The Heavy gave a yelp-like buzz, jumping as it saw the water around Lyntael crackle, dangerously close to it and the Lark. The pained groan beneath it made the dumbbell beep apologetically, before it was finally able to teleport off its grandfather. The Teddy was given another blindsiding for its troubles, Heavy slamming into it with enough force to leave a bruise, even as the onsen waters soothed them all through their fight. The Lark groaned as it surfaced once more, firing another Wideshot that slammed home against the Teddy's frame.
The Spooky teleported into the pool, ready to for another pass at Lyntael, but unfortunately for it, the half-nude lady was packing more than enough heat to send the lecherous ghost packing...permanently. It was blasted to nothingness with one final tongue-waggle, so close but so very far away from its goal.
The Teddy, starting to show signs of exhaustion, growled angrily at the newcomer. Its paw swiped against Lyntael's midsection, her barrier preventing the sharp claws from breaking her fair skin, but not preventing her static current to react. The Teddy was annihilated in the resulting electric shockwave...and so was the Heavy right next to it. In the moments as the current blasted through it, it let out one final, heartbroken buzz of betrayal...and perhaps apology, for not being good enough to fight on its own. Whether it had attained the peace it was searching for...that was moot now.
The grandfatherly Lark moaned its dismay, mourning its lost son. Unseen, the Elebee in the next pool over succeeded in making the poor old virus lose yet another son, driving its stinger through the remaining Piranha. The surrogate children of the old couple had been extinguished, the insectoid virus turned its attentions to the other pool, stinger primed for additional strikes. The Mudfeesh was all but forgotten about, splashing about in some mindless pursuit that one couldn't possibly divine through its vacant eyes.
=Intruders=
Teddy: DELETED
ElebeeA: DELETED
ElebeeB: 70HP [Onsen R] [Omnishoes]
SpookyA: DELETED
SpookyB: DELETED
Mudfeesh: 60HP [Mud]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Hot Spring Inhabitants=
Lyntael: 150HP [Onsen L] [10HP Elec Barrier] [My Pain is Real: Ready] [Buster Charge x1] [Overcharge: +4]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Onsen L] [Asleep]
Grandpa Lark: 66HP [Onsen L]
Grandma Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen L] [Asleep]
PiranhaA: DELETED
PiranhaB: DELETED
Heavy: DELETED
Some Personal Time
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Confirming that she had, in fact, connected with the spooky and removed its presence was far beyond Lyntael by this point. He sights were fixed on the teddy, and little else cold make it through the electrical storm crushing her ability to think. Moving properly was difficult enough; when the bear swiped at her, the first she truly knew about it was the feeling of its claws raking across her middle. Any other time, it would have left wicked gashes across her skin, and a clearer-thinking Lyntael would have been unaccountably thankful that her barrier held up to blocking the damage.
As it was, what registered was the pain of the strike, and the feeling of its claws dragging across her. She bend double over it, hand going in to her middle, but the raging force beneath her skin spiked and reacted. Far more vicious and potent than her smaller fall-off waves, this recoil tore a pained shout from her lungs as the force of it threw her head back and arched her back to a severe angle, throwing her arms wide as the energy exploded from her in every direction. Her fists were still clenched, holding tight to the little stone, but it was more by reflex now than any conscious action.
If she had been more aware, the realisation of what she had done would have ended her ability to fight completely, but as it was, the drain left behind a deep, empty ache that began to refill even as her body sagged, limp from the expenditure. Her knees threatened to give out as she trembled, the overflow from her eyes grew to a brilliant glow, two ovals that completely obscured her eyes as they cascaded lines of sparks down her face and tot he ground below. Eyes staring blankly, Lyntael head noises, sounds, but didn't put meaning to any of them. She was distantly aware of movement about her, and couldn't properly interpret or focus what her eyes were seeing. At the moment, that was just the surface of the water she was standing in, but as the emptiness was replaced by the incessant pressure of energy again, she straightened, unsteadily, to look up.
It took several long moments for her to get her feet stable and achieve a stance that didn't risk her falling over completely, but in that short time her strikers had begun to crackle again, shedding current past their capacity into the water around her in tiny sparks and she grit her teeth through the feeling of it all desperate to burst outward again, just under her skin. Ahead of her, her eyes could see the Elebee coming over to them, and after another few seconds simply watching it as her body shook, she managed to connect that it was another of the attacking viruses, trying to hurt her new friends. The question of how many attackers were left, or if it was the last one were too complicated to occur to the girl by this point; it was an achievement simply that she'd connected it to be a hostile and that she needed to stop it before anyone got hurt. A part of her knew that she wouldn't be able to do much more, one way or the other. The only other time she had been this far lost to her charge had not ended well.
She stumbled towards the Elebee with unsteady feet and reached out one trembling hand towards it, clenching a fist and pulling in in towards her. Far better behaved than her own innate current, the air and winds of the area answered, drawing together from around and behind the virus, and quickening into a forceful gust of wind pulling it down and towards where she could score a proper strike on it.
As they closed, she could feel the current beginning to scour away at her, but with a last effort she spun her body, rising up on one foot to swing the other up and around in an arc that aimed as closely as she could for the murderous bee. As she reached the full extension, the energy raging inside her flowed, draining from every part of her body out to her strikers, before all four bundles of force coursed back in to her core, unifying into a single bolt that exploded from her striking foot in the brightest flare of electrical energy that the small spring had seen yet. The force of it threw Lyntael herself off balance, and her already unstable stance gave out, sending her crashing back and to the sides, two hands in the mud at the side of the pool as she barely managed to catch herself. There was no relief this time. The brief moment of current moving had been a tiny respite but before her knees splashed into the shallow water, the burning charge was already painfully present again.
The girl tried to struggle upright, unable to focus or even look around. The cycled up charge was burning her and she couldn't think clearly enough to even look for a target. She made it almost to her feet before that same kill switch from before cracked over inside her. In an instant, it was all gone; the electric static, the burning current in her limbs, the scoring pin of the overflow from her eyes, everything. More than just the stop of her electricity, though; the background energy that she always felt was cut off too, leaving a numb, senseless void. The girl swayed, then her already sightlessly glazed eyes rolled up and she collapsed again, knees thumping to ground in the shallows as she sprawled over, arms, vest and cheek crashing with dead weight into the freshly spread mud.
Summary
L1) Overcharge Difficulties: Action Lost
L2) Precluded: Buster Charge
L3) Movement: Towards EleBee
L*) Gust, as Free Action, as Pull, Drawing EleBee to Lyntael
L4) Full Charge Buster Strike ((3+1)x20)80Elec, A, Overcharge +2), at EleBee
L*) A Manifest Spirit: Too Late to trigger, electric skills precluded.
Cooldowns and Overcharge
My Heart Falters: Ready!
My Pain is Real: Cooling Down
My Anger Directed: 1 TCD
Overcharge: Begin: +4, My Pain Is Real Activation +1, Full-charge Strike +2, End: +7 Overcharge Critical: Lockout in effect. Electrical Skills Unavailable.
As it was, what registered was the pain of the strike, and the feeling of its claws dragging across her. She bend double over it, hand going in to her middle, but the raging force beneath her skin spiked and reacted. Far more vicious and potent than her smaller fall-off waves, this recoil tore a pained shout from her lungs as the force of it threw her head back and arched her back to a severe angle, throwing her arms wide as the energy exploded from her in every direction. Her fists were still clenched, holding tight to the little stone, but it was more by reflex now than any conscious action.
If she had been more aware, the realisation of what she had done would have ended her ability to fight completely, but as it was, the drain left behind a deep, empty ache that began to refill even as her body sagged, limp from the expenditure. Her knees threatened to give out as she trembled, the overflow from her eyes grew to a brilliant glow, two ovals that completely obscured her eyes as they cascaded lines of sparks down her face and tot he ground below. Eyes staring blankly, Lyntael head noises, sounds, but didn't put meaning to any of them. She was distantly aware of movement about her, and couldn't properly interpret or focus what her eyes were seeing. At the moment, that was just the surface of the water she was standing in, but as the emptiness was replaced by the incessant pressure of energy again, she straightened, unsteadily, to look up.
It took several long moments for her to get her feet stable and achieve a stance that didn't risk her falling over completely, but in that short time her strikers had begun to crackle again, shedding current past their capacity into the water around her in tiny sparks and she grit her teeth through the feeling of it all desperate to burst outward again, just under her skin. Ahead of her, her eyes could see the Elebee coming over to them, and after another few seconds simply watching it as her body shook, she managed to connect that it was another of the attacking viruses, trying to hurt her new friends. The question of how many attackers were left, or if it was the last one were too complicated to occur to the girl by this point; it was an achievement simply that she'd connected it to be a hostile and that she needed to stop it before anyone got hurt. A part of her knew that she wouldn't be able to do much more, one way or the other. The only other time she had been this far lost to her charge had not ended well.
She stumbled towards the Elebee with unsteady feet and reached out one trembling hand towards it, clenching a fist and pulling in in towards her. Far better behaved than her own innate current, the air and winds of the area answered, drawing together from around and behind the virus, and quickening into a forceful gust of wind pulling it down and towards where she could score a proper strike on it.
As they closed, she could feel the current beginning to scour away at her, but with a last effort she spun her body, rising up on one foot to swing the other up and around in an arc that aimed as closely as she could for the murderous bee. As she reached the full extension, the energy raging inside her flowed, draining from every part of her body out to her strikers, before all four bundles of force coursed back in to her core, unifying into a single bolt that exploded from her striking foot in the brightest flare of electrical energy that the small spring had seen yet. The force of it threw Lyntael herself off balance, and her already unstable stance gave out, sending her crashing back and to the sides, two hands in the mud at the side of the pool as she barely managed to catch herself. There was no relief this time. The brief moment of current moving had been a tiny respite but before her knees splashed into the shallow water, the burning charge was already painfully present again.
The girl tried to struggle upright, unable to focus or even look around. The cycled up charge was burning her and she couldn't think clearly enough to even look for a target. She made it almost to her feet before that same kill switch from before cracked over inside her. In an instant, it was all gone; the electric static, the burning current in her limbs, the scoring pin of the overflow from her eyes, everything. More than just the stop of her electricity, though; the background energy that she always felt was cut off too, leaving a numb, senseless void. The girl swayed, then her already sightlessly glazed eyes rolled up and she collapsed again, knees thumping to ground in the shallows as she sprawled over, arms, vest and cheek crashing with dead weight into the freshly spread mud.
Summary
L1) Overcharge Difficulties: Action Lost
L2) Precluded: Buster Charge
L3) Movement: Towards EleBee
L*) Gust, as Free Action, as Pull, Drawing EleBee to Lyntael
L4) Full Charge Buster Strike ((3+1)x20)80Elec, A, Overcharge +2), at EleBee
L*) A Manifest Spirit: Too Late to trigger, electric skills precluded.
Cooldowns and Overcharge
My Heart Falters: Ready!
My Pain is Real: Cooling Down
My Anger Directed: 1 TCD
Overcharge: Begin: +4, My Pain Is Real Activation +1, Full-charge Strike +2, End: +7 Overcharge Critical: Lockout in effect. Electrical Skills Unavailable.
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The Elebee careened around the rightmost onsen's spire, spiraling around it just as the Piranhas had done as though mocking their defeat. Then, as though released from a bola sling, it rocketed on a *cough* beeline for the other pool...specifically, aimed straight for the sleeping grandmother. The little Snoozy and the Bandcoon had managed to avoid the entire battle thus far simply by sleeping very still against the side of the pool. That had kept them unnoticed throughout the thick of combat, but there were no other combatants to distract the Elebee from its wanton murder. Its barb jutted out, and it darted in for the killing blow...
...only for an errant gust of wind to vacuum it towards the dead-eyed Navi. Yes, there were no more virus combatants - even the wily old Lark had been utterly sapped of his fight, but the bee had forgotten that the Navi was just as much a defender of the hot spring as any other. Her blinding lightning strike wiped it off the face of the Net, putting an end to the aggressors...but at what cost?
Virtually unnoticed in the grand scheme of things, the Mudfeesh stopped its ungainly bouncing, forgoing that in favour of belly-sliding along its muddy track. Even as Lyntael slumped against a portion of the track, the fish simply swerved around her, burbling happily and accelerating faster and faster...and faster, and faster, until the virus was little more than a brown blur. A massive, muddy wake trailed behind it as it used its unorthodox launching track to keep speeding up...and finally, the little fish jumped one last time, and the resulting disengagement sent it rocketing off towards the horizon; a twinkle of light announced its departure with flair.
So long, space Mudfeesh; may we meet again.
=Intruders=
Teddy: DELETED
ElebeeA: DELETED
ElebeeB: DELETED
SpookyA: DELETED
SpookyB: DELETED
Mudfeesh: TO THE MOOOOOOOOON
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Hot Spring Inhabitants=
Lyntael: 150HP [Onsen L] [Overcharge: +7]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Onsen L]
Grandpa Lark: 66HP [Onsen L]
Grandma Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen L]
PiranhaA: DELETED
PiranhaB: DELETED
Heavy: DELETED
=BATTLE #4: ...VICTORIOUS?=
Rewards: 1470z, Invis1
The Lark's mournful crooning finally woke his Snoozy mate, and the Bandcoon with her. The Bandcoon began to rev back up into hyperactivity, only to stop and notice the two distraught elders behind it, and the nigh-comatose girl in the mud. Whining with discomfort, the raccoon swam towards Lyntael, clambering out of the water and getting its onsen-enriched coat absolutely covered in mud. It pressed its ticklish nose into her side, hoping to prod a reaction from her, or at the very least snap her out of her electrically-induced overload.
The two elders were very nearly overcome. The Snoozy, having just been struck with the loss of the Heavy, began calling for the Piranhas, her tired old voice tinged with equal parts despair and hope; for all she knew, they were simply out chasing off whatever intruders had remained, like the faithful guardians they were. Silence reigned, and the Lark simply swam beside the little old virus and rubbed a fin down her back, soothing even as its eyes swelled with tears. The Snoozy collapsed into the water, inconsolable, and the Lark could do nothing but just hold her and try not to break down himself. It was said that the only thing sadder than a child burying their parents was a parent burying their children...and yet, the Net World didn't even allow these two the courtesy of leaving bodies to bid farewell to. They had been deleted, scattered to the nether.
Gone.
...only for an errant gust of wind to vacuum it towards the dead-eyed Navi. Yes, there were no more virus combatants - even the wily old Lark had been utterly sapped of his fight, but the bee had forgotten that the Navi was just as much a defender of the hot spring as any other. Her blinding lightning strike wiped it off the face of the Net, putting an end to the aggressors...but at what cost?
Virtually unnoticed in the grand scheme of things, the Mudfeesh stopped its ungainly bouncing, forgoing that in favour of belly-sliding along its muddy track. Even as Lyntael slumped against a portion of the track, the fish simply swerved around her, burbling happily and accelerating faster and faster...and faster, and faster, until the virus was little more than a brown blur. A massive, muddy wake trailed behind it as it used its unorthodox launching track to keep speeding up...and finally, the little fish jumped one last time, and the resulting disengagement sent it rocketing off towards the horizon; a twinkle of light announced its departure with flair.
So long, space Mudfeesh; may we meet again.
=Intruders=
Teddy: DELETED
ElebeeA: DELETED
ElebeeB: DELETED
SpookyA: DELETED
SpookyB: DELETED
Mudfeesh: TO THE MOOOOOOOOON
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Hot Spring Inhabitants=
Lyntael: 150HP [Onsen L] [Overcharge: +7]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Onsen L]
Grandpa Lark: 66HP [Onsen L]
Grandma Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen L]
PiranhaA: DELETED
PiranhaB: DELETED
Heavy: DELETED
=BATTLE #4: ...VICTORIOUS?=
Rewards: 1470
Quote ()
Invis1
Effect: Invisibility
Accuracy: S
Description: Grants the user invisibility. This reduces the chance of being hit by non-Seeking attacks by 50%.
Duration: One turn
Element: Null
The Lark's mournful crooning finally woke his Snoozy mate, and the Bandcoon with her. The Bandcoon began to rev back up into hyperactivity, only to stop and notice the two distraught elders behind it, and the nigh-comatose girl in the mud. Whining with discomfort, the raccoon swam towards Lyntael, clambering out of the water and getting its onsen-enriched coat absolutely covered in mud. It pressed its ticklish nose into her side, hoping to prod a reaction from her, or at the very least snap her out of her electrically-induced overload.
The two elders were very nearly overcome. The Snoozy, having just been struck with the loss of the Heavy, began calling for the Piranhas, her tired old voice tinged with equal parts despair and hope; for all she knew, they were simply out chasing off whatever intruders had remained, like the faithful guardians they were. Silence reigned, and the Lark simply swam beside the little old virus and rubbed a fin down her back, soothing even as its eyes swelled with tears. The Snoozy collapsed into the water, inconsolable, and the Lark could do nothing but just hold her and try not to break down himself. It was said that the only thing sadder than a child burying their parents was a parent burying their children...and yet, the Net World didn't even allow these two the courtesy of leaving bodies to bid farewell to. They had been deleted, scattered to the nether.
Gone.
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On the verge of unconsciousness, Lyntael wasn't aware of the impact as she hit the ground, nor the feeling of mud messing part of her hair, or sinking into her vest. She lay dazed, adrift in her own cut-off void, on the edge of oblivion, while the rest of the world moved around her. The first thing that finally managed to call her back, at least partway, was the concerned prodding of the little bandcoon. Unfortunately, he didn't get the reaction he was probably hoping for.
At first she twitched and shuddered, the eye that wasn't blocked by mud opening enough to allow bleary vision at least. As other sensations returned, she felt the soft nose of her friend and flinched away. The action became an attempt to scramble up and away, but in reality more resembled a half-rolled stumbled that only saw her dragged out of the water to collapse again in the mud on limbs that didn't want to respond just yet, aside from curling up defensively and hunching away. More mud than not, now, she still trembled softly as she shook her head.
"N-no, don't... don't touch me, don't... I... I'll hurt you... p-please, please don't touch me... stay back, I don't want.. don't want to..." She hadn't fully connected the fact that the void she was feeling inside was still the hollow loss of her final safety still in place, but the realisation came through gradually as her thoughts collected themselves slowly. She looked at her unsteady hands, noting at last what she wasn't feeling, and uncurled, struggling up as far as her knees. Her knees in the mud were wide apart, but at this point modesty wasn't anywhere near her mind, so much as the simple act of trying to maintain her own balance.
Fragments of memory returned in pieces, fitting together in a broken tapestry of the last few minutes, hung together between the wash of static that had clouded most of her perception. It was enough to drive her to scramble forward again, desperate now to catch the little creature in a hugs and make sure he was alright, while her senses were still dulled. Provided he actually let her, she held him tight to her chest, on the verge of sobbing and simply glad that he wasn't hurt.
More bits and pieces came back, though, and she set him down again, turning to make her way back out into the pool. Her eyes passed over the Lark and Snoozy together, but she didn't register their expressions at once, as her eyes scanned around. Rather, she turned about, looking, and called out, much as the Snoozy before her had done, though the girl herself wasn't aware of the fact.
"A-Are you there? Is it over..? I think it's over now... you... you can come out again, they've gone... it's safe again now, I.. I think..." Her words took on an edge of hopeful desperation towards the end, as none of the others appeared, but as she drew breath to try again, another fragment of memory worked its way back into her mind. The image of her, back arched and stance wide, right in the middle of them all, electricity pouring off her body in wild indiscriminate waves. She stopped dead, the breath dying in her throat as a feeling like a vice clapped hard around her chest. Her features had fallen, unseeing, into an expression of horrified disbelief as he limbs began to shake again. She shook her head at first, trying to will the image way.
"No.... no, I... Please, I... I couldn't..." There was a splash as her legs buckled yet again, leaving her staring down at the surface of the water. "I... Light no, please, not that... no... no, no, no... anything but this..." Her eyes welled as she struggled to draw breath. "I... I did this... oh light, I did this... please no, please.... I... I didn't... I didn't mean to. I didn't. I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to..." If the Lark and the Snoozy had managed to remain at least somewhat stoic, Lyntael possessed so such faculty. The words kept coming, over and over, murmured, cried and begged in a way she couldn't seem to stop, as tears flowed quick and free, dripping into the warm waters one after another.
Sometimes, a girl can still look pretty when she cries, but for Lyntael, with half her face still covered in mud, and with it matting her hair and ruining most of her vest, and the earthy taste of it getting on her lips as tears streaked her face... this was not one of those times. As it was, her arms hugged tight around herself and she rocked gradually as the sobs wracked her, blubbering half intelligible denials to herself and loud enough for anyone around to hear as well, in the middle of the pool.
At first she twitched and shuddered, the eye that wasn't blocked by mud opening enough to allow bleary vision at least. As other sensations returned, she felt the soft nose of her friend and flinched away. The action became an attempt to scramble up and away, but in reality more resembled a half-rolled stumbled that only saw her dragged out of the water to collapse again in the mud on limbs that didn't want to respond just yet, aside from curling up defensively and hunching away. More mud than not, now, she still trembled softly as she shook her head.
"N-no, don't... don't touch me, don't... I... I'll hurt you... p-please, please don't touch me... stay back, I don't want.. don't want to..." She hadn't fully connected the fact that the void she was feeling inside was still the hollow loss of her final safety still in place, but the realisation came through gradually as her thoughts collected themselves slowly. She looked at her unsteady hands, noting at last what she wasn't feeling, and uncurled, struggling up as far as her knees. Her knees in the mud were wide apart, but at this point modesty wasn't anywhere near her mind, so much as the simple act of trying to maintain her own balance.
Fragments of memory returned in pieces, fitting together in a broken tapestry of the last few minutes, hung together between the wash of static that had clouded most of her perception. It was enough to drive her to scramble forward again, desperate now to catch the little creature in a hugs and make sure he was alright, while her senses were still dulled. Provided he actually let her, she held him tight to her chest, on the verge of sobbing and simply glad that he wasn't hurt.
More bits and pieces came back, though, and she set him down again, turning to make her way back out into the pool. Her eyes passed over the Lark and Snoozy together, but she didn't register their expressions at once, as her eyes scanned around. Rather, she turned about, looking, and called out, much as the Snoozy before her had done, though the girl herself wasn't aware of the fact.
"A-Are you there? Is it over..? I think it's over now... you... you can come out again, they've gone... it's safe again now, I.. I think..." Her words took on an edge of hopeful desperation towards the end, as none of the others appeared, but as she drew breath to try again, another fragment of memory worked its way back into her mind. The image of her, back arched and stance wide, right in the middle of them all, electricity pouring off her body in wild indiscriminate waves. She stopped dead, the breath dying in her throat as a feeling like a vice clapped hard around her chest. Her features had fallen, unseeing, into an expression of horrified disbelief as he limbs began to shake again. She shook her head at first, trying to will the image way.
"No.... no, I... Please, I... I couldn't..." There was a splash as her legs buckled yet again, leaving her staring down at the surface of the water. "I... Light no, please, not that... no... no, no, no... anything but this..." Her eyes welled as she struggled to draw breath. "I... I did this... oh light, I did this... please no, please.... I... I didn't... I didn't mean to. I didn't. I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to..." If the Lark and the Snoozy had managed to remain at least somewhat stoic, Lyntael possessed so such faculty. The words kept coming, over and over, murmured, cried and begged in a way she couldn't seem to stop, as tears flowed quick and free, dripping into the warm waters one after another.
Sometimes, a girl can still look pretty when she cries, but for Lyntael, with half her face still covered in mud, and with it matting her hair and ruining most of her vest, and the earthy taste of it getting on her lips as tears streaked her face... this was not one of those times. As it was, her arms hugged tight around herself and she rocked gradually as the sobs wracked her, blubbering half intelligible denials to herself and loud enough for anyone around to hear as well, in the middle of the pool.
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The Bandcoon accepted the hug without so much as a second thought, burrowing its muddy face into Lyntael's muddy neck and settling into the comfortable embrace. It whimpered in response to the Navi's pleading; whether or not it actually understood language as some viruses could, it was certainly picking up on her distress. And whether in its own mourning over the lost faithful, or simple empathy, the little rodent was willing to be sad together with Lyntael, curled up in the Mudfeesh's launch-track. If nothing else...at least she still had the Bandcoon's companionship.
The air was full of the sounds of mourning. The Snoozy was wailing for all she was worth, her tiny body heaving with great sobs against her partner's flank. The old Lark was bearing it all with a stoic grimness, eyes shut tight as though trying to block the world out. Lyntael's crying mingled with the Snoozy's, and the Bandcoon's squeaky sounds of discomfort mixed for good measure...a minute or so passed, and the Lark huffed a small, defeated noise. With gentle motions, he rose halfway out of the water, ushering the Snoozy toward the edge of the pool with gentle strokes of his fins; she barely fought the shepherding, half-clinging to him with her lone arm as he took them out of the warm waters. Her amorphous feet quickly dirtied in the mud, but neither of them noticed. The Lark finally made its way to the collapsed Navi, eying her as she sobbed...
...and hugged her.
Very nearly the same size as the young lady, the span of the Lark's fins was wide enough that it was a simple matter to bring her, her Bandcoon, and his Snoozy mate into a muddy embrace. Despite the slickness of the fish's scales, the hug would have felt rather like being wrapped in a warm blanket, even if it did smell somewhat like ocean. Despite having seen the Heavy's death at Lyntael's hands, the Lark was forgiving her, and making it as clear to her as her language barrier allowed. There would be no more violence in the onsen, especially not when they'd already suffered such losses.
------------------------
"...Noises? We've been out here in the boonies of Yoka awhile, Ion; you sure you aren't just going stir-crazy?" Deep in a forest somewhere in Yoka Net, a Navi leaned against a tree, accompanied by a PET connection window hovering by his side. The Navi, presumably Ion, had the appearance of a cyborg, organics and mechanics meshed into a seamless whole; glowing blue ocular units flowed down to a chiseled jawline, frowning pensively.
"I don't know, Lief, that sounded fairly...human to me. Or Navi, whatever," Ion shot back, reaching up to tweak a radio antenna that extended from his head, in place of ears. "I'm just saying, shouldn't we investigate? S'not like we're really doing much for RocketMan's mapping project, getting lost in these woods."
The distinctly nerdy-looking man in the PET window grinned wryly, scratching at his patchy stubble. "That's fair enough," he allowed, "Rocket kinda forgot that I haven't gotten you any OmniShoes yet. Go ahead, let's go take a look." Ion grinned in response, and servos attached to his legs whirred into motion as the cyborg went bounding off through the trees. Lief manipulated his window to follow his Navi, and off the two adventurers went.
The foliage went from towering trees to thick underbrush, and Ion slowed his pace to avoid any unfortunate tangles. He cleared one more bush, and nearly fell into a steamy clearing with a clatter of metal prosthetics on rolled-out stones. A picturesque hot spring unveiled itself before him, and Ion took a moment to admire the scenery...only to be startled right back into action by a trio of dismayed cries. "Who's there!" he called, hand unfolding into a sleek buster just in case. The man-come-machine edged around...and could scarcely believe his optics. Amidst the clear signs of a struggle, a Lark, a Snoozy, and a Bandcoon had a little girl-Navi pinned into the mud, and they were clustered around her ready to do...something unspeakable, he was certain.
Ion felt an ElecKnife and a Cannon download from the PET, and silently thanked his Operator for being so quick on the uptake. The ElecKnife overtook his hand with a crackling hiss, and he took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Hey...you there," he tried to address Lyntael, failing to notice in his tunnel vision that she was holding the Bandcoon just as tightly as the viruses were embracing her, "I'm going to try and get these viruses off you, okay? Stay calm, it'll be alright..." he moved in slowly, trying his best not to startle the foes into any sudden moves. 'This,' he thought, 'was going to be tricky.'
=Predators(?)= [All wrapped around Lyntael]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud]
Lark: 66HP [Mud]
Snoozy: 60HP [Mud]
=Hostage(?)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +7] [Mud]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Rescuer(?)=
Ion: 200HP [Mud]
=WHAT DO THEY SAY ABOUT ASSUMING AGAIN?=
=BATTLE #5: BEGIN!!=
The air was full of the sounds of mourning. The Snoozy was wailing for all she was worth, her tiny body heaving with great sobs against her partner's flank. The old Lark was bearing it all with a stoic grimness, eyes shut tight as though trying to block the world out. Lyntael's crying mingled with the Snoozy's, and the Bandcoon's squeaky sounds of discomfort mixed for good measure...a minute or so passed, and the Lark huffed a small, defeated noise. With gentle motions, he rose halfway out of the water, ushering the Snoozy toward the edge of the pool with gentle strokes of his fins; she barely fought the shepherding, half-clinging to him with her lone arm as he took them out of the warm waters. Her amorphous feet quickly dirtied in the mud, but neither of them noticed. The Lark finally made its way to the collapsed Navi, eying her as she sobbed...
...and hugged her.
Very nearly the same size as the young lady, the span of the Lark's fins was wide enough that it was a simple matter to bring her, her Bandcoon, and his Snoozy mate into a muddy embrace. Despite the slickness of the fish's scales, the hug would have felt rather like being wrapped in a warm blanket, even if it did smell somewhat like ocean. Despite having seen the Heavy's death at Lyntael's hands, the Lark was forgiving her, and making it as clear to her as her language barrier allowed. There would be no more violence in the onsen, especially not when they'd already suffered such losses.
------------------------
"...Noises? We've been out here in the boonies of Yoka awhile, Ion; you sure you aren't just going stir-crazy?" Deep in a forest somewhere in Yoka Net, a Navi leaned against a tree, accompanied by a PET connection window hovering by his side. The Navi, presumably Ion, had the appearance of a cyborg, organics and mechanics meshed into a seamless whole; glowing blue ocular units flowed down to a chiseled jawline, frowning pensively.
"I don't know, Lief, that sounded fairly...human to me. Or Navi, whatever," Ion shot back, reaching up to tweak a radio antenna that extended from his head, in place of ears. "I'm just saying, shouldn't we investigate? S'not like we're really doing much for RocketMan's mapping project, getting lost in these woods."
The distinctly nerdy-looking man in the PET window grinned wryly, scratching at his patchy stubble. "That's fair enough," he allowed, "Rocket kinda forgot that I haven't gotten you any OmniShoes yet. Go ahead, let's go take a look." Ion grinned in response, and servos attached to his legs whirred into motion as the cyborg went bounding off through the trees. Lief manipulated his window to follow his Navi, and off the two adventurers went.
The foliage went from towering trees to thick underbrush, and Ion slowed his pace to avoid any unfortunate tangles. He cleared one more bush, and nearly fell into a steamy clearing with a clatter of metal prosthetics on rolled-out stones. A picturesque hot spring unveiled itself before him, and Ion took a moment to admire the scenery...only to be startled right back into action by a trio of dismayed cries. "Who's there!" he called, hand unfolding into a sleek buster just in case. The man-come-machine edged around...and could scarcely believe his optics. Amidst the clear signs of a struggle, a Lark, a Snoozy, and a Bandcoon had a little girl-Navi pinned into the mud, and they were clustered around her ready to do...something unspeakable, he was certain.
Ion felt an ElecKnife and a Cannon download from the PET, and silently thanked his Operator for being so quick on the uptake. The ElecKnife overtook his hand with a crackling hiss, and he took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Hey...you there," he tried to address Lyntael, failing to notice in his tunnel vision that she was holding the Bandcoon just as tightly as the viruses were embracing her, "I'm going to try and get these viruses off you, okay? Stay calm, it'll be alright..." he moved in slowly, trying his best not to startle the foes into any sudden moves. 'This,' he thought, 'was going to be tricky.'
=Predators(?)= [All wrapped around Lyntael]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud]
Lark: 66HP [Mud]
Snoozy: 60HP [Mud]
=Hostage(?)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +7] [Mud]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Rescuer(?)=
Ion: 200HP [Mud]
=WHAT DO THEY SAY ABOUT ASSUMING AGAIN?=
=BATTLE #5: BEGIN!!=
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Lost in her own personal, only half-coherent nightmare, Lyntael was only distantly aware of the sympathetic distress shared with her by the little bandcoon, and she flinched in on herself when the old lark wrapped her up in its comforting hug. That one flinch was the limit of her resistance, though, unable or unaware enough to do much more than let things happen around her. The heavy emptiness in her chest did little to dull the guilt and grief over what she'd done, and once she finally noticed what was going on around her, her moaned denials gradually turned to stammered, tearful apologies to the Lark and Snoozy, pleading that she hadn't meant it, that she couldn't control it, and begging hopelessly for forgiveness, all without realising that, in a show of character stronger than most navis possessed, the old virus already had.
It was another minute before, eyes red, her body simply ran out of tears for the moment, though her small frame still convulsed with sobs each breath. A throbbing headache began to build in the base of her skull, and while it didn't exactly help her clarity of mind, the sensation did begin to ground her thoughts a little bit and she began trying to breath more calmly. Other little things filtered through her awareness more clearly now; minor discomforts were about all she had the faculty to truly take in at the moment, but she did feel them all the same: the unpleasant, gritty taste of mud on one side of her lips, mixed with the salt of the tears that had helped wash it there; the harsh, uneven jabbing of the ground on her knees, and the lingering soreness from where the joints had already taken more than one unexpected collapse; the hot soreness of her eyes, red and bloodshot now. Unconsciously, she tried to focus on these discomforts, instinctively trying to pull herself together again while her conscious thoughts were still overwhelmed by the devastating turn of events.
It was in this state, kneeling at the edge of the water, still sobbing weakly and wincing from the head-pain each one caused, hugging her bandcoon desperately and being embraced in turn, that the new arrivals found the unfortunate girl.
She wasn't aware of the other navi, head down and distraught as she was, until he called out. Even then, though, her ears might have heard, but recognition didn't make it through. Right now, it was going to take more than a couple of shouted words to snap Lyntael back to any sort of proper present.
As luck, or perhaps ill-luck might have it, though, one thing that would do just that chose that exact moment to reassert itself. With a faint tingle in her chest and running all through her body, the soft baseline of her charge returned, putting an end to the aching void that dulled her senses. For the first moment, Lyntael felt relief that the cut-off, empty sensation was gone, but as all of her senses sharpened again, the next thought she had was more immediate recognition of her situation; with the friends she had made all hugging into close contact with her.
"No... no, no not now... let me go, let me go! You have to get away, please! It's coming back! If you keep touching me, I'll hurt you again, please, let me go!" Her arms released the little bandcoon almost like he was made of fire and she began trying to shrug away from the others embracing her and trying to move apart from them. The shocked reaction acted like a kick-start and it sent the first tiny snaps of static through her hair. She tried to get to her feet, but slipped in the mud and fell back again, this time losing her feet from underneath her completely and ending up with her shoulders splashing into the water even as her rump landed hard on the far more unyielding shoreline. Any cry she made would have been mostly from shock, rather than any real pain, but in this particular moment she didn't cry out at all; the girl was far too concerned with trying to make her friends understand why they needed to not be touching her any more, and as soon as possible, so she simply shouted again while struggling to find purchase under the water with her hands.
"I don't want anyone else to get hurt, I don't, please... I'm too dangerous, don't touch me any more!"
So saying, as she tried to get her bearings from her slip, her eyes came up from the water and the mud to look past the length of her own body and rest squarely on the new arrival. For the first time she registered more clearly that what she was seeing was actually another navi, and she froze, voice dying in her throat. Up until this point, also, the state of her clothing, or lack thereof, couldn't have been further from her thoughts, but very suddenly the particular garments she was lacking made the immediate headline in her mind. She hadn't even noticed the weapon in his hand, but simply stared up at him, red eyes beyond wide and her mouth slightly open, voiceless. The sudden realisation and shock left no space for actually reacting, and she found herself unable to move even a muscle, every bit a doe in the headlights as she just stared.
Summary
L1) Run out of tears for crying
L2) Freak out as her charge reasserts
L3) Try to tell her friends that they can't touch her, and try to get away from them.
L4) Slip and fall on her behind in the process, then stare at Ion like a stunned mullet.
Cooldowns and Overcharge
Overcharge: Sufficient time has passed since Lock-Out activation, Overcharge resets to 0, Electrical abilities functioning normally again.
It was another minute before, eyes red, her body simply ran out of tears for the moment, though her small frame still convulsed with sobs each breath. A throbbing headache began to build in the base of her skull, and while it didn't exactly help her clarity of mind, the sensation did begin to ground her thoughts a little bit and she began trying to breath more calmly. Other little things filtered through her awareness more clearly now; minor discomforts were about all she had the faculty to truly take in at the moment, but she did feel them all the same: the unpleasant, gritty taste of mud on one side of her lips, mixed with the salt of the tears that had helped wash it there; the harsh, uneven jabbing of the ground on her knees, and the lingering soreness from where the joints had already taken more than one unexpected collapse; the hot soreness of her eyes, red and bloodshot now. Unconsciously, she tried to focus on these discomforts, instinctively trying to pull herself together again while her conscious thoughts were still overwhelmed by the devastating turn of events.
It was in this state, kneeling at the edge of the water, still sobbing weakly and wincing from the head-pain each one caused, hugging her bandcoon desperately and being embraced in turn, that the new arrivals found the unfortunate girl.
She wasn't aware of the other navi, head down and distraught as she was, until he called out. Even then, though, her ears might have heard, but recognition didn't make it through. Right now, it was going to take more than a couple of shouted words to snap Lyntael back to any sort of proper present.
As luck, or perhaps ill-luck might have it, though, one thing that would do just that chose that exact moment to reassert itself. With a faint tingle in her chest and running all through her body, the soft baseline of her charge returned, putting an end to the aching void that dulled her senses. For the first moment, Lyntael felt relief that the cut-off, empty sensation was gone, but as all of her senses sharpened again, the next thought she had was more immediate recognition of her situation; with the friends she had made all hugging into close contact with her.
"No... no, no not now... let me go, let me go! You have to get away, please! It's coming back! If you keep touching me, I'll hurt you again, please, let me go!" Her arms released the little bandcoon almost like he was made of fire and she began trying to shrug away from the others embracing her and trying to move apart from them. The shocked reaction acted like a kick-start and it sent the first tiny snaps of static through her hair. She tried to get to her feet, but slipped in the mud and fell back again, this time losing her feet from underneath her completely and ending up with her shoulders splashing into the water even as her rump landed hard on the far more unyielding shoreline. Any cry she made would have been mostly from shock, rather than any real pain, but in this particular moment she didn't cry out at all; the girl was far too concerned with trying to make her friends understand why they needed to not be touching her any more, and as soon as possible, so she simply shouted again while struggling to find purchase under the water with her hands.
"I don't want anyone else to get hurt, I don't, please... I'm too dangerous, don't touch me any more!"
So saying, as she tried to get her bearings from her slip, her eyes came up from the water and the mud to look past the length of her own body and rest squarely on the new arrival. For the first time she registered more clearly that what she was seeing was actually another navi, and she froze, voice dying in her throat. Up until this point, also, the state of her clothing, or lack thereof, couldn't have been further from her thoughts, but very suddenly the particular garments she was lacking made the immediate headline in her mind. She hadn't even noticed the weapon in his hand, but simply stared up at him, red eyes beyond wide and her mouth slightly open, voiceless. The sudden realisation and shock left no space for actually reacting, and she found herself unable to move even a muscle, every bit a doe in the headlights as she just stared.
Summary
L1) Run out of tears for crying
L2) Freak out as her charge reasserts
L3) Try to tell her friends that they can't touch her, and try to get away from them.
L4) Slip and fall on her behind in the process, then stare at Ion like a stunned mullet.
Cooldowns and Overcharge
Overcharge: Sufficient time has passed since Lock-Out activation, Overcharge resets to 0, Electrical abilities functioning normally again.
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Being a member of Vaccine Antiviral, and the company's only combat-capable Navi to boot, Ion felt he had a pretty good handle on viruses: how they were put together (both genesis and composition), how they behaved (deep-encoded violent tendencies universally prevalent)...etc etc etc, they were definitely mindless virtual destroy-beasts, they were a universal danger of exploring the Net World, they were...crooning mournfully and reaching out like they meant to comfort and/or help the half-naked little girl-Navi...who was in the middle of having what looked like a full-blown panic attack.
Suffice to say, Ion was having quite a time of it trying to wrap his head around the situation. "Umm...Leif, any ideas?" he opened the floor, hoping against hope that maybe the man would have some ideas on hand.
Unfortunately for the cyborg-Navi, said Operator was stumbling over his words...and in fact not even looking through the PET window. "I got nothing, man," Leif scratched his unshaven chin and shrugged with a 'what-can-you-do' look on his face, "Is this really something we want to be getting our hands into?"
"She needs help," was all Ion murmured offhand, before turning his attentions back towards the panicking young lady (still unreachable, but at least she's got her head back above water). His electric-blue optics focused like twin camera lenses on the viruses for a moment, and then, very slowly, his ElecKnife disengaged back into a standard hand. He held it out towards the viruses as they swarmed protectively in front of the girl, unwilling to disengage his Cannon just yet, but pointed the buster straight at the ground anyway. The cyborg didn't move a muscle, laser-bright gaze nearly burning a line down the ruined onsen...and finally, the hunched-over Lark shuffled backwards, Snoozy and Bandcoon following suit a couple of seconds later. They did not flee, but rather hovered right behind her, all three viruses staring very intently at him.
"Alright, Ion, you can work with this," the Navi thought, taking careful steps through the mud (he'd have to wash off later). The mysterious little girl was absolutely frozen, as lively as a stopped clock. "Hey there...it's alright, I'm not here to hurt you...or them," he nodded behind her head. "I'm just an explorer, my name's Ion. Dude there is Leif," he nodded again, this time to his Operator (still not facing the camera, what's with that?). "What's your name, kid? Don't worry, you're safe here," and perhaps just one more reassurance wouldn't hurt, he figured.
"Dude, you're being kinda shameless right now, you realize? At least look away," Leif grumbled, rolling his eyes and steadfastly staring at the wall.
"What? Look away from what, you...you...oh." And there, of all times, was the moment in which Ion finally noticed Lyntael's extreme state of undress. Beneath the thick crust of obliviousness, the Navi was extraordinarily sensitive, and this did a fine job of reducing his composure to an utter shambles. His gaping, wordless attempts to find something to say rather resembled the Lark behind Lyn, and did absolutely nothing to improve the not-even-a-conversation. After a strained moment, Ion turned himself ninety degrees, and dropped to a kneel to be more on the young lady's level, while still avoiding any further eyesight. "Do...do you want to talk about it?" he offered tentatively, fortifying himself with a few deep breaths and doing his best to keep calm; he wasn't the one in distress here.
(Yes, this was most definitely more difficult than just swinging an ElecKnife.)
=Predators(?)= [Hovering around Lyntael]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud]
Lark: 66HP [Mud]
Snoozy: 60HP [Mud]
=Hostage(?)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: 0] [Mud]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Rescuer(?)=
Ion: 200HP [Mud] [In front of Lyntael, eyes averted]
Suffice to say, Ion was having quite a time of it trying to wrap his head around the situation. "Umm...Leif, any ideas?" he opened the floor, hoping against hope that maybe the man would have some ideas on hand.
Unfortunately for the cyborg-Navi, said Operator was stumbling over his words...and in fact not even looking through the PET window. "I got nothing, man," Leif scratched his unshaven chin and shrugged with a 'what-can-you-do' look on his face, "Is this really something we want to be getting our hands into?"
"She needs help," was all Ion murmured offhand, before turning his attentions back towards the panicking young lady (still unreachable, but at least she's got her head back above water). His electric-blue optics focused like twin camera lenses on the viruses for a moment, and then, very slowly, his ElecKnife disengaged back into a standard hand. He held it out towards the viruses as they swarmed protectively in front of the girl, unwilling to disengage his Cannon just yet, but pointed the buster straight at the ground anyway. The cyborg didn't move a muscle, laser-bright gaze nearly burning a line down the ruined onsen...and finally, the hunched-over Lark shuffled backwards, Snoozy and Bandcoon following suit a couple of seconds later. They did not flee, but rather hovered right behind her, all three viruses staring very intently at him.
"Alright, Ion, you can work with this," the Navi thought, taking careful steps through the mud (he'd have to wash off later). The mysterious little girl was absolutely frozen, as lively as a stopped clock. "Hey there...it's alright, I'm not here to hurt you...or them," he nodded behind her head. "I'm just an explorer, my name's Ion. Dude there is Leif," he nodded again, this time to his Operator (still not facing the camera, what's with that?). "What's your name, kid? Don't worry, you're safe here," and perhaps just one more reassurance wouldn't hurt, he figured.
"Dude, you're being kinda shameless right now, you realize? At least look away," Leif grumbled, rolling his eyes and steadfastly staring at the wall.
"What? Look away from what, you...you...oh." And there, of all times, was the moment in which Ion finally noticed Lyntael's extreme state of undress. Beneath the thick crust of obliviousness, the Navi was extraordinarily sensitive, and this did a fine job of reducing his composure to an utter shambles. His gaping, wordless attempts to find something to say rather resembled the Lark behind Lyn, and did absolutely nothing to improve the not-even-a-conversation. After a strained moment, Ion turned himself ninety degrees, and dropped to a kneel to be more on the young lady's level, while still avoiding any further eyesight. "Do...do you want to talk about it?" he offered tentatively, fortifying himself with a few deep breaths and doing his best to keep calm; he wasn't the one in distress here.
(Yes, this was most definitely more difficult than just swinging an ElecKnife.)
=Predators(?)= [Hovering around Lyntael]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud]
Lark: 66HP [Mud]
Snoozy: 60HP [Mud]
=Hostage(?)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: 0] [Mud]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Rescuer(?)=
Ion: 200HP [Mud] [In front of Lyntael, eyes averted]
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It was likely very far from the sort of situation or reaction that Ion had been expecting, but it was what it was, and to his credit, a panic attack was probably the most apt way to describe what Lyntael was going through.
Her breath came in short, shallow gasps as she stared up at the other navi, the gears in her mind spinning madly and getting nowhere as her body refused to respond. She was hearing him, but at the same time, she wasn't; his eyes were looking at her, looking at her like this, and she couldn't move. The friends around her had backed off, and a part of her was aware that their touches were gone. That was good, but in perfect conflict, the lack left her feeling more exposed than ever.
"I... Don't... Don't come..." One of her hands rose up from the water enough to cross over her body between them, vaguely shielding, but it obscured more of her face than anything else. The initial freeze gave way at last, and Lyntael snapped her knees together, curling up on herself slightly more as she shied away. She tried to ask the unexpected navi to stay back from her, but unfortunately for both of them it only came out as a mostly unintelligible whimper, crushed down against her chest. Distress was making her hair crackle, and he skin was probably not safe either, but at least it wasn't bad enough to be a risk to anyone else yet. Lyntael herself was barely aware of it as her conscious thought tried to struggle to the surface and find something to latch onto. He'd asked her name.
"Lyn- Lyntael." Just on its own there was very little to identify the fact that she was saying her name for him, but it was all she could manage for now. Unconsciously, her body continued to shy back from the navi. She couldn't feel much in her limbs, save the sharpest of the small pains, but the tight sense in her chest as her heart raced was enough to keep her from detaching completely.
Then he moved closer. As Ion dropped to one knee in front of her, Lyntael flinched, and the one arm supporting her slipped. She fell back with a splash, feeling the poke of the shallow stones on her back, and very suddenly she was back in her nightmare; back on her back, naked, on that hard table, with Him kneeling above her, ready to... to...
"Get back! Don't touch me, don't touch me! Stay back!!" Compared to her previous mumbles, this was a very full bodied, very desperate scream, and with it came the response of the young girl's instincts; a wave of static energy rolled off her body, sending electricity dancing over her skin brightly and spreading in the shallow water around her. At the same time, a tight orb or electrical static blossomed from her core, spreading out and drawing power from each of her wrists and ankles as it passed them, to create a warding barrier around the girl. Lyntael didn't notice any of these things; her eyes weren't really seeing the situation, at that particular moment, and instead of Ion's reassuring intentions, what she lashed out at with one foot was the demon that had treated her so poorly the night before.
Ion was still the one kneeling before her right now, however, and a small burst of electricity arced from her ankle striker as her foot kicked out. The response had driven the young girl's body into motion again, and she scrambled over in the water, turning and clawing her way away from the situation as best she could. It was a half stumble, half crawl that exposed her hind quarters far more clearly than she'd have been happy about, were she in a calmer frame of mind.
As it was, Lyntael wasn't really fixated on where she was trying to get to, any more than away from her personally revisited nightmare, but her eyes fell on the strip of hot coals, nearby, and her skirt, laid out neatly still. It became something for her to get to, and she focused on it. If she could get dressed, that would make things better. It was a strange logic, but it worked for her, for now.
Heedless of her other friends for the moment, Lyntael fixated fully on getting to the safety of clothing, grabbing at the garment with trembling hands and struggling to pull it about her waist, uncaring or unaware that much of her body was still both wet, and a little muddy, and that she was only going to get the skirt in a similar state by trying to put it on now. Her fingers fumbled, unable to work the clasp while her hands shook and sparked.
Summary
L1) Instinctive Activation: My Pain is Real: Counter(Receiving Melee Damage): 40Elec, Nova2, Self-Slow1, Overcharge +1 on Set, +1 on Trigger)
L*) Instinctive Activation: Passive: A Manifest Spirit: (10Elec, Nova2, Overcharge -1)
L2) Instinctive Activation: My Heart Falters: (40Elec Barrier, Buster Charge, Off-Target1, Overcharge -1)
L3) Mostly Unconscious Reaction: Half-Charge Buster Strike (40Elec, A, Overcharge +1) @Vigilance Ion
L4) Scrambling back across the pool, to the coals where she left her skirt, and struggle to get it on.
Cooldowns and Overcharge
My Heart Falters: 1 Turn
My Pain is Real: 2 Turns
Overcharge: Begin: 0, +1, -1, -1, +1, End: +1
Her breath came in short, shallow gasps as she stared up at the other navi, the gears in her mind spinning madly and getting nowhere as her body refused to respond. She was hearing him, but at the same time, she wasn't; his eyes were looking at her, looking at her like this, and she couldn't move. The friends around her had backed off, and a part of her was aware that their touches were gone. That was good, but in perfect conflict, the lack left her feeling more exposed than ever.
"I... Don't... Don't come..." One of her hands rose up from the water enough to cross over her body between them, vaguely shielding, but it obscured more of her face than anything else. The initial freeze gave way at last, and Lyntael snapped her knees together, curling up on herself slightly more as she shied away. She tried to ask the unexpected navi to stay back from her, but unfortunately for both of them it only came out as a mostly unintelligible whimper, crushed down against her chest. Distress was making her hair crackle, and he skin was probably not safe either, but at least it wasn't bad enough to be a risk to anyone else yet. Lyntael herself was barely aware of it as her conscious thought tried to struggle to the surface and find something to latch onto. He'd asked her name.
"Lyn- Lyntael." Just on its own there was very little to identify the fact that she was saying her name for him, but it was all she could manage for now. Unconsciously, her body continued to shy back from the navi. She couldn't feel much in her limbs, save the sharpest of the small pains, but the tight sense in her chest as her heart raced was enough to keep her from detaching completely.
Then he moved closer. As Ion dropped to one knee in front of her, Lyntael flinched, and the one arm supporting her slipped. She fell back with a splash, feeling the poke of the shallow stones on her back, and very suddenly she was back in her nightmare; back on her back, naked, on that hard table, with Him kneeling above her, ready to... to...
"Get back! Don't touch me, don't touch me! Stay back!!" Compared to her previous mumbles, this was a very full bodied, very desperate scream, and with it came the response of the young girl's instincts; a wave of static energy rolled off her body, sending electricity dancing over her skin brightly and spreading in the shallow water around her. At the same time, a tight orb or electrical static blossomed from her core, spreading out and drawing power from each of her wrists and ankles as it passed them, to create a warding barrier around the girl. Lyntael didn't notice any of these things; her eyes weren't really seeing the situation, at that particular moment, and instead of Ion's reassuring intentions, what she lashed out at with one foot was the demon that had treated her so poorly the night before.
Ion was still the one kneeling before her right now, however, and a small burst of electricity arced from her ankle striker as her foot kicked out. The response had driven the young girl's body into motion again, and she scrambled over in the water, turning and clawing her way away from the situation as best she could. It was a half stumble, half crawl that exposed her hind quarters far more clearly than she'd have been happy about, were she in a calmer frame of mind.
As it was, Lyntael wasn't really fixated on where she was trying to get to, any more than away from her personally revisited nightmare, but her eyes fell on the strip of hot coals, nearby, and her skirt, laid out neatly still. It became something for her to get to, and she focused on it. If she could get dressed, that would make things better. It was a strange logic, but it worked for her, for now.
Heedless of her other friends for the moment, Lyntael fixated fully on getting to the safety of clothing, grabbing at the garment with trembling hands and struggling to pull it about her waist, uncaring or unaware that much of her body was still both wet, and a little muddy, and that she was only going to get the skirt in a similar state by trying to put it on now. Her fingers fumbled, unable to work the clasp while her hands shook and sparked.
Summary
L1) Instinctive Activation: My Pain is Real: Counter(Receiving Melee Damage): 40Elec, Nova2, Self-Slow1, Overcharge +1 on Set, +1 on Trigger)
L*) Instinctive Activation: Passive: A Manifest Spirit: (10Elec, Nova2, Overcharge -1)
L2) Instinctive Activation: My Heart Falters: (40Elec Barrier, Buster Charge, Off-Target1, Overcharge -1)
L3) Mostly Unconscious Reaction: Half-Charge Buster Strike (40Elec, A, Overcharge +1) @
L4) Scrambling back across the pool, to the coals where she left her skirt, and struggle to get it on.
Cooldowns and Overcharge
My Heart Falters: 1 Turn
My Pain is Real: 2 Turns
Overcharge: Begin: 0, +1, -1, -1, +1, End: +1
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Quote ()
"Lyn-Lyntael."It wasn't much; heck, it could've meant anything for all Ion knew, but it was better than nothing. Smiling reassuringly in profile, the cyborg did his best without outright looking at the youth to be a pillar of support. "Alright, Ion, just like Leif taught you: reassuring, but firm. You need to be the strong one right now. Alright, we can do that," Ion's eternal running monologue worked to remember all the step-by-steps to assisting through a panic attack: it was a fairly short list, but no plan ever survived contact with the...well, not enemy, but...
Quote ()
"Get back! Don't touch me, don't touch me! Stay back!!"[ZAP!]
Whatever had been running through Ion's head, it was immediately halted, courtesy of being caught utterly flat-footed by Lyntael's static wave. The pulse knocked the wind out of him, but the damage had been slight, and more importantly, it shocked the Navi's combat reflexes into action. "Whoa!" Ion got his legs under him just in time to notice the girl lashing a foot out at him; perhaps it was the Elec element they both shared, but the bright flashes arcing off her ankle striker were bright and obvious enough to the hybrid Navi that hopping out of harm's way was a relatively simple task. Servos gearing back down from the sudden movement, Ion took a deep breath to steady his jump-started nerves, and got his bearings again. "Alright, she's running through the hot spring, she's...ahh, there are her clothes; alright, that's progress."
Another fortifying deep breath, and Ion started off walking around the hot spring; his metallic feet were caked with mud in seconds, but this was hardly the time to be worrying about his body's cleanliness (even if it was a bunch of gross muddy slop). Peripherally, he noted that the two aquatic viruses had followed Lyntael (was that her name?) into the water, but weren't trying to follow her out of it, but rather stayed in the depths to soak and...cuddle? Well alright then. The muddy little Bandcoon, on the other hand, was climbing right back out on the other side, now dripping wet but refusing to leave his friend completely alone. Ion almost stopped to ponder how he'd so easily accepted that the girl was honest-to-goodness friends with this bunch of viruses, but ultimately forged on to stop at Lyntael's side...if a little farther away this time.
Ion took a quick, cursory glance at Lyntael, and saw her trying with panic-numbed fingers to work the clasp on her skirt. "Okay, what to do, what to do..." Ion wracked his processors; Leif had outright left the room, he'd buggered off so hard, and Lyntael didn't seem to have an Operator on-hand to help out. "Well, at least you're getting to practice a little independence..." he muttered with a rueful eye-roll, and cleared his throat. "Hey...Lyntael? That's your name, right? I'm not gonna hurt you; I'm not gonna touch you, even, I'll stay right over here if that's what you want. But I want you to know...that whatever you're seeing right now, I know it's probably scary and, well, miles beyond anything I could imagine, but it isn't here. This is a safe place; your Bandcoon's trying to tell you the same thing, hey? But for now...take a deep breath, get your clothes back on for the time being; that'll help. Maybe wash off a little in the hot springs, or that mud's gonna dry and feel good and wretched later."
He was rambling and he knew it, but Leif's advice was blaring strong and true in old, often-accessed memory files, "Don't patronize; whatever they're seeing, it's just as real to them as a broken arm might be to me, or a Charge Shot to the face for you. Just be calm, and be a neutral party outside of what they're seeing." It was the kind of logic that suggested past experience, and it had worked to calm down Phase...Ion could only hope that it might help here as well, and he needed to reach out to this girl. "Lyntael," he tried again, still with a hint of uncertainty to his tone (what if she'd been scared or something by someone named Lyntael and he was just reminding her of that?), but charging on anyway, "...just keep taking nice deep breaths; I'm gonna ask you a question," he tried giving her plenty of time to react, forcing himself to slow down, "Are you panicking because of something that's here right now, something I can see myself...or is it something you're remembering that's come up to the surface?"
In the layers of code that made up his mind, Ion saw flashes of Phase, running blindly through the lab corridors and screaming for him and Cal and Jenga to stay back, of Leif's voice soft and serious as death as his Operator whispered instructions into his brain, of holding Phase in the aftermath, lab a wreck around them, while she sobbed a series of mad hysterics into his steel-and-muscle chest. Closing his eyes and mirroring his own advice, Ion took a deep breath of steamy onsen air to calm his nerves. "Deep breaths," he said aloud, both for his own benefit and for Lyntael's. "First step is to catch your breath; the rest follows from there."
=Predators(?)=
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud] [Hovering around Lyntael]
Lark: 69HP [Onsen] [Cuddling Snoozy]
Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen]
=Hostage(?)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +1] [My Pain is Real: Ready!] [40HP Barrier] [Buster Charge x1] [Off-Target] [Mud]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
60% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
20% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
20% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
=Rescuer(?)=
Ion: 190HP [Mud] [Back a ways from Lyntael]
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If she could get her clothes on, that would make things better. It was the clearest thought Lyntael had, for the moment, and it wasn't a particularly clear one. Part of her mind insisted, though: if she could get dressed, that would mean she wasn't there, and it wasn't happening again. Her hands shook, and the catch wouldn't take. Sparks were jumping between her fingers as she looked down, trying to do up the simple garment, and her vision was blurry too. The latter was simply from her body's latest attempt at distressed tears; her eyes were sore and dry, but they still managed enough of a film of hinder her sight.
She gasped a short breath before a sob shook her. It wouldn't go. Why wouldn't it just catch? The frustration only made her fingers tremble more, and brought more sobs as her breaths grew shorter and quicker. If she could just get it on, then it wouldn't be real, but she couldn't get it on. One end of the skirt slipped between her fingers and she twisted awkwardly, half turning as the garment fluttered away back around her before she managed to grab hold of it again. The concept of being exposed or not was more or less abstract at this point, so fixated was she on the one goal she could hold onto; that losing the skirt again for a few seconds had once again put everything on show, never registered.
A small part of her mind knew that she needed to calm down; knew that the momentary flashback was just that, and nothing more, but it was a very thin thread in a whirlpool of other overriding reactions. The skirt was too hard. Start with something easier. Her pants were here somewhere, right? Her fingers let go of the skirt, giving up on the belligerent clasp for now as her mind reached for a simpler option. Unheeded, the strip of fabric fluttered down and to the side to settle onto the surface of the springs, quickly soaking through. She looked around, half expecting the undergarment to simply be there, because her thoughts said it was, until the recollection of where she'd put them, for safe keeping, surfaced at last.
There was another voice nearby, and she looked up from her search. She did see Ion, sort of. A part of her saw him, and identified that the voice was his, and that he was the one speaking to her. The connection didn't make it all the way through, though, not completely, and after her eyes brushed over him briefly, her head dropped again to begin searching in her vest for the folded undergarment. Ion would likely have seen wide, red-rimmed eyes dart over him in a far more twitchy set of movements that Lyntael herself was aware of, and if he was familiar with the feeling of being stared right though, he'd probably have felt it then.
He'd said something about what she was seeing. What was she seeing? Water. Steam. Hot coals. Her toes were curled around some of the smaller, looser stones in the shallow water. She wasn't there; that had been cold. Here was warm, hot even. That was a difference. She couldn't find her underwear. They weren't there any more.
"Where... where are they? Where did they go...?" That much she actually spoke aloud as she began to cast about, looking for where the underclothes might have escaped to. Her hands were still shaking and she still felt numb, but speaking aloud had forced her to take a longer, deeper breath, and the small thread in her mind that was trying to calm her held onto it. Once the pattern was there, she kept it, gradually taking longer, smoother breaths again.
"It was here. I had them... safe, but, they're gone now..." Her voice shook in between uneven breaths, but both were better than they had been, at least a little. Lyntael was looking around more desperately though, eyes wandering over the coals, over the surface of the spring, looking for the missing undergarment, but it didn't seem to be anywhere. The part of her mind that was still fixated on dressing as a means of dispelling her fear was beginning to despair of ever being properly dressed again, and after a few more hopeless glances about, the girl sank slowly to her knees at the edge of the spring. The coals felt scorching hot against her bare skin, but at this stage, that sensation was more of a positive thing than anything else.
The voice was talking again, and she lifted her head. She was coherent enough to recognise Ion talking to her from a safe distance, but if she'd really been seeing him properly, she'd have been far more aware of the fact that she was kneeling with her knees wide apart, facing the other navi, and bare from the waist down; as it was, those features were still abstractly disconnected in her mind. She could feel the little bandcoon close by the outside of her left thigh. He was probably worried about her. That thought in particular was a more rational one than she'd had in recent minutes. The voice. Focus.
He was telling her to clam down as well; to breath more. She found herself nodding blankly. He knew her name.. did he know her? Or had she told him. No, she had said her name earlier, that was right. Her heart was still hammering madly in her chest, but now her breathing was closer to panting, rather than shallow gasps, and each inhale and exhale gradually lengthened. Her head dropped again, looking down at the surface of the water just in front of her, but this time it was more so she could focus on getting herself under control. Thoughts were slowly coming back together, bit by bit, and she wrapped her arms about herself, hugging tightly while she sought an answer.
"I... I, I'm not..." She tried again. "I'm not there. That's not now." It sounded weak to her ears, and there was no denying that she was speaking the words as much to convince herself, as to answer the question from the mysterious other navi. "That's past. I got away. He... He didn't... didn't... He didn't..." Her breath quickened and her shoulders heaved again, and on instinct Lyntael cut the train of thought quickly, falling silent again as she concentrated on long, slow breaths.
When her calm had returned enough to put the pieces together on her position, and the presence of another navi, and a male one at that, she might have panicked again, but some small part of her mind that had held onto the situation was ready for it. There was a moment when she looked up, blinked a few times to focus on Ion properly then gasped, but her reaction was much closer to what might be considered 'normal' in such a situation. She fell back, first, folding her legs, then shifted quickly into the concealing water of the spring. The hot flush on her cheeks was, really, quite a healthy sign, considering how she'd been a moment minutes before. The girl bit her lip, mostly concealed by the water, and drew her knees up to her chest while she looked at him.
"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." Snatches of her previous minutes were less clear, but she recalled enough. "I attacked you. I hurt you, didn't I?" She broke eye contact, looking down again. "I'm sorry, I hurt everyone around me. I don't mean to, but I can't seem to help it." Without realising that she was following his advice, Lyntael began to lift some of the water to wash the mud from her face and hair. It was all in one side of her vest as well. Her eyes fell on her skirt, floating nearby, and she absently wondered if there was any point in tyring to keep anything dry at all. Her blush spread further and she paused.
"Ah... Can... can you turn around please? I should clean my vest, and, um..." Words failed her, but hopefully the other navi would understand what she meant, at least. They could still talk, as long as he was very definitely facing away from her while she slipped her vest off and began trying to wash the mud from it.
She wasn't calm enough to make her skin safe yet, but the girl did manage a small glance for her bandcoon friend, and made an attempt at a grin to show him she was doing better. It was a weak attempt, but it was something. A side-long look let her see that the Lark and Snoozy were alright as well, but Lyntael herself was far too ashamed of her earlier actions to initiate a greeting or reassurance of any sort. Still, it was something she needed to say, and she tried to while she scrubbed at herself.
"Um... thankyou. For not hurting my friends. I was scared that you'd attack them, but, they're nice." It sounded like a very strange thing to say, in retrospect. Between that and her behaviour earlier, he was going to think she was crazy. "My heart... it won't slow down." It wouldn't yet, but at least she was present enough to understand that it would, so long as she kept calm and breathed slowly.
She gasped a short breath before a sob shook her. It wouldn't go. Why wouldn't it just catch? The frustration only made her fingers tremble more, and brought more sobs as her breaths grew shorter and quicker. If she could just get it on, then it wouldn't be real, but she couldn't get it on. One end of the skirt slipped between her fingers and she twisted awkwardly, half turning as the garment fluttered away back around her before she managed to grab hold of it again. The concept of being exposed or not was more or less abstract at this point, so fixated was she on the one goal she could hold onto; that losing the skirt again for a few seconds had once again put everything on show, never registered.
A small part of her mind knew that she needed to calm down; knew that the momentary flashback was just that, and nothing more, but it was a very thin thread in a whirlpool of other overriding reactions. The skirt was too hard. Start with something easier. Her pants were here somewhere, right? Her fingers let go of the skirt, giving up on the belligerent clasp for now as her mind reached for a simpler option. Unheeded, the strip of fabric fluttered down and to the side to settle onto the surface of the springs, quickly soaking through. She looked around, half expecting the undergarment to simply be there, because her thoughts said it was, until the recollection of where she'd put them, for safe keeping, surfaced at last.
There was another voice nearby, and she looked up from her search. She did see Ion, sort of. A part of her saw him, and identified that the voice was his, and that he was the one speaking to her. The connection didn't make it all the way through, though, not completely, and after her eyes brushed over him briefly, her head dropped again to begin searching in her vest for the folded undergarment. Ion would likely have seen wide, red-rimmed eyes dart over him in a far more twitchy set of movements that Lyntael herself was aware of, and if he was familiar with the feeling of being stared right though, he'd probably have felt it then.
He'd said something about what she was seeing. What was she seeing? Water. Steam. Hot coals. Her toes were curled around some of the smaller, looser stones in the shallow water. She wasn't there; that had been cold. Here was warm, hot even. That was a difference. She couldn't find her underwear. They weren't there any more.
"Where... where are they? Where did they go...?" That much she actually spoke aloud as she began to cast about, looking for where the underclothes might have escaped to. Her hands were still shaking and she still felt numb, but speaking aloud had forced her to take a longer, deeper breath, and the small thread in her mind that was trying to calm her held onto it. Once the pattern was there, she kept it, gradually taking longer, smoother breaths again.
"It was here. I had them... safe, but, they're gone now..." Her voice shook in between uneven breaths, but both were better than they had been, at least a little. Lyntael was looking around more desperately though, eyes wandering over the coals, over the surface of the spring, looking for the missing undergarment, but it didn't seem to be anywhere. The part of her mind that was still fixated on dressing as a means of dispelling her fear was beginning to despair of ever being properly dressed again, and after a few more hopeless glances about, the girl sank slowly to her knees at the edge of the spring. The coals felt scorching hot against her bare skin, but at this stage, that sensation was more of a positive thing than anything else.
The voice was talking again, and she lifted her head. She was coherent enough to recognise Ion talking to her from a safe distance, but if she'd really been seeing him properly, she'd have been far more aware of the fact that she was kneeling with her knees wide apart, facing the other navi, and bare from the waist down; as it was, those features were still abstractly disconnected in her mind. She could feel the little bandcoon close by the outside of her left thigh. He was probably worried about her. That thought in particular was a more rational one than she'd had in recent minutes. The voice. Focus.
He was telling her to clam down as well; to breath more. She found herself nodding blankly. He knew her name.. did he know her? Or had she told him. No, she had said her name earlier, that was right. Her heart was still hammering madly in her chest, but now her breathing was closer to panting, rather than shallow gasps, and each inhale and exhale gradually lengthened. Her head dropped again, looking down at the surface of the water just in front of her, but this time it was more so she could focus on getting herself under control. Thoughts were slowly coming back together, bit by bit, and she wrapped her arms about herself, hugging tightly while she sought an answer.
"I... I, I'm not..." She tried again. "I'm not there. That's not now." It sounded weak to her ears, and there was no denying that she was speaking the words as much to convince herself, as to answer the question from the mysterious other navi. "That's past. I got away. He... He didn't... didn't... He didn't..." Her breath quickened and her shoulders heaved again, and on instinct Lyntael cut the train of thought quickly, falling silent again as she concentrated on long, slow breaths.
When her calm had returned enough to put the pieces together on her position, and the presence of another navi, and a male one at that, she might have panicked again, but some small part of her mind that had held onto the situation was ready for it. There was a moment when she looked up, blinked a few times to focus on Ion properly then gasped, but her reaction was much closer to what might be considered 'normal' in such a situation. She fell back, first, folding her legs, then shifted quickly into the concealing water of the spring. The hot flush on her cheeks was, really, quite a healthy sign, considering how she'd been a moment minutes before. The girl bit her lip, mostly concealed by the water, and drew her knees up to her chest while she looked at him.
"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." Snatches of her previous minutes were less clear, but she recalled enough. "I attacked you. I hurt you, didn't I?" She broke eye contact, looking down again. "I'm sorry, I hurt everyone around me. I don't mean to, but I can't seem to help it." Without realising that she was following his advice, Lyntael began to lift some of the water to wash the mud from her face and hair. It was all in one side of her vest as well. Her eyes fell on her skirt, floating nearby, and she absently wondered if there was any point in tyring to keep anything dry at all. Her blush spread further and she paused.
"Ah... Can... can you turn around please? I should clean my vest, and, um..." Words failed her, but hopefully the other navi would understand what she meant, at least. They could still talk, as long as he was very definitely facing away from her while she slipped her vest off and began trying to wash the mud from it.
She wasn't calm enough to make her skin safe yet, but the girl did manage a small glance for her bandcoon friend, and made an attempt at a grin to show him she was doing better. It was a weak attempt, but it was something. A side-long look let her see that the Lark and Snoozy were alright as well, but Lyntael herself was far too ashamed of her earlier actions to initiate a greeting or reassurance of any sort. Still, it was something she needed to say, and she tried to while she scrubbed at herself.
"Um... thankyou. For not hurting my friends. I was scared that you'd attack them, but, they're nice." It sounded like a very strange thing to say, in retrospect. Between that and her behaviour earlier, he was going to think she was crazy. "My heart... it won't slow down." It wouldn't yet, but at least she was present enough to understand that it would, so long as she kept calm and breathed slowly.
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For all of Ion's can-do attitude on a normal day, all the cyborg could do while Lyntael fumbled with her skirt was sit in the dank, sticky, gross mud, half-watch the young lady out of the corner of his eye to make sure she didn't...something, and feel more than a little helpless. "Umm...I'd offer to help out with that, but, uhh...maybe not the best idea? Heh..." Ion forced himself to chuckle, to do anything to make his sad attempt at a joke more credible; in the seconds that followed, he added, "You know what? Forget I said that; take all the time you need. No pressure, right? Here's a good, safe place" and forced himself to shut up until there was actually something worth commenting on.
There was a fair moment of silence, wherein Lyntael did her best to search out her clothes, and Ion tried to look everywhere but directly at Lyntael. He opened his map program and, with a few quick inputs, added the hot spring at the end of a long, windy path through the woods. Then he took several eye-captures of the area and attached them to the map. Then he made several notes on the Lark and Snoozy, both resting in the rejuvenating waters, and the Bandcoon that, as far as he could tell, was local to the habitat. He searched for something else to do, realizing his list of busywork was quickly drying out...and then, in a freak accident, he cast around for something to look at, and wound up staring Lyntael straight in the eye.
~"Get away from me!! NO NO PLEASE STAY AWAY STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!!"~
The flashback slammed into Ion with a force he could've sworn was physical. Just as Lyntael seemed to stare straight through him to some unseen thing far, far away, Phase's face overlaid itself atop the actually-present young lady's; yellow vest blended seamlessly into navy sera fuku, green eyes mixed with turquoise, and the screaming the screaming the screaming-
"STOPPIT!" Ion somehow had the strength of mind to yell at himself, and the jolt back to the present shattered the double-image. "Gotta be strong, you've got to be the strong one here. You can have your breakdown later...oh where the HELL is Leif when you actually need him," he silently cursed his Operator's absence, taking his own advice in the form of several deep, slightly-shaky breaths. When he finally got the courage to look back up, Lyntael wasn't staring through him anymore, instead searching again for...something, presumably more of her outfit.
Something in the frantic darting around clicked with Ion, and tentatively, he ventured, "If you're looking for something small...maybe give your pockets and your outfit a once-over? My Operator always loses his keys while they're still on him...or if they aren't, I could help search?" As if to demonstrate, he stood up from his muddy perch and gave the hot spring a cursory once-over. Nothing immediately popped out at him, at least until he double-took at the skirt still floating on the onsen's surface. "That's right, she..." his monologue started, but Ion was already wading out into the shallow pool, reaching down and plucking the garment from the surface. Eying the sodden fabric for a moment, the mechanoid twirled it in one hand for a moment, and grabbed with the other, doing his best to wring the whole affair dry; it might wrinkle as a result, but he figured wrinkled beat waterlogged any day of the week. "I've got your skirt...well, as dry as I could get it," he called, just in case Lyntael hadn't seen it happen. "Just let me know when you're ready for it and I'll toss it over."
He awaited a response, and was pleased to hear a tiny, halting female voice from across the clearing. However, what Lyn was actually saying didn't exactly click with the last thing Ion had said; it took a moment for his virtual brain to connect the dots back to something he'd said earlier, and make up for the communications lag. "That's right, you got away. You're not there anymore," his voice dropped down a few notes, low and soothing as he could manage. He didn't bother to address whatever it was the mysterious 'he' didn't do; whatever it was, addressing the matter would only get her thinking about it more, which was the precise opposite of what he wanted.
Taking a chance, Ion turned his head to regard Lyntael again, and met her eyes once more. To his utter relief, she reacted much more as he would expect a half-nude young woman to react to him: embarrassment had taken front and centre stage, and that was something to be thankful for. "Alright, we're getting somewhere," his monologue cheered, only to quiet the moment Lyn started talking again.
While Ion was touched that she was worried about him, something told him that her dwelling on his little nick could only lead to Bad Things. "Just a scratch, nothing to worry about," he effected a casual tone, doing his best to assure that the attack hadn't done much to injure or offend him. More importantly..."That...electric pulse thing of yours, you can't quite control it, yeah? I work for a company that studies things like power irregularities, viral contamination...whole lotta things, really, but point is, people exist who can help you study your powers. Heck, we could probably help you learn to control it...but I digress, I'll be turning around now."
Ion spun on his heel and smartly stood with his back to Lyntael. Just as reminder, he held her skirt in two pinched fingers, stretching his arm behind him. "Don't forget this; I'd throw it back to you, but I don't wanna risk getting it all muddy. Actually, know what, here," he changed plans, setting the skirt on the grass beyond the mud, and taking a few more steps forward. "Now you can just take it. Let me know if you need anything; I'll just be...you know, standing." The cyborg's job as done as he could figure, he stared up to the navy sky of Yoka Net; the deep, rich blue reminding him uncannily of a certain schoolgirl's skirt, and Ion wondered how his favourite surrogate little-sister was holding up. "Hopefully she's doing better, now that she's got Vincent again," he mused, grinning a handsome, hopeful smile up at the moonless sky.
As Ion thought on, Lyn's Bandcoon squeaked to her from the shore, waving a little paw and flinging mud everywhere. The little guy really had stuck it out with her, through thick and thin, and he was even smart enough to know to stay out of the water while Lyntael was cleaning up. The Lark and Snoozy were in the pool with her, but were sequestered far enough back in their corner to be safe from her static pulses. While the Lark's many scratches and bruises slowly faded in the healing waters, the Snoozy held her larger mate tight in her sleep, whimpering ever so softly into the night. The grandpa-fish looked to Lyntael and burbled a wizened old noise, somewhere between a coo of empathy and a sigh of sorrow; just like Ion, he was doing his best to be the strong one, even as he hurt inside just as much as the inconsolable Snoozy.
=Predators(?)=
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud] [Hovering around Lyntael]
Lark: 72HP [Onsen L] [Cuddling Snoozy]
Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen L] [Sleeping]
=Hostage(?)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +1] [My Pain is Real: Ready!] [40HP Barrier] [Buster Charge x1] [Onsen L]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
30% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
10% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
10% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
50% Normal [The rest of the clearing]
=Rescuer(?)=
Ion: 190HP [Normal, standing with back turned to Lyntael]
There was a fair moment of silence, wherein Lyntael did her best to search out her clothes, and Ion tried to look everywhere but directly at Lyntael. He opened his map program and, with a few quick inputs, added the hot spring at the end of a long, windy path through the woods. Then he took several eye-captures of the area and attached them to the map. Then he made several notes on the Lark and Snoozy, both resting in the rejuvenating waters, and the Bandcoon that, as far as he could tell, was local to the habitat. He searched for something else to do, realizing his list of busywork was quickly drying out...and then, in a freak accident, he cast around for something to look at, and wound up staring Lyntael straight in the eye.
~"Get away from me!! NO NO PLEASE STAY AWAY STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!!"~
The flashback slammed into Ion with a force he could've sworn was physical. Just as Lyntael seemed to stare straight through him to some unseen thing far, far away, Phase's face overlaid itself atop the actually-present young lady's; yellow vest blended seamlessly into navy sera fuku, green eyes mixed with turquoise, and the screaming the screaming the screaming-
"STOPPIT!" Ion somehow had the strength of mind to yell at himself, and the jolt back to the present shattered the double-image. "Gotta be strong, you've got to be the strong one here. You can have your breakdown later...oh where the HELL is Leif when you actually need him," he silently cursed his Operator's absence, taking his own advice in the form of several deep, slightly-shaky breaths. When he finally got the courage to look back up, Lyntael wasn't staring through him anymore, instead searching again for...something, presumably more of her outfit.
Something in the frantic darting around clicked with Ion, and tentatively, he ventured, "If you're looking for something small...maybe give your pockets and your outfit a once-over? My Operator always loses his keys while they're still on him...or if they aren't, I could help search?" As if to demonstrate, he stood up from his muddy perch and gave the hot spring a cursory once-over. Nothing immediately popped out at him, at least until he double-took at the skirt still floating on the onsen's surface. "That's right, she..." his monologue started, but Ion was already wading out into the shallow pool, reaching down and plucking the garment from the surface. Eying the sodden fabric for a moment, the mechanoid twirled it in one hand for a moment, and grabbed with the other, doing his best to wring the whole affair dry; it might wrinkle as a result, but he figured wrinkled beat waterlogged any day of the week. "I've got your skirt...well, as dry as I could get it," he called, just in case Lyntael hadn't seen it happen. "Just let me know when you're ready for it and I'll toss it over."
He awaited a response, and was pleased to hear a tiny, halting female voice from across the clearing. However, what Lyn was actually saying didn't exactly click with the last thing Ion had said; it took a moment for his virtual brain to connect the dots back to something he'd said earlier, and make up for the communications lag. "That's right, you got away. You're not there anymore," his voice dropped down a few notes, low and soothing as he could manage. He didn't bother to address whatever it was the mysterious 'he' didn't do; whatever it was, addressing the matter would only get her thinking about it more, which was the precise opposite of what he wanted.
Taking a chance, Ion turned his head to regard Lyntael again, and met her eyes once more. To his utter relief, she reacted much more as he would expect a half-nude young woman to react to him: embarrassment had taken front and centre stage, and that was something to be thankful for. "Alright, we're getting somewhere," his monologue cheered, only to quiet the moment Lyn started talking again.
While Ion was touched that she was worried about him, something told him that her dwelling on his little nick could only lead to Bad Things. "Just a scratch, nothing to worry about," he effected a casual tone, doing his best to assure that the attack hadn't done much to injure or offend him. More importantly..."That...electric pulse thing of yours, you can't quite control it, yeah? I work for a company that studies things like power irregularities, viral contamination...whole lotta things, really, but point is, people exist who can help you study your powers. Heck, we could probably help you learn to control it...but I digress, I'll be turning around now."
Ion spun on his heel and smartly stood with his back to Lyntael. Just as reminder, he held her skirt in two pinched fingers, stretching his arm behind him. "Don't forget this; I'd throw it back to you, but I don't wanna risk getting it all muddy. Actually, know what, here," he changed plans, setting the skirt on the grass beyond the mud, and taking a few more steps forward. "Now you can just take it. Let me know if you need anything; I'll just be...you know, standing." The cyborg's job as done as he could figure, he stared up to the navy sky of Yoka Net; the deep, rich blue reminding him uncannily of a certain schoolgirl's skirt, and Ion wondered how his favourite surrogate little-sister was holding up. "Hopefully she's doing better, now that she's got Vincent again," he mused, grinning a handsome, hopeful smile up at the moonless sky.
As Ion thought on, Lyn's Bandcoon squeaked to her from the shore, waving a little paw and flinging mud everywhere. The little guy really had stuck it out with her, through thick and thin, and he was even smart enough to know to stay out of the water while Lyntael was cleaning up. The Lark and Snoozy were in the pool with her, but were sequestered far enough back in their corner to be safe from her static pulses. While the Lark's many scratches and bruises slowly faded in the healing waters, the Snoozy held her larger mate tight in her sleep, whimpering ever so softly into the night. The grandpa-fish looked to Lyntael and burbled a wizened old noise, somewhere between a coo of empathy and a sigh of sorrow; just like Ion, he was doing his best to be the strong one, even as he hurt inside just as much as the inconsolable Snoozy.
=Predators(?)=
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud] [Hovering around Lyntael]
Lark: 72HP [Onsen L] [Cuddling Snoozy]
Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen L] [Sleeping]
=Hostage(?)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +1] [My Pain is Real: Ready!] [40HP Barrier] [Buster Charge x1] [Onsen L]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
30% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
10% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
10% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
50% Normal [The rest of the clearing]
=Rescuer(?)=
Ion: 190HP [Normal, standing with back turned to Lyntael]
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It was one of those times that might some day become a look-back-and-laugh moment; two complete stranger navis, meeting by chance, and each struggling with their own inner turmoils while being more concerned for the other. As she fought to calm herself down, Lyntael hadn't had much chance to notice Ion's sudden freeze up as he dealt with his own unpleasant memories, but she found herself relieved, at least, to discover that this stranger, whoever he was, was being as decent as he could about having found her in the state she was in.
Her heart was still racing an impossible tattoo in her chest, and it still left her hands shaking slightly, but he was looking away from her deliberately, and she felt more comfortable just knowing that while she slipped out of her vest, giving up all hope of keeping any part of it dry, and began to gently work the mud out of it.
A snatch of memory reminded her that, after all the effort she'd taken to dry her skirt off properly the first time, she'd gone and dropped it in the springs again... and hadn't even managed to find her underpants, for that, either. The thought made her wince and fret again, and she pointedly turned her attention back to washing her vest. The other navi had said something to her as well; that was something else she could focus on until her pulse relaxed again. Glancing up towards his back, she noticed that he'd fished her skirt out of the spring and laid it on the grass for her, but stood past it with his back to her. It was only a small gesture really, but it helped.
"I can control it, sometimes..." She hesitated almost immediately. Recent events took most of the value out of that claim. "But I can't really stop a lot of it, when I'm scared, or worried. When I'm afraid, or, or I panic, or... it just happens, you know?" She started off speaking towards him, with her face up, but as the explanation went on, her voice grew softer and more uncertain, and her head dropped down to look back at the surface of the water. Unless Ion had particularly good hearing, making her out was probably going to get a bit difficult unless she spoke up again.
"It's no good though. It hurts me, and I... I don't like it. The more energy I use, the faster it builds up, and if I keep using it, it hurts more and more... and I..." Lyntael clicked her teeth shut, swallowing and taking along breath. She cut the train of thought off and closed her eyes for a few long moments. She could talk about those problems later, when she wasn't so badly on edge.
"Thank you for rescuing my skirt." That was a much safer, clearer thing to say. Her vest was about as clean as she could get it, and she held it up out of the water, squeezing it out, then checked to make sure Ion was still looking the other way. With a sigh, she stood up out of the spring and slipped the thin garment over her shoulders again, only struggling a little bit with getting the clasps done up now. Her fingers had mostly stilled, and her heart-rate was beginning to subside, at last.
The vest felt clingy, but it was better than nothing. She shrugged a little, settling it. Unfortunately as much as she couldn't see the effect herself when the vest was wet like this, the thin fabric became slightly sheer and clung to her skin. While she didn't have much curvature to show for it underneath, any glanced over her front would probably be drawn to two points in particular anyway.
Her mind was telling her he'd asked about what she was searching for, but the hot blush jumped back to her cheeks, and she decided she certainly wasn't going to say that she'd been looking for her pants, and draw attention to that whole problem again. Instead she waded towards the edge of the spring to claim the other garment that she still possessed.
Despite how proper he was being, there was still something silently nervous about the stretch of seconds as she stepped cautiously from the spring, over the mud trail, and reclaimed the strip of fabric from right near the other navi. She vaguely wanted to snatch it up and run away again, but the rational part of her mind tried to force a little more calm over her, and she bent to pick it up, and stepped back again at a more reasonable pace. Even so, it would have been a long few seconds where Ion would have clearly heard the rippling and splashing of her approach, and heard her climb from the water to step up to him, knowing full well the state of undress she was in.
Pulling the skirt around her and getting the catch done up went far more smoothly this time, and Lyntael sighed to herself once it was on and straight. She was still overbearingly aware of her lack of undergarments, but at least at a glance she looked decent again now. She said as much, quietly, and stepped over to the side a little and letting her toes curl in the grassy space beyond the springs and the mud.
"I, um... thank you. I'm sorry I freaked out. I've had a bad few days." She hung her head, holding one elbow with her other hand, and her voice sounded apologetic as she made what was possibly the understatement of the week. "Oh... I haven't asked your name!" This did cause her to look up at him, eyebrows high as her eyes opened wider and she bit her lip, but she had barely made eye contact for a moment or two, before the fairly insistent attention of her little Bandcoon drew her back again. The little creature's concern lead her to crouch down in front of him and try on another smile, closer this time. It even managed to look a little bit stronger, too. A little.
"I'm alright now, little guy. See? I'm feeling better. Sorry I scared you." She didn't let him get close enough to touch or nuzzle her yet; her skin still wasn't safe, but she rested her arms folded across her knees as she crouched by him, trying to make sure the little creature was alright as well.
It was probably a sign that she was feeling better, gradually, but the dubious decency of her position didn't actually occur to Lyntael at that particular moment. It was a fortunate thing for everyone involved, then, that, despite the amount of rough treatment her skirt had been through, its modesty coding still seemed to be functioning properly now that she was wearing it again; where normal gravity might have had unfortunate effects, the skirt managed to hang in just the right way to keep anyone from seeing anything, cute critters and helpful cyborgs included. Once she was sure that her friend was unharmed and ok, Lyntael stood again, blushing slightly for having ignored Ion right after asking his name, and apologised again for doing so. She was doing a lot of apologising, it seemed.
Her heart was still racing an impossible tattoo in her chest, and it still left her hands shaking slightly, but he was looking away from her deliberately, and she felt more comfortable just knowing that while she slipped out of her vest, giving up all hope of keeping any part of it dry, and began to gently work the mud out of it.
A snatch of memory reminded her that, after all the effort she'd taken to dry her skirt off properly the first time, she'd gone and dropped it in the springs again... and hadn't even managed to find her underpants, for that, either. The thought made her wince and fret again, and she pointedly turned her attention back to washing her vest. The other navi had said something to her as well; that was something else she could focus on until her pulse relaxed again. Glancing up towards his back, she noticed that he'd fished her skirt out of the spring and laid it on the grass for her, but stood past it with his back to her. It was only a small gesture really, but it helped.
"I can control it, sometimes..." She hesitated almost immediately. Recent events took most of the value out of that claim. "But I can't really stop a lot of it, when I'm scared, or worried. When I'm afraid, or, or I panic, or... it just happens, you know?" She started off speaking towards him, with her face up, but as the explanation went on, her voice grew softer and more uncertain, and her head dropped down to look back at the surface of the water. Unless Ion had particularly good hearing, making her out was probably going to get a bit difficult unless she spoke up again.
"It's no good though. It hurts me, and I... I don't like it. The more energy I use, the faster it builds up, and if I keep using it, it hurts more and more... and I..." Lyntael clicked her teeth shut, swallowing and taking along breath. She cut the train of thought off and closed her eyes for a few long moments. She could talk about those problems later, when she wasn't so badly on edge.
"Thank you for rescuing my skirt." That was a much safer, clearer thing to say. Her vest was about as clean as she could get it, and she held it up out of the water, squeezing it out, then checked to make sure Ion was still looking the other way. With a sigh, she stood up out of the spring and slipped the thin garment over her shoulders again, only struggling a little bit with getting the clasps done up now. Her fingers had mostly stilled, and her heart-rate was beginning to subside, at last.
The vest felt clingy, but it was better than nothing. She shrugged a little, settling it. Unfortunately as much as she couldn't see the effect herself when the vest was wet like this, the thin fabric became slightly sheer and clung to her skin. While she didn't have much curvature to show for it underneath, any glanced over her front would probably be drawn to two points in particular anyway.
Her mind was telling her he'd asked about what she was searching for, but the hot blush jumped back to her cheeks, and she decided she certainly wasn't going to say that she'd been looking for her pants, and draw attention to that whole problem again. Instead she waded towards the edge of the spring to claim the other garment that she still possessed.
Despite how proper he was being, there was still something silently nervous about the stretch of seconds as she stepped cautiously from the spring, over the mud trail, and reclaimed the strip of fabric from right near the other navi. She vaguely wanted to snatch it up and run away again, but the rational part of her mind tried to force a little more calm over her, and she bent to pick it up, and stepped back again at a more reasonable pace. Even so, it would have been a long few seconds where Ion would have clearly heard the rippling and splashing of her approach, and heard her climb from the water to step up to him, knowing full well the state of undress she was in.
Pulling the skirt around her and getting the catch done up went far more smoothly this time, and Lyntael sighed to herself once it was on and straight. She was still overbearingly aware of her lack of undergarments, but at least at a glance she looked decent again now. She said as much, quietly, and stepped over to the side a little and letting her toes curl in the grassy space beyond the springs and the mud.
"I, um... thank you. I'm sorry I freaked out. I've had a bad few days." She hung her head, holding one elbow with her other hand, and her voice sounded apologetic as she made what was possibly the understatement of the week. "Oh... I haven't asked your name!" This did cause her to look up at him, eyebrows high as her eyes opened wider and she bit her lip, but she had barely made eye contact for a moment or two, before the fairly insistent attention of her little Bandcoon drew her back again. The little creature's concern lead her to crouch down in front of him and try on another smile, closer this time. It even managed to look a little bit stronger, too. A little.
"I'm alright now, little guy. See? I'm feeling better. Sorry I scared you." She didn't let him get close enough to touch or nuzzle her yet; her skin still wasn't safe, but she rested her arms folded across her knees as she crouched by him, trying to make sure the little creature was alright as well.
It was probably a sign that she was feeling better, gradually, but the dubious decency of her position didn't actually occur to Lyntael at that particular moment. It was a fortunate thing for everyone involved, then, that, despite the amount of rough treatment her skirt had been through, its modesty coding still seemed to be functioning properly now that she was wearing it again; where normal gravity might have had unfortunate effects, the skirt managed to hang in just the right way to keep anyone from seeing anything, cute critters and helpful cyborgs included. Once she was sure that her friend was unharmed and ok, Lyntael stood again, blushing slightly for having ignored Ion right after asking his name, and apologised again for doing so. She was doing a lot of apologising, it seemed.
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<(Sorry for taking so long with this.)>
With his back turned to Lyntael, there wasn't much Ion could do but look around, and look around he did. The idiosyncrasies of the hot spring were not lost on him; with a code scheme rich in combat routines and viral tracking protocol, sussing out that a battle had taken place not long before his arrival was a simple enough matter. The mud-border was consistent with the behavior Yoka's native Mudfeesh, there was a strange barbell-looking track through the coal divider that screamed 'Heavy', and there, on the other side of the clearing from his own entrance, was a mess of tramped-down undergrowth that couldn't have happened more than a handful of minutes ago. He wasn't entirely sure where the Lark and Snoozy cuddling in the onsen factored in (or, for that matter, Lyntael herself), but he could make a few educated guesses.
This was an onsen of survivors, Ion noted to himself. He was moments away from inquiring on the spring, only to be cut off by the soft, piping child's voice (for even teenagers still looked so very young) that belonged to his charge of the day. "Poor child, like a bird with a broken wing," the cyborg mused, thinking back to Lyntael's gravity well eyes, "but then, you couldn't be a bird, could you, because hope is the thing with feathers." He didn't dare speak a word aloud, letting the little girl squeeze everything out. "That's it, like dirty water from a dishrag," he silently encouraged her; from the outside, he appeared to be merely silent, stalwartly staring off in the direction of definitely-not-Lyntael, perhaps not even listening. His virus-trained audio receptors (for the antennae on the sides of his head could hardly be called ears, now could they) told a different story, catching every halting word and adding them to his mental in-tray for processing.
There, he could work with that. "It was nothing, really," he started, voice low with comfort and hot chocolate and all that which made the monsters go scurrying back under the bed. "Like I said, (or at least, I'm pretty sure I said) I'm here to help. You aren't alone here, Lyntael, and you don't have to be." Was that good? Ion hoped it was working; he couldn't exactly check on her with his back turned, but the scared little girl at least sounded more put-together by now.
Keeping his receptors at full gain in case she spoke again, for a long few moments Ion heard nothing but the heavy rustling of wet clothes, and then the mild splashing of Lyntael getting out of the hot spring. It perhaps wasn't quite as tense a moment for Ion to stay as he was, as it was for Lyntael to brave the journey to retrieve her skirt, but the cyborg was fairly sure the almost greasy static charge in the air wasn't just him. Attempting to both make things easier on her, and avoid another potential jolt, he took another few steps away from the skirt. He heard more dampened rustling, and at long last a tiny sigh of relief. "All dressed? Turning around in three...two...one..." and he spun to get his first good, uninterrupted look of Lyntael.
With her clothing in place and the shadows slowly (but surely) receding from within and beneath her eyes, the resemblance to Phase became less pronounced, to Ion's intense relief. The younger body and fresher face made the tragedy (for there surely was one behind those eyes) raw and dirty to think about, but finally the man-made-machine-made-Navi could look her in the eye without his nonexistent stomach turning over itself in flashback. As it was, he still kept his eyes glued onto her face without an ounce of deviation, for while sexuality was a known phenomenon to him, he couldn't look at the confirmation of Lyntael's human-real anatomy without feeling dirtier than the mud underfoot.
And so he simply smiled his handsome, patient smile, about to introduce himself as he'd failed to earlier, only for the Bandcoon to remind both Navis of its presence. Any irritation he might've had with the virus evaporated the moment he noticed the honest happiness Lyntael got from the curious little beast. Any little bit helped, and so there was no animosity to be had, despite what his viral trackers were screaming at him. In the end, he waved her apology aside as though she'd just thrown it at him, and touched a warm, callused hand to his metal sternum. "Ion.EXE, at your service," he made a little bow. "No apologies necessary, Lyntael - that is your name, right? It can be good to let it all out now and then, and I was happy to listen."
The Bandcoon continued to snuffle around Lyntael, keeping a respectful distance of her static charge but doing its best regardless to shower her with affection. The sight of its antics were enough to make Ion chuckle, pointing down to the creature. "Looks like he agrees with me; what's his story, anyway? I've never seen a virus so attached to a Navi before." It was a safe topic, he figured, as they moved into safer waters. Even as he surreptitiously calmed his breathing down, he could let his combat senses relax with the knowledge that Lyntael was back in control of herself, and things would (hopefully) be alright.
=The Survivors=
Lark: 75HP [Onsen L] [Cuddling Snoozy]
Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen L] [Sleeping]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud] [Hovering around Lyntael]
=The Fallen (but not Downed)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +1] [My Pain is Real: Ready!] [40HP Barrier] [Buster Charge x1] [Onsen L]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
30% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
10% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
10% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
50% Normal [The rest of the clearing]
=The Helping Hand=
Ion: 190HP [Normal, standing with back turned to Lyntael]
With his back turned to Lyntael, there wasn't much Ion could do but look around, and look around he did. The idiosyncrasies of the hot spring were not lost on him; with a code scheme rich in combat routines and viral tracking protocol, sussing out that a battle had taken place not long before his arrival was a simple enough matter. The mud-border was consistent with the behavior Yoka's native Mudfeesh, there was a strange barbell-looking track through the coal divider that screamed 'Heavy', and there, on the other side of the clearing from his own entrance, was a mess of tramped-down undergrowth that couldn't have happened more than a handful of minutes ago. He wasn't entirely sure where the Lark and Snoozy cuddling in the onsen factored in (or, for that matter, Lyntael herself), but he could make a few educated guesses.
This was an onsen of survivors, Ion noted to himself. He was moments away from inquiring on the spring, only to be cut off by the soft, piping child's voice (for even teenagers still looked so very young) that belonged to his charge of the day. "Poor child, like a bird with a broken wing," the cyborg mused, thinking back to Lyntael's gravity well eyes, "but then, you couldn't be a bird, could you, because hope is the thing with feathers." He didn't dare speak a word aloud, letting the little girl squeeze everything out. "That's it, like dirty water from a dishrag," he silently encouraged her; from the outside, he appeared to be merely silent, stalwartly staring off in the direction of definitely-not-Lyntael, perhaps not even listening. His virus-trained audio receptors (for the antennae on the sides of his head could hardly be called ears, now could they) told a different story, catching every halting word and adding them to his mental in-tray for processing.
Quote ()
"Thank you for rescuing my skirt."
There, he could work with that. "It was nothing, really," he started, voice low with comfort and hot chocolate and all that which made the monsters go scurrying back under the bed. "Like I said, (or at least, I'm pretty sure I said) I'm here to help. You aren't alone here, Lyntael, and you don't have to be." Was that good? Ion hoped it was working; he couldn't exactly check on her with his back turned, but the scared little girl at least sounded more put-together by now.
Keeping his receptors at full gain in case she spoke again, for a long few moments Ion heard nothing but the heavy rustling of wet clothes, and then the mild splashing of Lyntael getting out of the hot spring. It perhaps wasn't quite as tense a moment for Ion to stay as he was, as it was for Lyntael to brave the journey to retrieve her skirt, but the cyborg was fairly sure the almost greasy static charge in the air wasn't just him. Attempting to both make things easier on her, and avoid another potential jolt, he took another few steps away from the skirt. He heard more dampened rustling, and at long last a tiny sigh of relief. "All dressed? Turning around in three...two...one..." and he spun to get his first good, uninterrupted look of Lyntael.
With her clothing in place and the shadows slowly (but surely) receding from within and beneath her eyes, the resemblance to Phase became less pronounced, to Ion's intense relief. The younger body and fresher face made the tragedy (for there surely was one behind those eyes) raw and dirty to think about, but finally the man-made-machine-made-Navi could look her in the eye without his nonexistent stomach turning over itself in flashback. As it was, he still kept his eyes glued onto her face without an ounce of deviation, for while sexuality was a known phenomenon to him, he couldn't look at the confirmation of Lyntael's human-real anatomy without feeling dirtier than the mud underfoot.
And so he simply smiled his handsome, patient smile, about to introduce himself as he'd failed to earlier, only for the Bandcoon to remind both Navis of its presence. Any irritation he might've had with the virus evaporated the moment he noticed the honest happiness Lyntael got from the curious little beast. Any little bit helped, and so there was no animosity to be had, despite what his viral trackers were screaming at him. In the end, he waved her apology aside as though she'd just thrown it at him, and touched a warm, callused hand to his metal sternum. "Ion.EXE, at your service," he made a little bow. "No apologies necessary, Lyntael - that is your name, right? It can be good to let it all out now and then, and I was happy to listen."
The Bandcoon continued to snuffle around Lyntael, keeping a respectful distance of her static charge but doing its best regardless to shower her with affection. The sight of its antics were enough to make Ion chuckle, pointing down to the creature. "Looks like he agrees with me; what's his story, anyway? I've never seen a virus so attached to a Navi before." It was a safe topic, he figured, as they moved into safer waters. Even as he surreptitiously calmed his breathing down, he could let his combat senses relax with the knowledge that Lyntael was back in control of herself, and things would (hopefully) be alright.
=The Survivors=
Lark: 75HP [Onsen L] [Cuddling Snoozy]
Snoozy: 60HP [Onsen L] [Sleeping]
Bandcoon: 60HP [Mud] [Hovering around Lyntael]
=The Fallen (but not Downed)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +1] [My Pain is Real: Ready!] [40HP Barrier] [Buster Charge x1] [Onsen L]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
30% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
10% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
10% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
50% Normal [The rest of the clearing]
=The Helping Hand=
Ion: 190HP [Normal, standing with back turned to Lyntael]
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Dressed and ready, finally, Lyntael still felt herself flinch ever so slightly when her unexpected new friend turned about to face her again. She'd said she was ready, of course, but it was still a bit quick and she was still a bit jumpy. The moment after her slight breath catch, though, it was gone; just a reaction of surprise, and not even enough to do anything more to the delicate dance of current just beneath her skin than was already going on. The back of her consciousness, still focusing on little details to help calm her down, made her wriggle her toes in the grass, pleased by the feel of it underfoot, though at the same time she could feel the cooler air on her skin now that she was well out of the water, and the very slight goose-bumping it was starting to cause. She wasn't really cold though, the detail focused thoughts pressed; it was just the temperature difference, because she was wet. The other detail that jumped up clear in her mind was the ache in all of her muscles; it wasn't the scouring burn that had been there before she'd over-loaded, but like an athlete that had worked too hard the day before, every part of her felt stressed, strained and weary. So much for a relaxing rest. By the time Ion actually introduced himself, after her temporary lapse in manners, it recalled her train of thoughts to the situation at hand. She turned the fledgling smile from her little bandcoon back to him and nodded her head slowly, some mix of a confirmation and a polite incline.
"Ion..." She found herself nodding again and taking a slow, long breath, then a shorter, more firm one. "I'm... I'm doing better now." Indeed, her heart had more or less settled back to something of a resting pace, at last and the urge to run screaming away from everything had more or less faded. Some parts of her thoughts were still lingering on the other more recent accidents and tragedies closer to home, and she couldn't hide all of it, even now; as much as the other navi would be able to tell she was recovered from her panic, it would be just as plain that she was still very upset. She just wasn't breaking down any more, but then, even that was a major step forward all told. Attention shifted to her other, fluffier friend... though right now he was no better than her for being sodden. Lyntael looked back down to him for a moment, then back to Ion and her hands came together in front of her, fidgeting slightly.
"I... don't know, really. I mean, I just met him today. Earlier. I was..." she trailed off again, looking down and to the side with uncertainty. The man seemed friendly, and now that she was calmer, she felt like he was safe enough to talk to, but at the same time she didn't really feel like she wanted to talk about everything that had happened in the past few days, either. Rationally, she knew that trying to do so now would just get her worked up again. She settled for a simpler answer.
"I was taking a break, to clear my head? And I kind of fell asleep. I haven't gotten a lot of rest lately." She hung her head softly as she said that bit, her unconscious body language shouting that she treated the admission like some kind of personal failing or fault, though Lyntael herself wasn't aware of this. She looked up again and perked up a little as she continued. "They found me... um, there were some others too, but they left... ah, but they were friendly, and nice, and this little guy seems like he wants to follow me around now. I'll have to go home soon, probably, and I don't know what I'll do then. He can't come with me then, but... well maybe he'll want to go off to the zoo with the others, when I have to go. I'm sure visitors would love him."
At the end of the thread of thought, her voice quieted again. She was aware of the soft breeze chill making certain parts of her body respond uncomfortably, but she ignored it for now; the girl was still quite unaware that the damp was making her vest sheer. Without really thinking, she reached up one hand to brush some more of the water out of her hair, ruffling it and sending a small spray from the wayward strands. A small snap of sparks still came with her fingers as she did, but they grew as her eyes wandered around, and settled across the spring to where the two elderly viruses napped. This time she did flinch, and properly; it started as a slight step backwards from the scene, coincidentally closer to Ion in the process, and was followed by a very visible hunch of her shoulders. Her eyes tried to prickle again as the guilt washed back in, but they were just sore and red; there weren't any more tears to be had, for now.
"I should... I should go. I don't want to hurt anyone else. I..." words caught and she looked sharply away again, shaking her head with her eyes squeezed shut. "I've done enough damage here already. I hurt everyone." Most navis, to a certain extent at least, could compartmentalise quite naturally, and put the stresses of one incident to the next on a shelf while they dealt with whatever else was on their plate. Lyntael was not so blessed, and the fact remained that it had only been a handful of minutes since her own lack of control had cost lives, from her perspective. "Please... can I go... or, or, at least, get away from here? I just wanted to get away from everything, just for a bit. I never wanted to hurt anyone!" She was looked around for the path that she'd entered this spring from. "I have to get back... I don't know what Rogan will think if he calls and I'm not there... I don't even know how long I've been here." It was that path, wasn't it? Probably... faintly, she could feel the direction that the link emulation was from her, like a tickle in her mind if she listened for it, but it was far off now.
Summary ... because we're still in a 'battle', honest.
L1) Stay calm by focusing on the little details.
L2) Deflect on the matter of her lack of sleep and other problems.
L3) Try to chat amiably about Bandcoon and friends.
L*) Be reminded of crushing guilt.
L4) Plead the need to leave this all behind.
"Ion..." She found herself nodding again and taking a slow, long breath, then a shorter, more firm one. "I'm... I'm doing better now." Indeed, her heart had more or less settled back to something of a resting pace, at last and the urge to run screaming away from everything had more or less faded. Some parts of her thoughts were still lingering on the other more recent accidents and tragedies closer to home, and she couldn't hide all of it, even now; as much as the other navi would be able to tell she was recovered from her panic, it would be just as plain that she was still very upset. She just wasn't breaking down any more, but then, even that was a major step forward all told. Attention shifted to her other, fluffier friend... though right now he was no better than her for being sodden. Lyntael looked back down to him for a moment, then back to Ion and her hands came together in front of her, fidgeting slightly.
"I... don't know, really. I mean, I just met him today. Earlier. I was..." she trailed off again, looking down and to the side with uncertainty. The man seemed friendly, and now that she was calmer, she felt like he was safe enough to talk to, but at the same time she didn't really feel like she wanted to talk about everything that had happened in the past few days, either. Rationally, she knew that trying to do so now would just get her worked up again. She settled for a simpler answer.
"I was taking a break, to clear my head? And I kind of fell asleep. I haven't gotten a lot of rest lately." She hung her head softly as she said that bit, her unconscious body language shouting that she treated the admission like some kind of personal failing or fault, though Lyntael herself wasn't aware of this. She looked up again and perked up a little as she continued. "They found me... um, there were some others too, but they left... ah, but they were friendly, and nice, and this little guy seems like he wants to follow me around now. I'll have to go home soon, probably, and I don't know what I'll do then. He can't come with me then, but... well maybe he'll want to go off to the zoo with the others, when I have to go. I'm sure visitors would love him."
At the end of the thread of thought, her voice quieted again. She was aware of the soft breeze chill making certain parts of her body respond uncomfortably, but she ignored it for now; the girl was still quite unaware that the damp was making her vest sheer. Without really thinking, she reached up one hand to brush some more of the water out of her hair, ruffling it and sending a small spray from the wayward strands. A small snap of sparks still came with her fingers as she did, but they grew as her eyes wandered around, and settled across the spring to where the two elderly viruses napped. This time she did flinch, and properly; it started as a slight step backwards from the scene, coincidentally closer to Ion in the process, and was followed by a very visible hunch of her shoulders. Her eyes tried to prickle again as the guilt washed back in, but they were just sore and red; there weren't any more tears to be had, for now.
"I should... I should go. I don't want to hurt anyone else. I..." words caught and she looked sharply away again, shaking her head with her eyes squeezed shut. "I've done enough damage here already. I hurt everyone." Most navis, to a certain extent at least, could compartmentalise quite naturally, and put the stresses of one incident to the next on a shelf while they dealt with whatever else was on their plate. Lyntael was not so blessed, and the fact remained that it had only been a handful of minutes since her own lack of control had cost lives, from her perspective. "Please... can I go... or, or, at least, get away from here? I just wanted to get away from everything, just for a bit. I never wanted to hurt anyone!" She was looked around for the path that she'd entered this spring from. "I have to get back... I don't know what Rogan will think if he calls and I'm not there... I don't even know how long I've been here." It was that path, wasn't it? Probably... faintly, she could feel the direction that the link emulation was from her, like a tickle in her mind if she listened for it, but it was far off now.
Summary ... because we're still in a 'battle', honest.
L1) Stay calm by focusing on the little details.
L2) Deflect on the matter of her lack of sleep and other problems.
L3) Try to chat amiably about Bandcoon and friends.
L*) Be reminded of crushing guilt.
L4) Plead the need to leave this all behind.
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On an evening that would've been unremarkable on any other day, two Elec-element, mildly-to-severely traumatized Navis sat on the shore of a muddy onsen, divulging feelings not normally experienced by virtual beings. A Bandcoon with more mud than fur in its coat scurried about the smaller of the two, hyperactive and peaceable as its friend had always known it. The taller Navi, handsome and gentle-eyed, sat and listened to the smaller's tales and woes and tales of woe, nodding and 'hmmm'-ing along in his sympathy. Two elder viruses floated in the murky waters of the spring, holding one another and grieving for lost children. If the atmosphere of the clearing was too melancholic to be truly serene, it was at the very least quiet and peaceful.
Regrettably, such peaceful moments never last, and this one proved no exception. Ion's person sounded off with a strident electronic beep, and all three viruses jumped into defensive stances out of sheer instinct. They relaxed when the Navi showed no signs of attacking; instead, he merely grunted and gestured to the air, opening a comm window to his Operator. "Something wrong, Leif?" he asked the man on the other side of reality.
The consummate nerd shook his head, giving a wan little grin. "Nothing wrong, per se, you've just had a recall request from Cal. He's calling all Vaccine members back to the lab ASAP, dunno what for. Hate to break up your pow-wow, but..." The sentence trailed off and disappeared into the realm of unfinished thoughts, and Leif closed the window down a second later.
Ion released all his frustration at the interruption in one drawn-out sigh, but dutifully stood himself back up anyhow. "Guess I'm being summoned," he addressed Lyntael rather unnecessarily. "I suppose this is where we part ways, then...but hey, just remember, alright? Nobody's ever alone, not in a world this small. Here, I'll prove it." A link flashed into existence between his fingers like a magician's card, and he flicked it towards the smaller Navi. "That's Leif and my e-mail address. If you ever need to just sit and talk something out again, you've got a willing option...and we've got a big lab at Vaccine, if you ever wanted to drop by and have us run some tests, see if we couldn't help out anyhow."
"Something to think about, anyway, but I'll not keep you. Take care of yourself, Lyntael." Ion tapped two fingers to the flat earplate of his temple, and jacked out in a stream of blue light. The Bandcoon watched the bright flash with starry eyes, then looked back to its comrade with the same expression. From the matted ruin of its coat, it withdrew a tiny yellow gem that Lyn might recognize as the link she'd gifted it earlier. At last, it studied the little crystal intently, finally figuring out how to activate it. Its tiny body scattered into a flurry of corrupt-yet-not viral data, and it followed Ion's example in dashing itself to the four winds of the Net World.
The two viruses in the pool gave Lyntael one last, mournful look, and sunk down into the eddies and swirls of their pool, down into whatever dwellings and habitats might loom beneath the surface. The ripples scattered out over the tiny spring; once more, there was peace. Additionally, perhaps another ray of sunshine beaming through the dark clouds that so often clouded Lyntael's life, a faint sparkle from inside the onsen revealed one more nice thing for Lyntael: a mystery data, buoying to the surface. It must have been down there in the onsen all along.
=The Survivors=
Lark: FLED
Snoozy: FLED
Bandcoon: JACKED OUT
=The Fallen (but not Downed)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +1] [My Pain is Real: Ready!] [40HP Barrier] [Buster Charge x1] [Onsen L]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
30% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
10% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
10% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
50% Normal [The rest of the clearing]
=The Helping Hand=
Ion: JACKED OUT
=BATTLE(?) #5: VICTORIOUS!!=
Rewards: 1200z
OPEN MYSTERY DATA?
Regrettably, such peaceful moments never last, and this one proved no exception. Ion's person sounded off with a strident electronic beep, and all three viruses jumped into defensive stances out of sheer instinct. They relaxed when the Navi showed no signs of attacking; instead, he merely grunted and gestured to the air, opening a comm window to his Operator. "Something wrong, Leif?" he asked the man on the other side of reality.
The consummate nerd shook his head, giving a wan little grin. "Nothing wrong, per se, you've just had a recall request from Cal. He's calling all Vaccine members back to the lab ASAP, dunno what for. Hate to break up your pow-wow, but..." The sentence trailed off and disappeared into the realm of unfinished thoughts, and Leif closed the window down a second later.
Ion released all his frustration at the interruption in one drawn-out sigh, but dutifully stood himself back up anyhow. "Guess I'm being summoned," he addressed Lyntael rather unnecessarily. "I suppose this is where we part ways, then...but hey, just remember, alright? Nobody's ever alone, not in a world this small. Here, I'll prove it." A link flashed into existence between his fingers like a magician's card, and he flicked it towards the smaller Navi. "That's Leif and my e-mail address. If you ever need to just sit and talk something out again, you've got a willing option...and we've got a big lab at Vaccine, if you ever wanted to drop by and have us run some tests, see if we couldn't help out anyhow."
"Something to think about, anyway, but I'll not keep you. Take care of yourself, Lyntael." Ion tapped two fingers to the flat earplate of his temple, and jacked out in a stream of blue light. The Bandcoon watched the bright flash with starry eyes, then looked back to its comrade with the same expression. From the matted ruin of its coat, it withdrew a tiny yellow gem that Lyn might recognize as the link she'd gifted it earlier. At last, it studied the little crystal intently, finally figuring out how to activate it. Its tiny body scattered into a flurry of corrupt-yet-not viral data, and it followed Ion's example in dashing itself to the four winds of the Net World.
The two viruses in the pool gave Lyntael one last, mournful look, and sunk down into the eddies and swirls of their pool, down into whatever dwellings and habitats might loom beneath the surface. The ripples scattered out over the tiny spring; once more, there was peace. Additionally, perhaps another ray of sunshine beaming through the dark clouds that so often clouded Lyntael's life, a faint sparkle from inside the onsen revealed one more nice thing for Lyntael: a mystery data, buoying to the surface. It must have been down there in the onsen all along.
=The Survivors=
Lark: FLED
Snoozy: FLED
Bandcoon: JACKED OUT
=The Fallen (but not Downed)=
Lyntael: 150HP [Overcharge: +1] [My Pain is Real: Ready!] [40HP Barrier] [Buster Charge x1] [Onsen L]
=Objects=
Spire L: 500HP
Spire R: 500HP
=Terrain=
30% Onsen [Two large pools, dubbed Onsen L and Onsen R]
10% Coal ['Bridge' between two pools]
10% Mud [Ring around Onsen]
50% Normal [The rest of the clearing]
=The Helping Hand=
Ion: JACKED OUT
=BATTLE(?) #5: VICTORIOUS!!=
Rewards: 1200
OPEN MYSTERY DATA?
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Lyntael's own urgency to get back to the point where she could access the link to her PET was met almost in the same moment by Ion's call. The small girl hesitated, and unconsciously took a small step back from him with her head down in a sign of privacy for the call. It was more a polite instinct than anything else, and symbolic considering that she was still near enough to hear everything anyway; Lyntael herself hadn't even thought about the action. She looked down at her feet while he handed the call, watching her own toes as she curled and stretched them in the grass and focusing on the pleasant sensation of it.
She had felt a sudden urge to resist, or reach out, when she realised he was being called away again, but it was a small, sudden reaction, and not strong enough to actually make it to the surface of her expression, let alone spur her to act. It was enough, though, for her to realise that she trusted the man, and wanted to think of him as a friend now. Rather than any of that, though, she just nodded her head softly when he made his apologies. She looked up again and managed another faltering smile for his encouragement, one hand still holding tight to her other elbow, somewhere between uncertainty and wanting to hug herself. She did give him a nod to go with the grin though, and did her best to show that she was, truly, comforted by the reassurance, even if a large part of her felt like it couldn't truly apply to her own situation.
Surprisingly, the young girl perked up a bit more, and her head tilted as he spoke about his organisation, and gave her their contacts. A sudden interest in her eyes marked a curiosity that was just the kind of derail that was perfect for distracting Lyntael from her worries. She found herself wanting to answer, to say something about her situation, and the way the charge affected her, show some kind of interest in a group that might be able to help her out at some point... but the words took too long in forming, and Ion was already giving her a friendly farewell and jacking out before she could say more. Even so, she looked at the spot where he'd been, and curled her fingers more securely around the card he'd offered her. Somewhere where they might be able to do something about her problem sounded hopeful, and she found herself planning to make a visit the next time she could slip away from Rogan again without being noticed.
While she thought about this, her little bandcoon friend seemed to take Ion's cue as understanding and managed to activate is own link to the zoo at last. Lyntael suddenly wished he was still there, though; with the departure of the last remaining viruses, she was, once again, all on her own. She closed her eyes, and took a long breath, then looked slowly around the now deserted spring. At least when she was all alone, she couldn't hurt anybody. A few more drawn out breaths helped calm the current under her skin, and she stretched her arms out, then hugged herself soundly for a few moments more. She really did have to get back though. She had no idea how long she'd been gone from the PET now, and Rogan wasn't going to leave it unchecked forever. The foray had been... less than successful, in terms of clearing her head and finding relaxing. Everywhere she went, it seemed, there was just more danger, and more people to hurt, or be hurt by... but at least Ion had seemed nice, and she'd made a couple of cute friends as well, even if they were all gone away now.
About to leave in the direction that she could feel the link from, Lyntael paused as a flash of colour caught her eye in the murky onsen waters. Other emotional issues aside, she identified the object coming to the surface as a mystery data right away, and looked around the spring. There were no more viruses, and no more navis, and really, no-one at all to claim the data, so, hesitantly she waded back into the water, careful not to get her still-damp skirt and wetter than it was, and retrieved the crystal, examining it briefly, before accessing it with only some slight hesitation. Maybe she could bring something nice back to Rogan at the end of all this after all.
((Open data: Y))
She had felt a sudden urge to resist, or reach out, when she realised he was being called away again, but it was a small, sudden reaction, and not strong enough to actually make it to the surface of her expression, let alone spur her to act. It was enough, though, for her to realise that she trusted the man, and wanted to think of him as a friend now. Rather than any of that, though, she just nodded her head softly when he made his apologies. She looked up again and managed another faltering smile for his encouragement, one hand still holding tight to her other elbow, somewhere between uncertainty and wanting to hug herself. She did give him a nod to go with the grin though, and did her best to show that she was, truly, comforted by the reassurance, even if a large part of her felt like it couldn't truly apply to her own situation.
Surprisingly, the young girl perked up a bit more, and her head tilted as he spoke about his organisation, and gave her their contacts. A sudden interest in her eyes marked a curiosity that was just the kind of derail that was perfect for distracting Lyntael from her worries. She found herself wanting to answer, to say something about her situation, and the way the charge affected her, show some kind of interest in a group that might be able to help her out at some point... but the words took too long in forming, and Ion was already giving her a friendly farewell and jacking out before she could say more. Even so, she looked at the spot where he'd been, and curled her fingers more securely around the card he'd offered her. Somewhere where they might be able to do something about her problem sounded hopeful, and she found herself planning to make a visit the next time she could slip away from Rogan again without being noticed.
While she thought about this, her little bandcoon friend seemed to take Ion's cue as understanding and managed to activate is own link to the zoo at last. Lyntael suddenly wished he was still there, though; with the departure of the last remaining viruses, she was, once again, all on her own. She closed her eyes, and took a long breath, then looked slowly around the now deserted spring. At least when she was all alone, she couldn't hurt anybody. A few more drawn out breaths helped calm the current under her skin, and she stretched her arms out, then hugged herself soundly for a few moments more. She really did have to get back though. She had no idea how long she'd been gone from the PET now, and Rogan wasn't going to leave it unchecked forever. The foray had been... less than successful, in terms of clearing her head and finding relaxing. Everywhere she went, it seemed, there was just more danger, and more people to hurt, or be hurt by... but at least Ion had seemed nice, and she'd made a couple of cute friends as well, even if they were all gone away now.
About to leave in the direction that she could feel the link from, Lyntael paused as a flash of colour caught her eye in the murky onsen waters. Other emotional issues aside, she identified the object coming to the surface as a mystery data right away, and looked around the spring. There were no more viruses, and no more navis, and really, no-one at all to claim the data, so, hesitantly she waded back into the water, careful not to get her still-damp skirt and wetter than it was, and retrieved the crystal, examining it briefly, before accessing it with only some slight hesitation. Maybe she could bring something nice back to Rogan at the end of all this after all.
((Open data: Y))
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And there was accessing of the mystery data, and within it was...probably the exact thing she had hoped for. Surely, even Rogan wouldn't be upset at those contents.
Lyntael GET: 2200z
Lyntael GET: 2200
last edited by Rogan
When the crystal resolved into a sum of zenny for her to collect, Lyntael let out a small breath and relaxed again. There was always a risk, or so she understood, that something that looked like a mystery data wasn't one; that there were viruses that took their appearance just to prey on unsuspecting navigators. The thought gave he a small shudder, but at least this time it had been alright. A movement of the air made the small girl shiver again as it chilled her damp clothes and felt altogether too breezy in places where garments had been lost. Home. It wasn't much of a home, and it wouldn't be warm, or comfortable. Rogan wouldn't care how she felt, until he needed her for something, and probably wouldn't have even noticed that she was gone... but it was still where she belonged, and getting away to clear her head and her heart hadn't really worked. She'd just wound up hurting more people, being hurt herself as well as discovering that no amount of distraction was going to keep the events of SciLab from wrapping her up in their all-consuming terrors.
It occurred to her again that maybe she really was damaged in some way, even if Rogan's scans came up clean. The thought made her look down at the Vaccine contact card that she was holding tightly onto. Her grip had bent it slightly and she took a moment to smooth it with care. Maybe they could help; it had to be worth a check at least. In her other hand, Lyntael was still clutching tightly to the small stone that the little bandcoon had gifted her and she held it up in her hand to look at alongside the card. A tiny fragment of something happy, and a tiny promise of something hopeful. They were things she could take back with her, and perhaps that was enough.
It was still a shaky Lyntael that made her way out of the silent onsen spring, and a timid and cautious one that carefully returned to the point where she'd entered the network. It was more than not wanting to get into another fight, really... the girl felt as though she just couldn't stomach the notion of fighting anything at all; not now, not like this. Rogan would need her to fight things again in the future, she knew that, and even knowing it she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to when the time came. Things might be easier if she never had to fight again, but in heart... she knew there would be no escaping it. Just, not now. Not today.
A small piece of luck saw her make it all the way back to the link point where she was able to pick up the emulated connection again and Lyntael let out a small sigh of relief, before bracing herself for the discomfort of the transition back to the PET. A last fleeting thought occurred to her as she began the jack-out process was how she had thought of the sensation as pain only days ago, but now, compared to everything else... she almost welcomed it.
----------
((Jacking out, Returning to => Rogan's PET))
It occurred to her again that maybe she really was damaged in some way, even if Rogan's scans came up clean. The thought made her look down at the Vaccine contact card that she was holding tightly onto. Her grip had bent it slightly and she took a moment to smooth it with care. Maybe they could help; it had to be worth a check at least. In her other hand, Lyntael was still clutching tightly to the small stone that the little bandcoon had gifted her and she held it up in her hand to look at alongside the card. A tiny fragment of something happy, and a tiny promise of something hopeful. They were things she could take back with her, and perhaps that was enough.
It was still a shaky Lyntael that made her way out of the silent onsen spring, and a timid and cautious one that carefully returned to the point where she'd entered the network. It was more than not wanting to get into another fight, really... the girl felt as though she just couldn't stomach the notion of fighting anything at all; not now, not like this. Rogan would need her to fight things again in the future, she knew that, and even knowing it she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to when the time came. Things might be easier if she never had to fight again, but in heart... she knew there would be no escaping it. Just, not now. Not today.
A small piece of luck saw her make it all the way back to the link point where she was able to pick up the emulated connection again and Lyntael let out a small sigh of relief, before bracing herself for the discomfort of the transition back to the PET. A last fleeting thought occurred to her as she began the jack-out process was how she had thought of the sensation as pain only days ago, but now, compared to everything else... she almost welcomed it.
----------
((Jacking out, Returning to => Rogan's PET))