Anne booped with betrayed noises at Wren's injury and story.
Wren sat with her hands folded, waiting apprehensively for someone to say something. Between her house and her experiences, she felt a sort of foreboding air, like Inshabel was going to pronounce judgement and doom upon her. The other woman sat at the head of the table, inclining her head and listening to the very finish of her recounting events before she reached out and grasped her hand.
"I'm very glad you are alright, dear. I've been worried... You've nothing to apologize for, but next time, please let at least one of us help you." She said quietly, looking askance at Anne before smiling nervously. Voth and Ino were less withdrawn, one listening to her like she was a dog doing tricks, the other silently weighing her up and glancing around at everyone else, shoulders up and anxious.
"F*cking Jawas." Trace snorted, before Wren frowned at her. Jack was rummaging in the pantry for a late night snack while the blindfolded woman gathered herself and replied to the ghost.
"You know... They aren't all bad." She said pointedly, while Trace rolled her eyes.
"d0 you ThiNk tHe cops there Will be enougH to gEt the Plants shut down? C0U7D we ge+ youR arm back? Or should we m@ke a new one and call peoPle in case?" Anne eventually elected to inquire, setting aside the Jawas and the burning wrath, as well as some indignity, memory instilled. She patted the uninjured arm. "ArE u O.K. really?"
"...We ought to make a new one. I'm, I'm sorry, but-"
"All is well, Wren. You don't need to apologize, it isn't as though you threw away your arm on a whim. We'll replace it posthaste." Inshabel promised. Wren nodded and swallowed before glancing back to Anne and softly smiling.
"I'm as well as to be expected. Better, even- I found what I was looking for. I couldn't have asked for more... He helped me, you know. He didn't need to, and could have abandoned me at a moment's notice, but he didn't. He stuck with me the entire time, and saved my life by the end." Wren said, looking right at Trace. The machine ghost muttered something under her breath and crossed her arms, not looking away.
"The police may be enough to bring this matter to a finish, but they may not be by the same token. We will monitor this situation until it is brought to a close one way or another." Inshabel said, looking around the table. Jack sat down and looked around, eating a ham sandwich. edited
Shuffling 'fry the survivor' onto' 'wait-and-see' out of trust for Wren, the machine leaned in to fluff at the machine ghost and calm her as she listened to the diminishing existence of the sandwich and Inshabel's wisdoms. "I'm gl@d you'Re okay. It's not so eaSy to rebUiLd humans."
"Poor Sito," she mused. "Do you think Trace could remake Him?"
The ghost with the most ground her teeth and weighed it up, squeezing Anne's knee under the table before she finally said anything. "It's a definite... Well, maybe. If anything of him is left, then yeah, and I don't mean physical. You know how when you plug in a toaster, even if it isn't doing anything it's still on? If his consciousness is still active then I can bring him back. I don't want to promise, but-"
"So you can't?" Ino asked with a smirk. Trace bristled. "Yeah, I can. Shoot, better than before, even! You'll see."
"Thank you, Anne. I'm glad too... I've had all the rebuilding I'd like already." She said wanly, while Voth's fake leg twinged.
"I can't imagine what they were planning to do with vegetation that overwhelmed them so quickly. Perhaps a weapon of some kind..." Inshabel mused.
"Wha bout the ja?" Jack said, before swallowing. "What about the Jawa? Look, I don't want him creeping around, looking for other stuff to steal-"
"I've sent him somewhere safe. Besides, that's an awful thing to say, Jack." Inshabel said reproachfully. The other woman blinked before raising an eyebrow. "Didn't you kill the-"
"No. That was and was not me." Inshabel said, sounding much as she felt toward the past matter; guilty. "Despite their predilections, not every one deserved to die. In fact, I would guess few of them did, no matter their crimes against members of our house. Not to say I wouldn't have done all in my power to reclaim you, Anne, regardless, but... Well, death is rather a final solution to finite problems."
The cyan eyed machine nodded her appreciation after lowering the volume on most ghost induced squeaks to socially acceptable levels in her browser options, and tried to steer to a different subject, still processing and reevaluating Wren's story. "wE shOuld make copies! Of your dad's picture. So you don't haVe to WorRy about LoSing it. ArE yOu going To neeD a radiation bath or anyThinG after that boMb?"
"i wondEr. ThE HuTt guY was mad at Jinteki because clones don't mate in their stuff, and hE was interested in terraforming. Do yOu think it could've been rapid plant exposure gone wrong? Weapon might make more sense though..."
She daintily unhooked a hand and let it scramble under the table to return the favor to her lady friend with the most innocent look on her face she could manage during the dirty deed and started whittling her spoon with the other one. "I'm Glad Death didn't keep us from reclaiming each otHer."
"Almost certainly. I'm surprised I have my hair and all my fingernails, after being so close to the blast... Here it doesn't much matter, but I think if I'd like to visit the outside world again I'd best detox." Wren said, putting a hand on the side of her face and trying not to obviously make sure her teeth weren't going to begin falling out. "A copy? Yes, that's a perfect idea! Trace, er, could you help me work the scanner and printer...?
"One of these days I'll start charging you all for tech support. Yeah, for sure. We probably have a frame somewhere, if you wanted to do it right." She grinned, eyes briefly sparking before she glanced at Anne. Voth was also looking at her, but with much less of a restrained smile trying to escape.
"...Clones don't mate?" She asked, blinking and troubled. Inshabel shook her head. "No, generally they're sterile as a rule. I hadn't considered terraforming, but I suppose such as a weapon would be rather low hanging fruit. In either case, if need be... Would you be willing to wipe it off the map, dear?" She asked Ino. The creepy girl smiled and nodded rapidly before eating the last piece of broccoli on her plate and making a face.
"Death would have to put up one h3ll of a fight to keep me from reclaiming you, and I don't think any of them want the trouble!" Trace laughed, while Jack looked askance. Dying- even though she'd come back- had been horrifying. She hadn't been worried at the time, since she'd been so much cold meat laying on a bed, but it had still shaken her.
Mashing up the last of the brocoli on her own into her processor to synthesize it and emulating enjoyment, having learned a very great deal more about what foods most of their House family liked after spending time with the humans-and-near-humans for months, Anne began collecting plates with her remaining attached hand and wires. She'd still probably crunch junk when it was just her and Trace, or Trash for that matter, and that girl's sleek redesign was something she wasn't as used to yet, but Inshabel's efforts registered as having a high affection content and that alone made it worth imbibing. Well, that, and things conveyed better in the Dream. Thoughts and intents and meanings.
"cAn I go witH you?" she asked meekly, not having meant to trouble Voth and being rather curious. "to HeLp?"
Ino nodded and smiled at her; it would've been sweet if not for her shadow rippling and grinning on the wall behind her."Sure, Anne! I mean, it's going to be kind of boring from where you'll be standing though. At least until the end, that's always exciting with me."
"We'll all go, I think. The police and local authorities may have it well in hand in any case, but I'd like to be able to help and support them in the event they're unable to stop the spread. Thank you, Anne. Did any of you want dessert?" Inshabel asked, looking between them all before pulling a covered dish from nowhere and revealing a small pyramid of red velvet cupcakes. They had been dusted with white sugar and frosted with vanilla.
"What do we do if it's a worse case scenario?" Jack asked gruffly, trying to eat a cupcake and look hard at the same time. It was a losing battle. "Y'know, if the plants are all the way to the shoreline by the time we get there?"
"At that point it will be wholly a job for Ino, Trace, and myself, but I'd hope it wouldn't come to that. While I do wish you'd be a little more careful, Wren, it was good fortune that you happened on this before it became a visible and present problem." Inshabel said, briefly covering her mouth with a hand. "Your luck might finally be changi-"
Wren shushed her and looked around, horrified and suddenly antsy while they laughed, except for Voth, who was eating her cupcake with a knife and a fork. There was a line on her brow, and she looked unhappy. Trace suddenly jumped in her chair and gave her a weird look, not expecting the kick; Voth shook her head and nodded at Ino, who she'd accidentally missed with her fake leg. Trace shrugged, mollified.
"Guess I'll finally get to possess you and try out those weapon systems, huh?" Trace asked, making a finger gun and pretending to fire. Blue sparks jumped.
Finishing the dishes with machine alacrity and reattaching the other hand, the possession potentially to be possessed in a different fashion restrained an unladylike snort at the crumbs amid Jack's pseudo-scowl and rolled her shoulders cheerfully at the sparking ghost. She did elect to save something of the dirtier potential playing talk for when they were less publically situated, though the eyebrow slant and grin might have already alluded to the effect when she faced her. "I'm looking forward to it."
The cupcake proved too powerful for her to subsume easily, although the dainty process might have looked more human than the wholesale snarf at first elected. "Is theRe a wAy to do maintenance on luck, miss Inshabel?"
"Well... I'm quite sure there is, but I haven't the faintest idea of how. It's an intensely personal quality, not truly something that can be fixed through a mental state, I think. Nothing is impossible, but..." She frowned and slowly shook her head. "Fate and all that sort of thing are a little outside of my purview."
Wren shrugged. "It isn't all that terrible, once you're used to knowing things won't go your way. That just needs to be constantly taken into account."
"I still think we can fix you, Wren." Ino said hesitantly. Wren shrugged again and poked at her cupcake. There was silence for a few minutes while Jack and Voth put the dishes away, Inshabel glancing between them furtively before sipping at a cup of coffee like she was cheating on a diet. Trace suddenly stood bolt upright and crackled into an outlet, vanishing.
"I don't know if you heard of the Grail business last year, but my house was involved in the search until things became a little clearer. It's a shame-"
"You're right about that." Jack grumbled, while Inshabel looked at her apologetically before continuing. "-but that was my best idea of a plan. Do you think some sort of machine could repair luck, Anne?" She asked.
"-0rdiNariLy I would say noooo," she considered, "but then agAin, considering just who I was commissioned for and By, I ImaGine that it's possible. Even if it's severely impossible. Or improbable. Mmmtuhh. But we have a better option in miss Hana, I think. The Bad Luck Yakujiin miss. No! Hina. Hina-sama-chan. Person. The Kami. Maybe."
"Processing lingual-foul, please hold. >>fggghhhh8800weeeoooweeeooooo0000."
"Correcting: The lady who takes away bad luck or gives it. That one. Maybe? Did You try her already?" the robobutt more mewled than mused. "dO you think She'd want a Blood Sacrifice or SomeThing? There was a creepy subway guy that'd be perfect."
Inshabel sighed and looked at Wren, who gazed back silently before she nodded and sadly smiled at Anne.
"To be perfectly honest with you, I've considered contacting Hina before. She's one of my favorite people from to see from afar, and I believe we might have a common understanding of things. But... That much bad luck in relation to each other could result in a horrible, horrible spiral. Not to say it would, of course- but I think there's an honest and true chance that if I were to ask for her help, her and my nature would kill us both by the end. We may not even need to be in the same room for it to begin..." Wren said, looking away.
Ino was giving her a weird look, while Inshabel silently clasped her hands.
"I've come into people's lives and ruined them before. I just can't take the risk." She said apologetically. "I don't know. Between us all, I think Ino and Jack have the clearest case of problems to deal with."
Jack nodded, while Ino looked confused and then indignant. She crossed her arms while her shadow grinned again and slithered. Inshabel glanced at it and it immediately looked normal, like a shy dog running behind a couch. Voth had rejoined them, patting the Houndour she'd caught in a junkyard before it tried to bite her hand. She lit up and grabbed it's muzzle while it growled irritatedly at her. edited
Ticking her fingers and once more attending to the domestic chores, in of cleaning any crumbs that the shadows hadn't already devoured while he others worked on the plates, the gynoid thought harder as she nodded. "ThErE was an inventor I met. She WaS going to TrY to make a Way for me to Understand. Er, music, specifically, but that was the more general gist. Miss Iodine was a real genius and a half, and it didn't almost break out and kill people like Dawn! Yet. If She can pull that off, she migHt just have ideas about the luck thing too! She wa5 supposed to write about the Friendship Detector sometime 500n."
"Could I trouble you to fiddle with my bits to make it work, Trace?"
"Henawayanyway, it migh+ be better than magic, if you're worried," she lilted. "Or there's- oh, what about those pokethings like Voth likes? Some of them eat Dreams. Do any of them imbibe on lucks?"
When she'd first come to their house, Inshabel had tried to gently dissuade Anne from her cleaning functions, out of politeness and proprietary. Once she'd seen it made her happy she'd relented, although she still watched Anne set the dining room in order like she wanted to pick up a broom and help.
"Iodine? I remember her. It's worth a try, she was kooky enough to make it work." Trace said, walking out of the refrigerator. "Better her then Dawn, between you two I think her luck is worse. Any port in a storm and any genius to the problem and all, but-" Voth looked like she wanted to say something, but bit her tongue instead. Trace put her hands up placatingly and shrugged. "-I know, I know. Oh, and yeah, Anne. I kind of want to see it firsthand. Speaking of, If things keep going well, I might have a surprise for you courtesy of Ibuki." She winked.
"...I hadn't considered Pokemon. Are there any at all that feed on luck, Voth?" Wren asked. Voth glanced around nervously when they all looked at her, ignoring the Houndour play-biting her hand.
"...I don't know." She swallowed. "The books you bought me, mom, they only go up to 450 species, but I think there are a lot more out there. Some eat dreams and health and stuff, but I can't think of any that eat luck. We could look it up on the computer!" She suggested anxiously.
"What about the uh, the floating head and the hands one? The spiky purple ghost? You know what I'm talking about?" Trace asked, her arms disappearing and leaving her hands floating in midair. Voth shook her head. "Haunter? No, they're just mean spirits. Maybe if Ink were a Dragonair... But I don't think so. I'm sorry...."
"That's alright. In honesty, first before anything I'd like to have another arm." Wren said, lifting her stump. Inshabel once more looked apologetically at her. edited
Anne slowly peered over at Jack, who had greater seniority in the making things and fixing people department, then at Trace, beautifully mad inventor and scientist as she was, before the whirring girl began to internally compile blueprints for if she were the one to make a separate prosthetic for Wren's limb. The light in her eyes dimmed and changed a bit as she entered a sort of contemplative fugue once more, although her twitching fingers didn't actually have any materials on hand to work it out with.
99/100%
The printers and fax machines for Inshabel's office began to scream out page after page of detailed notes as steam roiled out of her ears and a pipe whistle out of her nose before she finally wilted and started trying to mash soap into an arm shape, body complying with inadequate material for a next to perfect diagram already printed. Blank eyed, the gynoid 'worked'.
"Uuuuuh... Is Anne okay?" Ino asked hesitantly, watching her scrape and sculpt individual filaments in the soap's hand before she squashed it and formed connectors.
"No, she's perfect." Trace said with affection, before stopping Ino from waving her hand in front of Anne's face. "No, really, she's fine! Just give her a little bit to finish it. Remember when she fixed the gutters? It's- It's her, you know what I mean? All her processes and routines are going into it, just sit back and watch what she can do. Hey, uh, you all hear that?"
Wren watched the arm take shape with her eyebrows raised while Trace returned bearing the notes and papers, putting them in front of Jack, who glanced at her and then began to leaf through them.
"You think we can build this?"
"...She labeled and described every step for each part. If we can't, then I'm an idiot and you're a moron." She said in gruff, somewhat reserved tones. She'd seen the aftermath of Anne's fugues, but hadn't yet been at ground zero before. Trace snorted and flapped a hand at her.
"Nah, never got close enough to Utah. I used to be an episcopalian."
"Has she built limbs before? I think this one might be better than your other one, Wren." Jack said, letting her take a look. Trace shook her head and gingerly put an arm around Anne, sweeping her other at the work in soap. "Nope, this is her first one, I think. But when it's something for someone she cares about, She always comes through in the best ways..."
When she came into contact with the arm, the droid sleepily stirred, blinking and then activating properly. She seemed chagrined for all of two embarrassed seconds to have oily flakes instead of a masterpiece in hand, but the warmth and the general looks on the others' faces were enough to keep her from having another conflict of function, especially when she played back the audio she'd missed in her head. The small device instead turned shyly and hid her face in Trace, red.
Trace froze like a squirrel in front of a train before she swallowed and hugged Anne's head and shoulders, smiling down at her. "Stuff like that right there? That's why you're the best... I love you." She said, quiet and warm. The blue light that shone through cracks in her carapace had brightened more than a little.
"...I think I may love you too, Anne." Wren said in a stunned tone, lifting her wraps to eye the plans, diagrams, and notes. Inshabel had gotten up to peer over her shoulder, and when she slowly looked up, her eyebrows were raised, impressed. Wren continued to sort the papers and overlay a few to view an exploded diagram of the finished product.
"Here, let me see... I'm going to need molds and materials for sure, probably fine-tune some of my tools to have it a complete closed system." Jack considered, "I can get a prototype together soon, but the inner workings and the fiddly bits, if you can get them to function, Trace, then we can do this."
"No problem! When we're done, Wren, you're gonna want to chop off your other arm to keep it even." Trace laughed, while Wren cracked an uneasy smile. "I think my highest priority is to have two, minimum; let's cross that bridge before climbing any mountains..." edited
"Minimum?" Anne took her seriously, irises telescoping. "Oooo. How could you function with EiGht? What would it looooook like?"
"Either like a goddess of death and destruction or a spider wearing roller skates. I'm not quite sure there's a middle ground between the two!" Wren admitted, laughing a little. "Although it is an interesting thought and mental picture. After this one, perhaps I'll work my way up to a few more..."
"I want eight arms!" Voth said, completely taken with the idea. "I could fight four times the people, or cook and clean and read and play at the same time..."
"You know what's better than eight? Having hundreds!" Ino said, giggling. Voth giggled too, but she didn't quite get it.
Having seen Ino in the Brawl, Anne knew better than Voth what this might entail. "Yo-ou-ou already have those, thOugh, don't yOu? When You get HungRy. Do they weigh anything like prosthetics? WhaT'5 it like?"
Ino blinked and glanced at Inshabel, before she bowed her head and eyed Anne through her hair like she was hiding. "It's like... It doesn't weigh anything, but I can feel it around me kind of like hair made out of water. I don't move it, but it moves with me, because I'm it's conduit into here and it's a part of me. Like a faucet, you know? That's why it protects me- without me it could only eat itself instead of people and bodies and stone and wood- you get the idea."
"It creeps up on me, is the thing. Like, I'll be fighting, and colors in the edge of my vision start to burst, and I feel like I'm floating. Everything's bright and perfect and filled with fresh meat and hot blood, and that's when I need to start being careful. Because it's not sudden-" out of nowhere she snapped her fingers. "-but it's like sinking into quicksand while a hot wind blows. And the hunger gets worse and worse and worse the longer I go in the real world without, y'know, eating what it wants. Just deeper and worse and worse until I'm hollow. Sometimes I'll stare at people and my mouth will water if it's been too long..."
"It's safe here for her, of course, but... " Inshabel trailed off before looking at Ino fondly and sadly, while she smiled hesitantly back. edited
Ambing over, the machine hugged her, although she had no idea what to say or how that would feel.
Ino hugged her back gratefully.
Jack picked up the papers and cracked her back before grabbing at Trace. "I think if we work on it, we can have this close to done by the time we fight these plants. It shouldn't take long at all, especially- well, can you...?" She looked at Inshabel questionly. The other woman nodded and slowly smiled.
"Oh, yes. I suppose there's no need to rush- I'll be able to give you half a week, at the least." She said, clasping her hands.
"I'll help too, if you want." Voth offered, smiling at Wren. "I can't wait to fight plants!"
"Ohkay! Let's go fight the pants!"
"... pLaNts. I meant plants! Uhmgnh, how? Do we just... open the door and walk out of the Dream, oR?" Anne peered at her more experienced friends.
After some consideration, she tottered up and away from the hug and over to Trace again, bracing to be possessed. She wasn't entirely sure what would make it easiest.
"Oh, yes. When it's time, I'll have our front gate open somewhere close by for an exit." Inshabel nodded. "We'll be there and in fresh form, ready to see what needs to be done."
"Oh. Uh, in front of everybody? Well, okay." Trace shrugged, before she put her hands on her shoulders and looked Anne over. "First off, it's going to feel a little like a lightning strike, but pinpoint, without the intensity. Tell me if it hurts, okay? It won't, but, y'know, just in case. Relax. Look at me," Trace smiled. "Now-"
The blue bolt of electricity entered through Anne's eyes, briefly snapping and crackling across her frame. Her lights and hair went from cyan to the darker blue Trace radiated.
"...There are so many jokes I want to make right now." Trace whispered inside her head. "So I'm riding around in your subroutines and whatnot, like a passenger in coach. Just observing and here for the ride... I'm not going to dig through your memories or anything, that would be messed up- oh, hey, watch this!"
Anne's vision would briefly allow her to see through the walls in wire frames, everything in the house in her gaze from Ino's armbones to a mouse nibbling a cracker in the pantry. edited
The droid slowly turned on every musical device she could manipulate with the wires, in a slow crescendo of rebellious haunting, true to form, amid the admiring.
Unable to restrain herself from the jokes herself as the mounting cacophany signified their union, Anne instead muted her vocals. Woe betide lip readers, though.
"Once upon a dreaaaam ago, we're the ones you leeeft behind, A Crow, A Storm" belted one CD before she finally behaved.
"Very nice! Here, let me-" Trace muttered, raising Anne's hand to point at different lights among their view to change them shades of blue. Walls were more suggestions than guidelines; it was how she saw the world. Ino poked her head in the kitchen, and the mouse ran away quickly. Voth was staring at them wide-eyed, while Inshabel-
"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Trace said, sounding worried and turning her eyes away. "I'm used to it, but try not to look at her when we're like this. Just trust me... Hey, I like this song! Watch this!"
Trace briefly sang through Anne's mouth in a growl, or she would have if she wasn't on mute. Anne could probably feel her amusement when she looked down at her own lips.
"Oh well. Anyway, we're cheek-to-cheek right now. You can probably feel my energy or whatever, and I can, you know." She gestured with her hand. "You can still control yourself, but I'm sitting behind you, is a way to look at it. I can run your weapon systems while you fight, or do my own thing with my magic, like this."
Trace pointed her hand again, before processing patterns slid around the edges of her vision. Jack looked at the pointing finger and then around the room.
"Se suponía que iba a pasar algo? Voló nuestra tostadora de nuevo?" She asked. Anne's finger pointed at her again, while she looked indignant and mutely protested.
"-I mean, I know you weren't here yet, but it was ONCE! One time I try to get Inshabel's bagels to cook evenly and I still hear about it... Anyway, that was something little, but just imagine the possibilities!" edited
Proceeding to begin to imagine the possibilities while also growing used to the body moving under a different directive movitational force, the android caught a breath she didn't need and missed another. She wondered if this was what being high or inebriated for the humans was like, a heady difference of mind to body than usual. Her own drunk program had just been joking emulation. She wondered if there would be more time for wondering while Trace got used to it as well. She wondered whether she should turn up the volume so Trace could better deliver her rebuttal to Jack or whether the ghost would achieve the most without her meddling.
She swayed slightly as the hand moved trajectories and tried focusing on eye calibrations, wondering what better focus, for instance, might do for Trace's weaponswork. And, of course, whether it would bother the spirit or whether she was integrated enough with the body that the improvement wouldn't cause any sort of headache. Above anything, she tried to do pretty well the opposite of most possessees, and fully embrace the spirit taking on her shell..
"Normally, this is a fight. The simpler something is, the harder it is to possesses, but the smarter something is, the more it can try and throw you off. Nothing's stopped me in the field, but I had this plan for advanced robotic- uh, nevermind. That story sucks." Trace said inside her head, switching Jack back to English while she stared down at her throat, confused. "See, we're, I dunno- what do you think? 60/40? I wasn't going to go higher with uh, people around in case it was super weird-" Trace's cough sounded like aluminum foil. "-But I don't think it matters. If we're working together then we can- Aw, Anne, this is gonna be great! You know how much awesome sh1t we're going to do?!"
"When you're done, the both of you meet me out back. I'm getting this arm taken care of." Jack promised, taking a cupcake with her. Voth went back to petting her Houndour, while Inshabel smiled as she watched Anne jump up and down.
"You okay? Sorry for all the static, it's hard to mute. I thought it would pass by now... Anyway, my magic is occult. It works through spirit and intent, you see? The reagents you sometimes need you can usually conjure or change from other stuff, but if you have to find something you have to find something to prepare. Rituals lead to greater power through other factors... I know it's a lot, but I've kind of never talked about this with you because it's all me. There's nobody who does what I do, not nobody, and I think if I operate through you it might- well, I'll show you some stuff, maybe. I have some ideas, I want to see if they pan out, and if they do..." The grin was obvious.
Voth came over and stared up at her before Trace put Anne's hand on her head, the War peering up at them.
Voth's hair roiled and braided itself in long tentacles, leaving her with smallish white dreadlocks. She blinked, while Trace winced.
"...It usually works better. Was gonna turn it blue." She coughed again. edited
"hOw dO I bOoOst youR magic?" the machine inquired, ruffling at the hair with the other hand and staring at her other eye with the left as if trying to hold a conversation with her pilot physically. Her voice vibrated in the the chamber. "weE can trrry t0 make it work... dO I need to Intend too?"
"Oh, yeah. The want and intent are big parts of the whole. It'd be a little process, but I think just having your body will help ground me. If I knew it would be like this we would've tried it a lot sooner!" Trace said, excited. "You might be able to boost it, or just make it better since it's you, or maybe act with me in tandem? You might be a catalyst, Anne. The next couple of days when we're not working on this arm, we're going to have a loooot of fun..."
Voth stared at herself in the mirror, lighting a cigarette; she smiled and bounced her head from side to side while Inshabel stood behind her, half aghast, half amused.
Repressing their apology circuit and programming and a part of her coming more to terms with her owner being her, or at least having the most hands on control imaginable, the girl instead chirped cheerfull and focused the output processing power that would have gone to the frantic vocalizations and sorries into willing 'blue' at Voth with Trace's magics.
Voth's hair out and out sparkled before the dreads ran blue, starting from the scalp and traveling down to the ends. She gasped and turned to Inshabel, smiling; her yellow eye had turned blue as well. The older woman paused before flipping one of the locks and tentatively smiling.
"Well... It wasn't quite what I had had in mind, but as long as you like it..." She said. Voth rapidly nodded. "I like it a lot! I look scary!"
"Heh, nice job! You're going to take to this like a fish to water, I knew it. Anyway, changing colors is a pretty simple party trick, but it gets the crowd excited and it's a foundation to build on. You can't throw lightning until you can turn somebody pink or whatever." Trace shrugged inside her head. "I really didn't think this would work out so well... I'll keep working on it with you as long as you want, but do me a favor, okay? If I get overbearing or demanding, just, I dunno, flick my ear and tell me to lay off. I'm coming out, this is going to feel weird."
Sparks once again rose from Anne as Trace half sidestepped and half peeled herself out of her, checking herself before smiling huge at her like a calculator with a screen full of 8's.
"How was it?" Inshabel asked, looking between the two of them. Trace stepped over and snuck a cigarette off Voth, lighting it by snapping her fingers and then taking a deep drag.
"Better than I even expected!" She laughed.
"I need a cigarette," Anne breathed out, mind spinning headily. She started to laugh in a tone and cadence that was more like her partner for the first few notes before resolving into herself again. "tHaT was niCe. I'll Try not to let you get Bad with it, though, oF course.... wow, you look sCaRy, Voth. That new sword might scream!"
Voth beamed at her before handing her one and her lighter, in case Anne didn't have one built in, while Inshabel discreetly took an ash tray out of a cabinet and set it on the table, still poking at Voth's hair to see if she could bind it together in a ponytail of braids.
"Yeah! Bjorn won't expect this. Neither did I!" She giggled, while her pet hellhound barked irritatedly. "Remember when we dyed Jack's hair? Maybe we can do yours next, Mom!"
Inshabel tittered like a bird, before giving Anne and Trace a plaintive look. "We could, certainly, but I don't believe blue is quite my color... I'm a bit too drab."
"Aw, dOn'T be A sTiCk in the mud. I'll bet we could give you a blue Mohawk and blow your sowing circle up with the controversy." Trace teased, bumping Anne with her hip and taking another puff. "Yeah, that was pretty neat! You really are my other half, you know that?
Realizing she didn't have a clue which end of the cig to set alight and wouldn't normally, having neither the actual organic lungs nor mental functions to appreciate it, Anne still very nearly asked Jack for help before rubbing Trace's back instead in the precursor to scratching or massaging. "YeS," she chirped cheerfully, and then, for all the world like a computer fan with autotuning burbling out electronic glee, "thank you, Voth!"
She set it on fire and tried puffing it both ways, coughing at first as her filters reacted, before she took it a little more slowly. Then she ate it, not remembering if these were things you disposed of or not. "Buuut you're not draaab, mo- Miss Inshabel! You're very Elegant anD PoIsed and pretty and smaRt."
"But I owe mY otheR compliment5 +o Trace. They're booked. Maybe I'll refresH the cache when we see if we can get the plants down... If we find your Old arm, do you want it instead, Wren?"
"Well, thank you, dear." Inshabel said gratefully, smiling at her. "I do like to put my best foot forward. I do dress a little like an old maid... But I am an old maid, so perhaps that's alright. I dress for my comfort, I'll leave fashion to the rest of you."
Wren looked up and blinked at her name; she'd been trying to stop Killy from chewing at her boot. "Owen did work rather hard on it, and I would hate for that to go to waste. Besides, an arm in my back pocket would be handy for times like these." She paused. "Pardon the pun. But yes, please."
"We'll see what you say when we're done with this one! Maybe Jack will even let me work the press for once. You want to help too, Voth?" Trace asked, laughing after Anne had eaten the smoke and stubbing hers out. The War nodded and perked up happily.
It almost felt a crying shame to leave such warmth and camaraderie to engage in violent combat, especialy if something happened to one of them. She tried to examine her coding strings for why the thought made her insides feel tighter despite being in and of the exact same locatino, but she expected it was an emotional response, not a system feature. A fear and a hope for their best. Whether it was something her AI would have spawned on its own once or whether it had rubbed of on her, like soul and Trace, was irrelevant to it being there, just as feelings were to action. They had to go if they wanted the arm or to try to makepeople safer.
They would, she decided imperiously and furiously to restrain the shaking or a brewing tear, simply have to come back alive and fine as well. A time for play and laughter, and sweet loving, family or of the other variety entirely. he cleared her throat and winced as it made the sound of a terrribly unhappy microphone pressed to an amp.
Wren sat with her hands folded, waiting apprehensively for someone to say something. Between her house and her experiences, she felt a sort of foreboding air, like Inshabel was going to pronounce judgement and doom upon her. The other woman sat at the head of the table, inclining her head and listening to the very finish of her recounting events before she reached out and grasped her hand.
"I'm very glad you are alright, dear. I've been worried... You've nothing to apologize for, but next time, please let at least one of us help you." She said quietly, looking askance at Anne before smiling nervously. Voth and Ino were less withdrawn, one listening to her like she was a dog doing tricks, the other silently weighing her up and glancing around at everyone else, shoulders up and anxious.
"F*cking Jawas." Trace snorted, before Wren frowned at her. Jack was rummaging in the pantry for a late night snack while the blindfolded woman gathered herself and replied to the ghost.
"You know... They aren't all bad." She said pointedly, while Trace rolled her eyes.
"d0 you ThiNk tHe cops there Will be enougH to gEt the Plants shut down? C0U7D we ge+ youR arm back? Or should we m@ke a new one and call peoPle in case?" Anne eventually elected to inquire, setting aside the Jawas and the burning wrath, as well as some indignity, memory instilled. She patted the uninjured arm. "ArE u O.K. really?"
"...We ought to make a new one. I'm, I'm sorry, but-"
"All is well, Wren. You don't need to apologize, it isn't as though you threw away your arm on a whim. We'll replace it posthaste." Inshabel promised. Wren nodded and swallowed before glancing back to Anne and softly smiling.
"I'm as well as to be expected. Better, even- I found what I was looking for. I couldn't have asked for more... He helped me, you know. He didn't need to, and could have abandoned me at a moment's notice, but he didn't. He stuck with me the entire time, and saved my life by the end." Wren said, looking right at Trace. The machine ghost muttered something under her breath and crossed her arms, not looking away.
"The police may be enough to bring this matter to a finish, but they may not be by the same token. We will monitor this situation until it is brought to a close one way or another." Inshabel said, looking around the table. Jack sat down and looked around, eating a ham sandwich. edited
Shuffling 'fry the survivor' onto' 'wait-and-see' out of trust for Wren, the machine leaned in to fluff at the machine ghost and calm her as she listened to the diminishing existence of the sandwich and Inshabel's wisdoms. "I'm gl@d you'Re okay. It's not so eaSy to rebUiLd humans."
"Poor Sito," she mused. "Do you think Trace could remake Him?"
The ghost with the most ground her teeth and weighed it up, squeezing Anne's knee under the table before she finally said anything. "It's a definite... Well, maybe. If anything of him is left, then yeah, and I don't mean physical. You know how when you plug in a toaster, even if it isn't doing anything it's still on? If his consciousness is still active then I can bring him back. I don't want to promise, but-"
"So you can't?" Ino asked with a smirk. Trace bristled. "Yeah, I can. Shoot, better than before, even! You'll see."
"Thank you, Anne. I'm glad too... I've had all the rebuilding I'd like already." She said wanly, while Voth's fake leg twinged.
"I can't imagine what they were planning to do with vegetation that overwhelmed them so quickly. Perhaps a weapon of some kind..." Inshabel mused.
"Wha bout the ja?" Jack said, before swallowing. "What about the Jawa? Look, I don't want him creeping around, looking for other stuff to steal-"
"I've sent him somewhere safe. Besides, that's an awful thing to say, Jack." Inshabel said reproachfully. The other woman blinked before raising an eyebrow. "Didn't you kill the-"
"No. That was and was not me." Inshabel said, sounding much as she felt toward the past matter; guilty. "Despite their predilections, not every one deserved to die. In fact, I would guess few of them did, no matter their crimes against members of our house. Not to say I wouldn't have done all in my power to reclaim you, Anne, regardless, but... Well, death is rather a final solution to finite problems."
The cyan eyed machine nodded her appreciation after lowering the volume on most ghost induced squeaks to socially acceptable levels in her browser options, and tried to steer to a different subject, still processing and reevaluating Wren's story. "wE shOuld make copies! Of your dad's picture. So you don't haVe to WorRy about LoSing it. ArE yOu going To neeD a radiation bath or anyThinG after that boMb?"
"i wondEr. ThE HuTt guY was mad at Jinteki because clones don't mate in their stuff, and hE was interested in terraforming. Do yOu think it could've been rapid plant exposure gone wrong? Weapon might make more sense though..."
She daintily unhooked a hand and let it scramble under the table to return the favor to her lady friend with the most innocent look on her face she could manage during the dirty deed and started whittling her spoon with the other one. "I'm Glad Death didn't keep us from reclaiming each otHer."
"Almost certainly. I'm surprised I have my hair and all my fingernails, after being so close to the blast... Here it doesn't much matter, but I think if I'd like to visit the outside world again I'd best detox." Wren said, putting a hand on the side of her face and trying not to obviously make sure her teeth weren't going to begin falling out. "A copy? Yes, that's a perfect idea! Trace, er, could you help me work the scanner and printer...?
"One of these days I'll start charging you all for tech support. Yeah, for sure. We probably have a frame somewhere, if you wanted to do it right." She grinned, eyes briefly sparking before she glanced at Anne. Voth was also looking at her, but with much less of a restrained smile trying to escape.
"...Clones don't mate?" She asked, blinking and troubled. Inshabel shook her head. "No, generally they're sterile as a rule. I hadn't considered terraforming, but I suppose such as a weapon would be rather low hanging fruit. In either case, if need be... Would you be willing to wipe it off the map, dear?" She asked Ino. The creepy girl smiled and nodded rapidly before eating the last piece of broccoli on her plate and making a face.
"Death would have to put up one h3ll of a fight to keep me from reclaiming you, and I don't think any of them want the trouble!" Trace laughed, while Jack looked askance. Dying- even though she'd come back- had been horrifying. She hadn't been worried at the time, since she'd been so much cold meat laying on a bed, but it had still shaken her.
Mashing up the last of the brocoli on her own into her processor to synthesize it and emulating enjoyment, having learned a very great deal more about what foods most of their House family liked after spending time with the humans-and-near-humans for months, Anne began collecting plates with her remaining attached hand and wires. She'd still probably crunch junk when it was just her and Trace, or Trash for that matter, and that girl's sleek redesign was something she wasn't as used to yet, but Inshabel's efforts registered as having a high affection content and that alone made it worth imbibing. Well, that, and things conveyed better in the Dream. Thoughts and intents and meanings.
"cAn I go witH you?" she asked meekly, not having meant to trouble Voth and being rather curious. "to HeLp?"
Ino nodded and smiled at her; it would've been sweet if not for her shadow rippling and grinning on the wall behind her."Sure, Anne! I mean, it's going to be kind of boring from where you'll be standing though. At least until the end, that's always exciting with me."
"We'll all go, I think. The police and local authorities may have it well in hand in any case, but I'd like to be able to help and support them in the event they're unable to stop the spread. Thank you, Anne. Did any of you want dessert?" Inshabel asked, looking between them all before pulling a covered dish from nowhere and revealing a small pyramid of red velvet cupcakes. They had been dusted with white sugar and frosted with vanilla.
"What do we do if it's a worse case scenario?" Jack asked gruffly, trying to eat a cupcake and look hard at the same time. It was a losing battle. "Y'know, if the plants are all the way to the shoreline by the time we get there?"
"At that point it will be wholly a job for Ino, Trace, and myself, but I'd hope it wouldn't come to that. While I do wish you'd be a little more careful, Wren, it was good fortune that you happened on this before it became a visible and present problem." Inshabel said, briefly covering her mouth with a hand. "Your luck might finally be changi-"
Wren shushed her and looked around, horrified and suddenly antsy while they laughed, except for Voth, who was eating her cupcake with a knife and a fork. There was a line on her brow, and she looked unhappy. Trace suddenly jumped in her chair and gave her a weird look, not expecting the kick; Voth shook her head and nodded at Ino, who she'd accidentally missed with her fake leg. Trace shrugged, mollified.
"Guess I'll finally get to possess you and try out those weapon systems, huh?" Trace asked, making a finger gun and pretending to fire. Blue sparks jumped.
Finishing the dishes with machine alacrity and reattaching the other hand, the possession potentially to be possessed in a different fashion restrained an unladylike snort at the crumbs amid Jack's pseudo-scowl and rolled her shoulders cheerfully at the sparking ghost. She did elect to save something of the dirtier potential playing talk for when they were less publically situated, though the eyebrow slant and grin might have already alluded to the effect when she faced her. "I'm looking forward to it."
The cupcake proved too powerful for her to subsume easily, although the dainty process might have looked more human than the wholesale snarf at first elected. "Is theRe a wAy to do maintenance on luck, miss Inshabel?"
"Well... I'm quite sure there is, but I haven't the faintest idea of how. It's an intensely personal quality, not truly something that can be fixed through a mental state, I think. Nothing is impossible, but..." She frowned and slowly shook her head. "Fate and all that sort of thing are a little outside of my purview."
Wren shrugged. "It isn't all that terrible, once you're used to knowing things won't go your way. That just needs to be constantly taken into account."
"I still think we can fix you, Wren." Ino said hesitantly. Wren shrugged again and poked at her cupcake. There was silence for a few minutes while Jack and Voth put the dishes away, Inshabel glancing between them furtively before sipping at a cup of coffee like she was cheating on a diet. Trace suddenly stood bolt upright and crackled into an outlet, vanishing.
"I don't know if you heard of the Grail business last year, but my house was involved in the search until things became a little clearer. It's a shame-"
"You're right about that." Jack grumbled, while Inshabel looked at her apologetically before continuing. "-but that was my best idea of a plan. Do you think some sort of machine could repair luck, Anne?" She asked.
"-0rdiNariLy I would say noooo," she considered, "but then agAin, considering just who I was commissioned for and By, I ImaGine that it's possible. Even if it's severely impossible. Or improbable. Mmmtuhh. But we have a better option in miss Hana, I think. The Bad Luck Yakujiin miss. No! Hina. Hina-sama-chan. Person. The Kami. Maybe."
"Processing lingual-foul, please hold. >>fggghhhh8800weeeoooweeeooooo0000."
"Correcting: The lady who takes away bad luck or gives it. That one. Maybe? Did You try her already?" the robobutt more mewled than mused. "dO you think She'd want a Blood Sacrifice or SomeThing? There was a creepy subway guy that'd be perfect."
Inshabel sighed and looked at Wren, who gazed back silently before she nodded and sadly smiled at Anne.
"To be perfectly honest with you, I've considered contacting Hina before. She's one of my favorite people from to see from afar, and I believe we might have a common understanding of things. But... That much bad luck in relation to each other could result in a horrible, horrible spiral. Not to say it would, of course- but I think there's an honest and true chance that if I were to ask for her help, her and my nature would kill us both by the end. We may not even need to be in the same room for it to begin..." Wren said, looking away.
Ino was giving her a weird look, while Inshabel silently clasped her hands.
"I've come into people's lives and ruined them before. I just can't take the risk." She said apologetically. "I don't know. Between us all, I think Ino and Jack have the clearest case of problems to deal with."
Jack nodded, while Ino looked confused and then indignant. She crossed her arms while her shadow grinned again and slithered. Inshabel glanced at it and it immediately looked normal, like a shy dog running behind a couch. Voth had rejoined them, patting the Houndour she'd caught in a junkyard before it tried to bite her hand. She lit up and grabbed it's muzzle while it growled irritatedly at her. edited
Ticking her fingers and once more attending to the domestic chores, in of cleaning any crumbs that the shadows hadn't already devoured while he others worked on the plates, the gynoid thought harder as she nodded. "ThErE was an inventor I met. She WaS going to TrY to make a Way for me to Understand. Er, music, specifically, but that was the more general gist. Miss Iodine was a real genius and a half, and it didn't almost break out and kill people like Dawn! Yet. If She can pull that off, she migHt just have ideas about the luck thing too! She wa5 supposed to write about the Friendship Detector sometime 500n."
"Could I trouble you to fiddle with my bits to make it work, Trace?"
"Henawayanyway, it migh+ be better than magic, if you're worried," she lilted. "Or there's- oh, what about those pokethings like Voth likes? Some of them eat Dreams. Do any of them imbibe on lucks?"
When she'd first come to their house, Inshabel had tried to gently dissuade Anne from her cleaning functions, out of politeness and proprietary. Once she'd seen it made her happy she'd relented, although she still watched Anne set the dining room in order like she wanted to pick up a broom and help.
"Iodine? I remember her. It's worth a try, she was kooky enough to make it work." Trace said, walking out of the refrigerator. "Better her then Dawn, between you two I think her luck is worse. Any port in a storm and any genius to the problem and all, but-" Voth looked like she wanted to say something, but bit her tongue instead. Trace put her hands up placatingly and shrugged. "-I know, I know. Oh, and yeah, Anne. I kind of want to see it firsthand. Speaking of, If things keep going well, I might have a surprise for you courtesy of Ibuki." She winked.
"...I hadn't considered Pokemon. Are there any at all that feed on luck, Voth?" Wren asked. Voth glanced around nervously when they all looked at her, ignoring the Houndour play-biting her hand.
"...I don't know." She swallowed. "The books you bought me, mom, they only go up to 450 species, but I think there are a lot more out there. Some eat dreams and health and stuff, but I can't think of any that eat luck. We could look it up on the computer!" She suggested anxiously.
"What about the uh, the floating head and the hands one? The spiky purple ghost? You know what I'm talking about?" Trace asked, her arms disappearing and leaving her hands floating in midair. Voth shook her head. "Haunter? No, they're just mean spirits. Maybe if Ink were a Dragonair... But I don't think so. I'm sorry...."
"That's alright. In honesty, first before anything I'd like to have another arm." Wren said, lifting her stump. Inshabel once more looked apologetically at her. edited
Anne slowly peered over at Jack, who had greater seniority in the making things and fixing people department, then at Trace, beautifully mad inventor and scientist as she was, before the whirring girl began to internally compile blueprints for if she were the one to make a separate prosthetic for Wren's limb. The light in her eyes dimmed and changed a bit as she entered a sort of contemplative fugue once more, although her twitching fingers didn't actually have any materials on hand to work it out with.
99/100%
The printers and fax machines for Inshabel's office began to scream out page after page of detailed notes as steam roiled out of her ears and a pipe whistle out of her nose before she finally wilted and started trying to mash soap into an arm shape, body complying with inadequate material for a next to perfect diagram already printed. Blank eyed, the gynoid 'worked'.
"Uuuuuh... Is Anne okay?" Ino asked hesitantly, watching her scrape and sculpt individual filaments in the soap's hand before she squashed it and formed connectors.
"No, she's perfect." Trace said with affection, before stopping Ino from waving her hand in front of Anne's face. "No, really, she's fine! Just give her a little bit to finish it. Remember when she fixed the gutters? It's- It's her, you know what I mean? All her processes and routines are going into it, just sit back and watch what she can do. Hey, uh, you all hear that?"
Wren watched the arm take shape with her eyebrows raised while Trace returned bearing the notes and papers, putting them in front of Jack, who glanced at her and then began to leaf through them.
"You think we can build this?"
"...She labeled and described every step for each part. If we can't, then I'm an idiot and you're a moron." She said in gruff, somewhat reserved tones. She'd seen the aftermath of Anne's fugues, but hadn't yet been at ground zero before. Trace snorted and flapped a hand at her.
"Nah, never got close enough to Utah. I used to be an episcopalian."
"Has she built limbs before? I think this one might be better than your other one, Wren." Jack said, letting her take a look. Trace shook her head and gingerly put an arm around Anne, sweeping her other at the work in soap. "Nope, this is her first one, I think. But when it's something for someone she cares about, She always comes through in the best ways..."
When she came into contact with the arm, the droid sleepily stirred, blinking and then activating properly. She seemed chagrined for all of two embarrassed seconds to have oily flakes instead of a masterpiece in hand, but the warmth and the general looks on the others' faces were enough to keep her from having another conflict of function, especially when she played back the audio she'd missed in her head. The small device instead turned shyly and hid her face in Trace, red.
Trace froze like a squirrel in front of a train before she swallowed and hugged Anne's head and shoulders, smiling down at her. "Stuff like that right there? That's why you're the best... I love you." She said, quiet and warm. The blue light that shone through cracks in her carapace had brightened more than a little.
"...I think I may love you too, Anne." Wren said in a stunned tone, lifting her wraps to eye the plans, diagrams, and notes. Inshabel had gotten up to peer over her shoulder, and when she slowly looked up, her eyebrows were raised, impressed. Wren continued to sort the papers and overlay a few to view an exploded diagram of the finished product.
"Here, let me see... I'm going to need molds and materials for sure, probably fine-tune some of my tools to have it a complete closed system." Jack considered, "I can get a prototype together soon, but the inner workings and the fiddly bits, if you can get them to function, Trace, then we can do this."
"No problem! When we're done, Wren, you're gonna want to chop off your other arm to keep it even." Trace laughed, while Wren cracked an uneasy smile. "I think my highest priority is to have two, minimum; let's cross that bridge before climbing any mountains..." edited
"Minimum?" Anne took her seriously, irises telescoping. "Oooo. How could you function with EiGht? What would it looooook like?"
"Either like a goddess of death and destruction or a spider wearing roller skates. I'm not quite sure there's a middle ground between the two!" Wren admitted, laughing a little. "Although it is an interesting thought and mental picture. After this one, perhaps I'll work my way up to a few more..."
"I want eight arms!" Voth said, completely taken with the idea. "I could fight four times the people, or cook and clean and read and play at the same time..."
"You know what's better than eight? Having hundreds!" Ino said, giggling. Voth giggled too, but she didn't quite get it.
Having seen Ino in the Brawl, Anne knew better than Voth what this might entail. "Yo-ou-ou already have those, thOugh, don't yOu? When You get HungRy. Do they weigh anything like prosthetics? WhaT'5 it like?"
Ino blinked and glanced at Inshabel, before she bowed her head and eyed Anne through her hair like she was hiding. "It's like... It doesn't weigh anything, but I can feel it around me kind of like hair made out of water. I don't move it, but it moves with me, because I'm it's conduit into here and it's a part of me. Like a faucet, you know? That's why it protects me- without me it could only eat itself instead of people and bodies and stone and wood- you get the idea."
"It creeps up on me, is the thing. Like, I'll be fighting, and colors in the edge of my vision start to burst, and I feel like I'm floating. Everything's bright and perfect and filled with fresh meat and hot blood, and that's when I need to start being careful. Because it's not sudden-" out of nowhere she snapped her fingers. "-but it's like sinking into quicksand while a hot wind blows. And the hunger gets worse and worse and worse the longer I go in the real world without, y'know, eating what it wants. Just deeper and worse and worse until I'm hollow. Sometimes I'll stare at people and my mouth will water if it's been too long..."
"It's safe here for her, of course, but... " Inshabel trailed off before looking at Ino fondly and sadly, while she smiled hesitantly back. edited
Ambing over, the machine hugged her, although she had no idea what to say or how that would feel.
Ino hugged her back gratefully.
Jack picked up the papers and cracked her back before grabbing at Trace. "I think if we work on it, we can have this close to done by the time we fight these plants. It shouldn't take long at all, especially- well, can you...?" She looked at Inshabel questionly. The other woman nodded and slowly smiled.
"Oh, yes. I suppose there's no need to rush- I'll be able to give you half a week, at the least." She said, clasping her hands.
"I'll help too, if you want." Voth offered, smiling at Wren. "I can't wait to fight plants!"
"Ohkay! Let's go fight the pants!"
"... pLaNts. I meant plants! Uhmgnh, how? Do we just... open the door and walk out of the Dream, oR?" Anne peered at her more experienced friends.
After some consideration, she tottered up and away from the hug and over to Trace again, bracing to be possessed. She wasn't entirely sure what would make it easiest.
"Oh, yes. When it's time, I'll have our front gate open somewhere close by for an exit." Inshabel nodded. "We'll be there and in fresh form, ready to see what needs to be done."
"Oh. Uh, in front of everybody? Well, okay." Trace shrugged, before she put her hands on her shoulders and looked Anne over. "First off, it's going to feel a little like a lightning strike, but pinpoint, without the intensity. Tell me if it hurts, okay? It won't, but, y'know, just in case. Relax. Look at me," Trace smiled. "Now-"
The blue bolt of electricity entered through Anne's eyes, briefly snapping and crackling across her frame. Her lights and hair went from cyan to the darker blue Trace radiated.
"...There are so many jokes I want to make right now." Trace whispered inside her head. "So I'm riding around in your subroutines and whatnot, like a passenger in coach. Just observing and here for the ride... I'm not going to dig through your memories or anything, that would be messed up- oh, hey, watch this!"
Anne's vision would briefly allow her to see through the walls in wire frames, everything in the house in her gaze from Ino's armbones to a mouse nibbling a cracker in the pantry. edited
The droid slowly turned on every musical device she could manipulate with the wires, in a slow crescendo of rebellious haunting, true to form, amid the admiring.
Unable to restrain herself from the jokes herself as the mounting cacophany signified their union, Anne instead muted her vocals. Woe betide lip readers, though.
"Once upon a dreaaaam ago, we're the ones you leeeft behind, A Crow, A Storm" belted one CD before she finally behaved.
"Very nice! Here, let me-" Trace muttered, raising Anne's hand to point at different lights among their view to change them shades of blue. Walls were more suggestions than guidelines; it was how she saw the world. Ino poked her head in the kitchen, and the mouse ran away quickly. Voth was staring at them wide-eyed, while Inshabel-
"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Trace said, sounding worried and turning her eyes away. "I'm used to it, but try not to look at her when we're like this. Just trust me... Hey, I like this song! Watch this!"
Trace briefly sang through Anne's mouth in a growl, or she would have if she wasn't on mute. Anne could probably feel her amusement when she looked down at her own lips.
"Oh well. Anyway, we're cheek-to-cheek right now. You can probably feel my energy or whatever, and I can, you know." She gestured with her hand. "You can still control yourself, but I'm sitting behind you, is a way to look at it. I can run your weapon systems while you fight, or do my own thing with my magic, like this."
Trace pointed her hand again, before processing patterns slid around the edges of her vision. Jack looked at the pointing finger and then around the room.
"Se suponía que iba a pasar algo? Voló nuestra tostadora de nuevo?" She asked. Anne's finger pointed at her again, while she looked indignant and mutely protested.
"-I mean, I know you weren't here yet, but it was ONCE! One time I try to get Inshabel's bagels to cook evenly and I still hear about it... Anyway, that was something little, but just imagine the possibilities!" edited
Proceeding to begin to imagine the possibilities while also growing used to the body moving under a different directive movitational force, the android caught a breath she didn't need and missed another. She wondered if this was what being high or inebriated for the humans was like, a heady difference of mind to body than usual. Her own drunk program had just been joking emulation. She wondered if there would be more time for wondering while Trace got used to it as well. She wondered whether she should turn up the volume so Trace could better deliver her rebuttal to Jack or whether the ghost would achieve the most without her meddling.
She swayed slightly as the hand moved trajectories and tried focusing on eye calibrations, wondering what better focus, for instance, might do for Trace's weaponswork. And, of course, whether it would bother the spirit or whether she was integrated enough with the body that the improvement wouldn't cause any sort of headache. Above anything, she tried to do pretty well the opposite of most possessees, and fully embrace the spirit taking on her shell..
"Normally, this is a fight. The simpler something is, the harder it is to possesses, but the smarter something is, the more it can try and throw you off. Nothing's stopped me in the field, but I had this plan for advanced robotic- uh, nevermind. That story sucks." Trace said inside her head, switching Jack back to English while she stared down at her throat, confused. "See, we're, I dunno- what do you think? 60/40? I wasn't going to go higher with uh, people around in case it was super weird-" Trace's cough sounded like aluminum foil. "-But I don't think it matters. If we're working together then we can- Aw, Anne, this is gonna be great! You know how much awesome sh1t we're going to do?!"
"When you're done, the both of you meet me out back. I'm getting this arm taken care of." Jack promised, taking a cupcake with her. Voth went back to petting her Houndour, while Inshabel smiled as she watched Anne jump up and down.
"You okay? Sorry for all the static, it's hard to mute. I thought it would pass by now... Anyway, my magic is occult. It works through spirit and intent, you see? The reagents you sometimes need you can usually conjure or change from other stuff, but if you have to find something you have to find something to prepare. Rituals lead to greater power through other factors... I know it's a lot, but I've kind of never talked about this with you because it's all me. There's nobody who does what I do, not nobody, and I think if I operate through you it might- well, I'll show you some stuff, maybe. I have some ideas, I want to see if they pan out, and if they do..." The grin was obvious.
Voth came over and stared up at her before Trace put Anne's hand on her head, the War peering up at them.
Voth's hair roiled and braided itself in long tentacles, leaving her with smallish white dreadlocks. She blinked, while Trace winced.
"...It usually works better. Was gonna turn it blue." She coughed again. edited
"hOw dO I bOoOst youR magic?" the machine inquired, ruffling at the hair with the other hand and staring at her other eye with the left as if trying to hold a conversation with her pilot physically. Her voice vibrated in the the chamber. "weE can trrry t0 make it work... dO I need to Intend too?"
"Oh, yeah. The want and intent are big parts of the whole. It'd be a little process, but I think just having your body will help ground me. If I knew it would be like this we would've tried it a lot sooner!" Trace said, excited. "You might be able to boost it, or just make it better since it's you, or maybe act with me in tandem? You might be a catalyst, Anne. The next couple of days when we're not working on this arm, we're going to have a loooot of fun..."
Voth stared at herself in the mirror, lighting a cigarette; she smiled and bounced her head from side to side while Inshabel stood behind her, half aghast, half amused.
Repressing their apology circuit and programming and a part of her coming more to terms with her owner being her, or at least having the most hands on control imaginable, the girl instead chirped cheerfull and focused the output processing power that would have gone to the frantic vocalizations and sorries into willing 'blue' at Voth with Trace's magics.
Voth's hair out and out sparkled before the dreads ran blue, starting from the scalp and traveling down to the ends. She gasped and turned to Inshabel, smiling; her yellow eye had turned blue as well. The older woman paused before flipping one of the locks and tentatively smiling.
"Well... It wasn't quite what I had had in mind, but as long as you like it..." She said. Voth rapidly nodded. "I like it a lot! I look scary!"
"Heh, nice job! You're going to take to this like a fish to water, I knew it. Anyway, changing colors is a pretty simple party trick, but it gets the crowd excited and it's a foundation to build on. You can't throw lightning until you can turn somebody pink or whatever." Trace shrugged inside her head. "I really didn't think this would work out so well... I'll keep working on it with you as long as you want, but do me a favor, okay? If I get overbearing or demanding, just, I dunno, flick my ear and tell me to lay off. I'm coming out, this is going to feel weird."
Sparks once again rose from Anne as Trace half sidestepped and half peeled herself out of her, checking herself before smiling huge at her like a calculator with a screen full of 8's.
"How was it?" Inshabel asked, looking between the two of them. Trace stepped over and snuck a cigarette off Voth, lighting it by snapping her fingers and then taking a deep drag.
"Better than I even expected!" She laughed.
"I need a cigarette," Anne breathed out, mind spinning headily. She started to laugh in a tone and cadence that was more like her partner for the first few notes before resolving into herself again. "tHaT was niCe. I'll Try not to let you get Bad with it, though, oF course.... wow, you look sCaRy, Voth. That new sword might scream!"
Voth beamed at her before handing her one and her lighter, in case Anne didn't have one built in, while Inshabel discreetly took an ash tray out of a cabinet and set it on the table, still poking at Voth's hair to see if she could bind it together in a ponytail of braids.
"Yeah! Bjorn won't expect this. Neither did I!" She giggled, while her pet hellhound barked irritatedly. "Remember when we dyed Jack's hair? Maybe we can do yours next, Mom!"
Inshabel tittered like a bird, before giving Anne and Trace a plaintive look. "We could, certainly, but I don't believe blue is quite my color... I'm a bit too drab."
"Aw, dOn'T be A sTiCk in the mud. I'll bet we could give you a blue Mohawk and blow your sowing circle up with the controversy." Trace teased, bumping Anne with her hip and taking another puff. "Yeah, that was pretty neat! You really are my other half, you know that?
Realizing she didn't have a clue which end of the cig to set alight and wouldn't normally, having neither the actual organic lungs nor mental functions to appreciate it, Anne still very nearly asked Jack for help before rubbing Trace's back instead in the precursor to scratching or massaging. "YeS," she chirped cheerfully, and then, for all the world like a computer fan with autotuning burbling out electronic glee, "thank you, Voth!"
She set it on fire and tried puffing it both ways, coughing at first as her filters reacted, before she took it a little more slowly. Then she ate it, not remembering if these were things you disposed of or not. "Buuut you're not draaab, mo- Miss Inshabel! You're very Elegant anD PoIsed and pretty and smaRt."
"But I owe mY otheR compliment5 +o Trace. They're booked. Maybe I'll refresH the cache when we see if we can get the plants down... If we find your Old arm, do you want it instead, Wren?"
"Well, thank you, dear." Inshabel said gratefully, smiling at her. "I do like to put my best foot forward. I do dress a little like an old maid... But I am an old maid, so perhaps that's alright. I dress for my comfort, I'll leave fashion to the rest of you."
Wren looked up and blinked at her name; she'd been trying to stop Killy from chewing at her boot. "Owen did work rather hard on it, and I would hate for that to go to waste. Besides, an arm in my back pocket would be handy for times like these." She paused. "Pardon the pun. But yes, please."
"We'll see what you say when we're done with this one! Maybe Jack will even let me work the press for once. You want to help too, Voth?" Trace asked, laughing after Anne had eaten the smoke and stubbing hers out. The War nodded and perked up happily.
It almost felt a crying shame to leave such warmth and camaraderie to engage in violent combat, especialy if something happened to one of them. She tried to examine her coding strings for why the thought made her insides feel tighter despite being in and of the exact same locatino, but she expected it was an emotional response, not a system feature. A fear and a hope for their best. Whether it was something her AI would have spawned on its own once or whether it had rubbed of on her, like soul and Trace, was irrelevant to it being there, just as feelings were to action. They had to go if they wanted the arm or to try to makepeople safer.
They would, she decided imperiously and furiously to restrain the shaking or a brewing tear, simply have to come back alive and fine as well. A time for play and laughter, and sweet loving, family or of the other variety entirely. he cleared her throat and winced as it made the sound of a terrribly unhappy microphone pressed to an amp.
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