of a reassurance, really, and she knew that. It still painted a fairly bleak picture of her circumstance, but there was always a hope that Magistrate would discover some solution that Aurora hadn't been able to pin down. She looked around at the other three, and stood to stretch, smoothing down her skirt as she got up from the table letting herself sway as she took relaxed steps around the table they were at, arms up above her head and fingers stretched.

“So... What about you guys? It can't all be fighting and missions and general-this, and lord-that, right? What do you do for fun? You know, when you're on your own time?” She glanced back over her shoulder as her steps became more graceful dance-like motions, mixed in with soft half turns and small skips at an almost unconscious level. It seemed to be one of the ways she relaxed herself, at a glance.
Magistrate listened to Lyntael as she went a little into her 'medical' history. She was interested in her creator Eric and this 'Sunseed' program that brought forth such a unique Navi, but Lyntael's concern for her designer's feelings stopped her from pursuing that lead. "Hmm, I see," Magi shook her head. "That is too bad. I would have liked to have called Eric up and pick his brain about potential treatments. But, if you do not want him to know, then I will have to figure this out on my own."


In the cafeteria, DragonierMan and Suzume sat down with Lyntael and Aya after selecting their food items. Drago had a bowl of clam chowder soup with some warm, soft bread sticks. For his drink he had a huge pint-sized cold glass of green iced-tea with three big square ice cubes floating around in it. Suzume, meanwhile, had a nice looking turkey sandwich with sliced cheddar cheese, some apple slices on the side, and a 12 oz plastic bottle with the label: 'Diet Soder' emblazoned upon it. They listened as Lyn aired out her feelings in the more casual setting. She reiterated her rocky relationship with her Operator, Rogan, again and the reasons that brought her to this point. Given how many times the group had heard the story now, they could make a good effort at publishing Lyn's autobiography.

But they were content enough to play the courteous friends that lent an ear to a deeply troubled girl. It was in a way a fascinating development that a group of combat programs primarily built for war, had ended up becoming emotional counselors to various Navis they had ran into amongst their travels. Suzume and Drago nodded in turn as Lyn thanked each of them for their thoughts and feelings. Drago still had a furrowed brow in thought about all the ways he would go about murdering this Vigilance character, as he ripped into some of his bread. His sharp hand talons and fanged maw ripping and tearing it to pieces as he devoured it. He would probably fantasize about this blood sport every day until he succeeded. What sweet ecstasy that future day would bring.

"Sounds to me like you just need more directed training," Aya commented on Lyntael's efforts to use her electric powers without killing herself. "Assuming you don't want Magi to go in and install regulators like she mentioned." She paused to drop the empty peel of her banana on her tray and pick up her large chocolate chip cookie, snapping it in half. "I know too many people who don't train enough and then complain when they lose," she mulled over as she looked at the far wall, chewing absently on one half of her cookie. "If you are ready to put in some more effort, I can probably help you along towards that goal."

"I spend most of my time honing my skills, or sleeping," Aya stated in relation to Lyn's question about what they do for fun. "We don't have much free time between busting runs or missions, so why bother trying to do anything else?" Suzume slowly nodded towards Aya statement. "I was given a modicum of oratory skills, so I practice a little singing in our time off," Suzume added. "But training with Aya takes up most of that time. So, I try to make up the difference where I can, such as while out in the field. Singing a rousing battle hymn or soothing song of healing."

Aya motioned over to Drago who was slurping up his soup by the great spoonfuls. "Our Master doesn't have time off unless our Operator is sleeping, doing all the things that Navigators do for their Operators. And even then he is probably doing some task assigned him by Our Lord before he went to bed. Otherwise he is probably doing what we are doing: in the Training Hall with us, or resting off the last battlefield." Aya then pointed a particular sharp piece of broken off cookie at Lyn, "Why? What do you do for fun?"

As they chatted, Lyntael started slightly, her glance shooting across to Aya as she mentioned the possibility of... physical installs. She managed a nervous grin, unsure whether the other woman's off-handed remark was made in jest or not. She wasn't the first person to broach the idea, but just as with Aurora before, it seemed to be something they thought of first, then passed over. Lyntael focused on the training idea instead, hoping to let the other suggestion be quickly forgotten.

“I can try. I've been doing my best to train more, when I can, but mostly it's been about teaching myself not to panic or freeze up when I'm in danger, and practising that bit has been hard.” She paused at the end of the table, letting her finger tips play on the surface as she rocked back and forth on her toes. “Do you all really not have any free time... to yourselves? Don't you ever need, you know... down time, to just do your own thing, or...” briefly her eyes flicked to Drago, then back to each of the twins. She wasn't completely certain if she was reading their dynamic right, but a part of her felt like the earlier denial had only been halfhearted. “Or, you know, just have fun...?” She glanced between them again, tilting her head.

“Do you ever just, you know, spend time with friends, or...” Exactly how to finish the sentence didn't come to mind easily, and Lyntael had to admit to herself that her own grasp of having a social life was thin on the ground as well, and she wasn't in much position to talk.

“Well, um... I've recently spent a lot of my time redecorating my home and making it comfortable, but I like to designing clothes and costumes, and I've been reading lot lately as well. I've been working my way through a lot of the ancient philosophers and their discussions... Though... sometimes it can be hard to really find the texts that others reference so it gets a bit confusing sometimes. I've been studying the Anekāntavāda just recently, and I think it feels like a really positive way of viewing things...” She trailed off, a mild sense of embarrassment creeping up as she stumbled over just how in depth was too in depth of a lunch table chat.

“I like to read fantasy as well. High fantasy, with magic and intrigue and romance. There's this one series I finished just recently, about a world where they worked their magic through the music and the dance of the stars, and there were demons and lost gods and I know that Azhure ends up being a real Mary Sue before long, but I still really enjoyed her character, mostly!” Somewhere along the way, Lyntael's hands had jumped up, clasped together in front of her chest and she had to catch herself, toning down her enthusiasm before it went any further. “Um... A friend recommended the series to me, and I really liked it.” She bit her lip and shrugged, just a little bit self-conscious. She neglected to mention the volume of romance, nudity and sex that the books also contained... it didn't seem like the kind of thing to really advertise. Eventually she settled and leaned on the edge of the table, smoothing her skirt underneath her as she looked across to Suzume with a grin.

“I don't really think I've got a very good singing voice, but I do dance! I'm, um, not really properly trained or anything like that, but I like to dance, and I like feeling the way my body moves. I'm probably not very good, but it feels nice if I just listen to whatever comes naturally and go with it.” With a small, content sigh she pushed off the table again and collected her own tray with its empty plate and cup. “Ah... what do I do with these?” She looked aimlessly about the space for signs of proper cleaning or disposal options while she wondered what Magistrate was going to suggest for her. The concept of getting her to talk to Eric was tempting, truly it was... but she still couldn't imagine having to tell him about the pain her own body was causing her. She brushed the thought away; if she could get to a point where it wasn't a problem any more, then maybe she could tell him then.
"Just put it back in one of those kiosks and say the word: 'Reclaim'," Aya waved Lyntael over to device she originally used. Aya then quickly devoured the rest of her cookie and downed her drink before jumping up to walk over to an empty kiosk. She placed the tray with the discarded banana peel, cookie crumbs, and empty glass on the shelf, while the computer screen lit up. "Reclaim," she said, a little bit dramatically, and the hum returned. The contents of the tray disintegrated, like a statue crumbling to dust in mere moments, and vanished into the aether. She then stacked her now empty and scoured tray back into the alcove with the other trays.

Aya then turned back to Lyn. "Building up your courage is good and all, but I was talking about more of a non-combative training regimen. You don't learn how to use a sword by getting into a sword fight. First you learn proper techniques for wielding a sword: how to hold it, how to swing or stab it, that sort of thing. The sword fighting comes after you've gotten the basics down."

"Have you even figured out all the ways electricity flows through your body yet? Can you control when, and in what quantity, it produces that energy? Where exactly it goes?" she asked. "From what you've told us, it seems like you are just jumping into the deep end without knowing how to swim, and are just flailing desperately to stay afloat, while also having to fend off sharks. No wonder you've had problems and have gotten hurt. Right now you need to take a step back and assess. Maybe your courage won't falter as much once you are more confident of your own control."

Suzume looked up from her mostly-eaten sandwich at Lyntael's suggestions of reading books and dancing. "I guess we could branch out a little bit more, it just never really occurred to us. We weren't really created with those kinds of hobbies in mind. Just to always be ready for another virus bust." Suddenly, her eyes unfocused from Lyn and started darting back and forth in her skull, as if she was reading something insanely fast. When her eyes stopped moments later, and refocused back on Lyn, they had a little extra motivation behind them. "Perhaps we can form a... 'book group', as the NET calls it. And you could recommend books for us to read."

"As for dancing, we were taught a few two-partner dances after it became clear that we would have to do a bunch of socializing as a part of the Neo-Shoguns. Not mastery-level capabilities, but just enough to get us by. I guess we could teach you that as well if you are interested," Suzume said to Lyn, pointing a little teasingly to Drago. The guy currently had a bowl up to his lips, draining away the last of his soup. When he was done, he set the bowl down on his tray, and wiped his mouth off on his cloak sleeve.

At some point in their conversations here in the cafeteria, the three dragoniers had put on gray t-shirts and shorts. The wonders of being able to change clothes at the drop of a hat. They still had on their cloaks, and probably their swimsuits underneath, but there was no flash of light to show the change. Perhaps they didn't actually need to broadcast their changes, but did so earlier for Lyn's sake. But at least now she wouldn't have to be in a room with a bunch of attractive late 20-somethings in skimpy clothing.


Anyways, it seemed that they were wrapping up as Drago and Suzume started gathering their trays to recycle and put away. With a little clatter of plastic the cafeteria was all cleaned up and the group heading back to see what Magistrate had to say. When they arrived, Lyntael's worries were brought back to the fore. A set of invasive-looking devices were laid out on a table, along with some not-so-invasive-looking arm and leg braces. Several vid-screens floating above the table showing where they would either be inserted into a Lyntael silhouette, or worn on her body over the skin like protective clothing.

"These devices should help regulate your electrical impulses, to a degree. The chaotic nature of your body's pathways makes it impossible to fully regulate. I give you a choice between a set of protective outerwear, which may restrict or slow movement by a little bit, and we can try to adjust it as necessary... or a set of implants that should not bother you once they are grafted to your electrical system," Magistrate offered. "This is what I can do for you to get a handle on your system now. I could also offer you a set of prescription-style medical drugs, like pain medication, or whatever else your biology requires."

She continued: "Anything other than this would require extensive training that I am too busy to provide you. And you may never be fully protected from the negative biological effects that would occur from continuous use of your electricity. With that said, what do you wish to do?" Magistrate asked Lyntael.

Following Aya to the return area, Lyntael's follow up announcement was a little more tentative than her friend's dramatic cry but it still got the job done and she returned her empty tray with a grin. On their way back to the others, she put her hands behind her head, stretching and humming quietly to herself as she thought about what Aya was saying. She was right, she knew; some parts of the control came naturally, but at the same time, she'd been unable to do what she wanted or needed, on more than one occasion, and still didn't fully understand why. She took a spot back at the table, though without really thinking about it she hopped up to sit on the table itself, one knee crossed and her other foot hanging down to the seat, alongside Aya and facing her so she could still look at the other girl. She pushed her hands into her lap in the process, pressing her skirt down.

“I sort of have, I guess. I'm still learning though. Direct control of everything that happens is... I don't know, it usually doesn't work, except with a couple of things that I've gotten the hang of. The rest of it... well, this will probably sound strange, but, mostly, it's... ah... emotive. Things happen when I'm scared, or upset, or angry, or... mostly things flow naturally when there's some strong emotion making it happen, and there have been times when I've tried to do something that I know I can, only for it not to work, because... I don't know... because the emotion isn't quite there.” She shrugged. “I guess that's why it might be good to show you, though? I think you're right... I think, if I was more sure of what I could do, and how to stop it or prevent it as well, I'd probably feel more confident.” Here, she shrugged and grinned; the prospect of doing some exercises without being thrown into dangerous fights against viruses actually made the whole question of controlling her charge feel oddly more approachable, and she caught herself wondering about it.

“I've never had much chance to really do that... you're right. Rogan has always just expected me to do what I have to when he needs, viruses and all. I've never really... um... never actually trained at all, not any of this, not in a safe space. That's...” She bit her lip as she thought about it then looked around her companions. “That's really bad, isn't it?” She hurried to make it sound better than it did. “Oh, but well, I guess, a lot of it does come naturally, sort of, when it needs to, and when I'm not thinking about it, and I can suppress it at times, too, sometimes, when it's not too much at once...” it was a ear defence, she knew, but she shrugged it off.

“But I guess... I mean... I've got maybe an hour or so before Rogan might call for me or notice I'm gone... if you have a space for it, I could show you what I can do, and maybe you could tell me what you think I should focus on? I mean.. um, after we see what Magistrate learned, of course.”

As the others cleaned up as well, Lyntael shifted to let her feet swing free off the ned of the table and she glanced towards Suzume while she waited.

“I'm not really interested in learning formal dances, I don't think. I just like moving my body and letting whatever I'm feeling or thinking flow naturally. It's fun!” She giggled and shrugged her shoulders again then kicked off the table and back to her feet as it seemed like they were getting ready to move on. As she wandered alongside them, however, she cast a side glance towards Suzume.

“But... Are book groups really a real thing? I always thought they were just, like, code word for women's singles groups, or something like that...”

Seriousness returned by the time they had returned to Magistrate's lab and Lyntael immediately felt herself back on edge as her eyes looked over the various implements that had been laid out. The other woman's business like, clinical descriptions didn't help and it would probably be evident by part way through her description that the concept of implanting things in her body was evoking a mildly horrified reaction from Lyntael. At last, she back-stepped slightly, hands raised.

“Ah... That's, um... No... no surgery, please. I'm okay... How would the over-wear work? I always seem to have bad luck with clothing... But I could try that I suppose?” She paused, rubbing at one arm with her other hand as she thought about the other part of Magistrate's offer.

“Um, if you've got something for the pain... it passes quickly, once I'm not over-charged any more, and it doesn't tend to linger, if that makes a difference for what you'd recommend? It's there when it's bad, but it goes away again just as quickly.” She looked down at her fingers, flexing them and opening them a few times, then back up at Magistrate. “If what you and Aurora said is right, then I should probably be careful about taking anything that dulls that or reduces it... it sounds like my body uses that to cut out the charge if it gets to the point of being damaging to me, so dulling the pain sensation might be dangerous, maybe?” She sighed. Just plain not having any pain when bad things happened would be nice, but she was already leery of taking pain medication for her more natural issues, and this sounded like it would be a stronger grade. “I'm tempted, really I am, but, I think I should probably keep myself clear of and kind of drugs unless I really have to. Maybe if you've got some I can take with me, just to keep in my cabinet at home, just in case?” She offered a nervous smile and a helpless shrug of her shoulders, willing to at lest see what the other woman had in mind for protective clothing. She looked back towards the twins and to Drago and rubbed at her neck.

“We were thinking of doing some training, maybe. I don't want to take up your time, but they were going to take a look and see what my limits are, and maybe give me some advice on how to learn better control. It sounds like that will help, in the long run, if I keep it up, right?” She allowed herself a small hopeful expression at this note as she cast her eyes around the others for confirmation. In the back of her mind, the realisation that other people did, in fact, have to learn, practice and train, and she'd just been thrown into danger without it was prickling at her as something she'd never really properly thought about.
Magistrate stared at Lyntael as she fumbled around with her words. She sighed as her work was mostly rejected and turned away to walk over to another table to gather some bottles of pills she had left there. "Very well. I did some more research on human females and have prepared a variety of medications and supplements that should work for your body, given our scans." She placed them in a large paper-bag sack with handles and returned to Lyn to hand it to her over the table. "If you need any further help, you have our number."

She then turned around again to walk to her control console and clicked a few buttons. Most of the vid-screens closed down and the words [ALL DATA DELETED] appeared on the remaining screens. "There," Magi stated before turning and walking towards the door back into the lobby, leaving everything else on their tables. "We are done here. You are free to do whatever you wish with your remaining time," she said as she left the room, not even bothering to look at Lyn as she addressed her. Her voice still professional, but clipped.

Magi returned to her desk to continue whatever she was working on when she was interrupted by the group. Any further interaction with her only returned silence as she began actively ignoring them. Like Achilles in his tent.

DragonierMan, Suzume, and Aya shrugged at Lyntael and started leading her out of the lab room and towards another door that said 'Training Hall'. Inside looked like an expansive gym, with various exercise machines, and several glass-walled rooms with wooden floors. There was even a door near the end labeled 'Pool and Spa'. "Here we are!" Aya exclaimed as she was trying to drag Lyn along with her. "My home within my home."

"I think you mean 'home away from home'," Suzume corrected her. Then she caught herself, her brow furrowed in thought. "Although I guess that since this our home, it would make sense... But then again, if our PET is our home, then this would be our 'home away from home'." She stopped as all her faculties began going over the philosophical theories of existence. Aya rolled her eyes as she continued to pull at Lyn to follow her towards one of the glass-walled rooms. One could probably use them as dance studios or basketball courts with the proper modifications.

"Aaannnyways, while Suzu ponders, let's get started over here. We'll need to first do some stretches. Get all loosey-goosey. As we saw in your scans, it looks like the energy seems to flow through your body like blood. So what better way to feel where the current is going than to do some yoga. Now follow along as we go slowly, I want you to concentrate on where your charge goes as we go." Aya would then go through some basic yoga forms, trying to teach Lyn them if she didn't already know. Drago was there as well, trying to go along with them, but having some trouble, as he wasn't as flexible.

In the brief response that followed, Lyntael found herself taken back by Magistrate's brusque brush off. She accepted the package quickly, but half trailed a step after the other woman as she swept out of the room. She'd only said she didn't want her implanting things in her body... that wasn't unreasonable, was it? She turned a confused look back towards Aaya, Suzume and Dragonierman.

“Did... did I say something wrong...?” Their answering shrugs provided some solidarity, if not any illumination. Lyntael let herself be led away, though she cast a last glance back at the lab table. She would have been wiling to try the support clothing, but without Magistrate's help or guidance she wouldn't have any idea how it was meant to work anyway.

“I mean.. I just don't want her implanting foreign objects in my body... that's not unusual is it? I don't think that's unfair...” She mumbled quietly to herself, though certainly Aya who was leading her would hear it as they made their way to the gym, and training area. Inside, Lyntael looked about and let her thoughts be distracted by the new sights.

“Oh! You have a pool too! Neat!” She let herself be led along until Aya selected a space for them, though she cast he eyes around the various gym equipment and found herself wondering if the space was entirely safe for navigators training the sports of powers that navigators generally had. She shrugged it off, focusing instead on the simple quiet, and the feeling o the smooth wooden floors beneath her feet.

Without too much thought, she settled into a space a few feet away from Aya and Suzume and began to stretch lightly in her own way, rolling her joints and relaxing her body stage by stage; her natural motion was light and somewhere between what one might expect of a dancer or a martial artist, without being all the way one or the other. In between the different poses she shifted between, the girl adopted several high-leg stretches that seemed like they ought to have been ill-advised for her skirt, by somehow the garment managed to keep her underclothes hidden from careless eyes, despite the expectations of angle or gravity. After she went through most of her casual sets, she fell into the same poses that Aya was using, glancing sideways as she did each time, to make sure she was doing each one correctly.

Long, slow breaths accompanied the warm up, and she closed her eyes, listening to her body. As always, her charge hummed at a restive level, pleasantly present in the background of her awareness, but calm for now as it gently suffused her whole body. Without opening her eyes or breaking from the slow work out she spoke quietly.

“So... Like this, I'm calm. When it's like this I can feel my charge, inside me, restive and relaxed. It's always there, and it's a comfort, like this. Whenever I cross, and it's gone, I feel like something is missing, and it's more empty. Just like this, it doesn't really do anything. I can focus on building it up, just a little, or creating a few small effects to start with, if you want. That would let you see it move while I try to focus. If it's safe here, I can start with some small things, and work up to showing you my limits gradually. I don't mind the pain, as long as I'm going into it safe, like this, and prepared. But slow to begin...” The tone of her voice was smooth, quiet and relaxed as she let herself drop into a more meditative calm. It would be okay, here. She trusted Aya and Suzume to watch out for her even if she pushed to her limit, and even though she had some nervous reservation still, she trusted Dragonierman as well, at least with the twins present.

“Some things I can do, or that happen, seem to help balance my charge and diffuse it so I don't overload, while others make it build up faster. The big aggressive expends do that, mostly. What should I do first?” She kept her eyes closed as she asked, focusing on her breathing and listening to her charge; just focusing on the sensation made it build at a gradual pace and she felt the first beginnings of a swell in her chest that she began to urge slowly stronger.