FV – Chapter 55

Familiar Connections

With their performance concluded, the two girls turned off their equipment.  Everything was done, they had actually pulled everything off.

“Halt, you two are under arrest.”  “Oh, hi Velvet.  Glad to see aerospace here causing us more trouble.  Right, maybe we should have made a much quicker exit.”  “Neither of you are going anywhere.  Now come peacefully.”  Velvet advanced towards Kori, cautiously checking to see if there might be any other trap in place for all of her actions.  She knew that, after all their work, the two girls wouldn’t be open to doing anything to alienate themselves away with scary abilities.  Without resorting to such though, the two were little more than harmless civilians.  However, in desperation, they might resort to such dramatics anyway, especially if her mother panicked again.  Supposedly, her mother was supposed to panic here, and things were supposed to go really bad.  Kori might be capable of a very quick escape, but Rosa was far more limited.  In that consideration, maybe she should go for the guarantee over the opportunity.  She glanced between both, considering her next move carefully.

“Aerospace?  Weren’t those the morons who let Hypertech go?”  “Wow, they really don’t know a good thing when they see it.  Idiots.”  “Trying to arrest people for being too good, huh?  Wow, who would have thought Aerospace had sunk that low.”  “If you’re arresting her because she’s an airhead, you really shouldn’t bother.  Talent like that is what airheads should aspire towards, would make our community better if they became that talented.”  “You make it sound like aerospace recognizes what talent looks like.”  “Oh, right, my bad.”  “Don’t you dare touch them.”  The crowd had already turned their viper looks upon Velvet, ready to riot.  As Velvet took account of her surroundings, she realized that she may have found herself suddenly drastically outnumbered and completely out-maneuvered.  She wondered if this whole situation could even possibly get any more dramatically wrong.  To answer her concerns, a sudden holo call came in for her.

“Velvet, this is an urgent message from Aerospace High Command.  You are to stand down immediately.”  “Hey, I’m an executive of Aerospace Command, you can’t…”  “This comes from above Aerospace Command, you will comply.”  “Higher?  What’s possibly higher than…”  “The main branch of the government.  I don’t know if you’re aware, but you’re on live news right now, and getting aerospace a lot of bad press.  If you don’t clean up this problem, the government will begin a review of aerospace’s executive body and determine if any of such staff remain fit for work.  Do I make myself clear?”  “Absolutely crystal.  I’ll get right on it.”  The agent from aerospace high command disconnected while Velvet looked absolutely defeated.  From all sides.. this had suddenly turned into the worst trap imaginable.  She looked around at all of the recording cameras turned towards her, still hearing the growing hatred of the crowds.  Yup, unquestionably, she had failed, there was nothing more to do but to try and salvage the situation and to admit defeat.

“I’m sorry for overstepping myself there, it appears Aerospace Command has had a change of heart.  We would like to extend our thanks for your great contribution to our society.”  “Thanks huh?  But aren’t aerospace the ones making sure that Hypertech is getting blacklisted from any transit requests?”  “That’s only because your headquarters is in a hostile location beyond the barrier.”  “Oh, so like.. much the same as the main transit center, just outside beyond the barrier.”  “That’s not…  Alright, we’ll revoke those restrictions, as long as you’re willing to cooperate with transit requirements.”  “Same as any other company assuredly.  Though, it might be difficult if you’re going to ban us from…”  “The blockade prohibiting your access to the colony has also been lifted, you are even welcome to use aerospace services for your own needs going forward, much as any other person.”  “Perfect, cause we might need to get a lift to bring all of our stuff back home.  I had just realized that we might have forgotten how to take care of that part.”  Velvet outright facepalmed as she could tell Kori had even outplayed her in that.  There really wasn’t any point in trying right now, so instead she just requested such a lift personally.  It appeared that Nick’s shuttle had even been cleared for use recently as well, all so coincidentally.  The equipment due for transit was bulky and heavy, but since the stage was mostly a projection it could actually be substantially compressed.  The shuttle would still be plenty enough for this request.  By the time the shuttle even arrived, everything was packed up and ready to go.  However, a large number of the crowd remained, mostly to keep watch.  The news crews had yet to disperse, waiting to see if there was more to this story.  A bunch of bigger companies had opened up requests to open business to Hypertech, inquiries Rosa had passed to Kori and her much more expansive social skills.  Kori was taking the situation by storm, all over diplomatic relations and skillful negotiations.  It didn’t even phase anyone that she was a conduit, because she was more than just a conduit.

“This.. was not what I would have expected.”  “Oh, Nick, hi.”  “Kori, I…”  “Sorry, I’m busy with dependable business associates.  If you need anything, maybe Rosa will care enough to indulge you.”  Nick realized that things were still pretty much lost between him and Kori, and maybe that might not ever actually change.  Rosa meanwhile turned between the two of them in inquiry and uncertainty.  Apparently, there was some bad blood still involved between those two.  In all consideration though, it was an invitation to escape the growing crowds and divest herself from the social scene, so she took it.  Grabbing a holo-full of gear, she made her way aboard the shuttle with Nick, finding room to store what she had brought.

“Kori still hates me, doesn’t she?”  “She’s quite honestly moved on and probably wants nothing to do with the stuff she left behind.”  “Moved on?  Does that mean she’s already dating someone else?”  “She… well, maybe, who knows.  Even if she was, it wouldn’t be my place to mention anything.  That’s not the point, anyway, you’re just not a part of her life anymore.”  “What?  How could you say it like that?  Don’t you know how cruel that is to say?”  “Actually, yes, I am quite well aware of how cruel it is to suddenly lose someone from your life, actually, if you’re going to go there.  I’ve had it happen recently.. twice, one of them quite a lot like this.  Even so, I’ve moved on, you probably should too.”  “You had someone you care about feel like you just betrayed all of their trust, leaving you feeling a wellpool of endless guilt?”  “Yes, pretty much that exactly.  Him and I used to be quite a pair, too.  Then suddenly I got in the way of his work.. in a bit the wrong way.. and it left him feeling like I had been conspiring against him for our entire relationship.  When that happened, I felt like absolute trash.  Let me know if that sounds familiar.”  “… Yeah.. it was basically that.  Wait, you were there when things happened, you know what went wrong.”  “My guy was a security guard, and things pretty much worked like a repeat of the same situation.  It was actually right after your own incident too, if you could start putting those pieces together.”  “Oh wow… I…”  Nick couldn’t even finish his thought, realizing that Rosa might really have substance to her claim.  He then sat back in his pilot seat, silently dwelling upon his own thoughts, leaving Rosa to return to pick up more supplies for transport.  Eventually, Kori pitched in with her own share.. even Velvet picked up a few lighter things just to get things moving.  Soon, the shuttle was ready to depart.

“Well, I certainly didn’t expect to be sharing a shuttle with you two under terms like this.”  “Do you want us to drop you off along the way, so that you can resume whatever work it is you do?”  “Don’t bother, my work will be easier from the shuttle anyway, it would be easier if I just stayed.”  “Ah, well, I guess this means you’re going to get a chance to see what Hypertech used to be like.”  “I really doubt it’s changed that much, it just probably looks a lot less run down, much like the rest of society.  Don’t forget, but I had spent much of my childhood around Hypertech anyway.”  “Ah, yeah, well, I guess that makes sense.”  Velvet sighed at Kori’s reflection of the future.  Rosa meanwhile blinked her confusion.. in wonder on how anything there actually made sense?

“Okay, I’m missing something important here.  Would someone feel free to fill me in on why that supposedly just makes sense?”  “Well, because you would have worked at Hypertech, that’s why.”  “.. and.. that matters.. how?”  “Because she’s your daughter and…”  “Wait, what?!”  “Oh, right, that never came up before.”  “Velvet’s my daughter.. in future.. by the divine…”  “If you think that’s bad, you should wait till you figure out who Mheridz’s mom is.”  “Hells… I can’t believe it.”  Rosa clued in at that point that even Kori had projections of future motherhood.  However, Rosa then was even more capable in putting details together, amassing the entire future structure.

“Wait, so then you would have been at Hypertech for more than me, you would have had a father that…”  “Well, yeah, being the daughter of the head of the company really did leave me in quite a predicament.  At least dad was around more.. when he wasn’t busy with his own work.  Left me to grow as quite the pampered princess of the company, really, though life was harsh enough to feel quite a lot less elegant than that.”  Rosa listened as Velvet reshared the same story of her upbringing from before.  It was basically the same story Kori had heard before.. except Kori was still spinning on this whole father angle, a consideration that hadn’t even dawned on her before.

“Hold on.. so.. Drew is…”  “Her father, yeah.  That actually makes a lot of sense.”  “Are you and Drew really that close?”  “Not yet, but we’re getting there.  It’s pretty much like how that means we know who Mheridz’s father is too.”  “Wait, what?”  “Oh come on, your sister has all but guaranteed it for you at this point, it’s really obvious how close you’ve gotten to Jhez.  I suspect that means Mheridz grew up at the academy then, having parents who were invested into the school curriculum.”  “Hold on, what?  Jhez might be a teacher, but I’m…”  “Right, we didn’t have time to get to that yet, and I really didn’t want to burden you with it before our work was done, but yes.. the academy has already wanted me to check if you would be interested in teaching.  You’re really good at working with people, and you are an expert with all sorts of information.  Administration was all over that, ready to pick you up.  Really, it’s becoming a family thing, considering your sister’s invitation into the event committee after how well that party went.”  Kori sat back on her chair, mentally processing everything Rosa had just said.  It was only then that Rosa realized that she had actually broken her promise to Xwyhr about keeping everything quiet, but it had been an important moment to put everything together.  Maybe it will be easier to project what Mheridz planned when they knew the girl would be quite the historian.  Actually, that explained why Mheridz was fearsomely intimidating when it came to predicting what had happened, her grasp of what she considered history would be substantial.

“Wait, the party went well.. but you had always told me… I.. mean.. future you had always said…”  “We held a party, it was an extravagant blast, we got a great crowd, and even the academy started to officially support what we were doing.  As a result of all that support, Kori’s sister was offered a position as an official event coordinator.”  “That’s.. that’s nothing like what I was told.  The whole thing was supposed to have started great, yeah, but then it grew out of control and from there things had gone wrong.  Once official bodies had gotten involved, Kori’s sister was supposed to be suspended, with her entire education and thus future in danger.”  “Wow, no way, the girl is set, her future is bright.”  Velvet was now the one left with her head spinning, Rosa having really changed things on her.  To Velvet, this did explain all the sudden confidence they had shared.. but it didn’t explain why things had gone so differently.  Exactly how had everything so suddenly changed?  Kori meanwhile was evaluating things too, seeing that they really were on the course for a divergence.  The concert curse was supposed to hit them.. and they had stopped it already.  Their next concert could then make for yet another great divergence, spinning this timeline considerably off course.

“Hold on, if the whole party supposedly went poorly, what happened to me?  I expect that I got these teacher invites because the party went well, but…”  “Oh, well, apparently you still became a teacher anyway.  I expect your husband stood up for you there, and there is the whole thing about being a sort of protector otherwise.  You would have to ask Mary, but I’m pretty sure in her time you got the same kind of requests.. just not this soon.  Really, what in the world happened.  Everything was pretty easy to predict for a while.. but then everything has just drifted astray.”  “Ah, well, maybe the difference is that you’re here?  Your history wouldn’t have included you in it, right?”  “That.. well.. I guess.  You’re talking some crazy butterfly effect stuff here though.  Just having someone new in aerospace command wouldn’t have done all of this.  Did you know that we’ve missed nine historically significant DMA raids already?  They just haven’t happened, everything has instead been absolutely quiet.  The people at aerospace command think I’ve gone completely paranoid, chasing shadows that don’t even exist.”  “Well, then I guess you can finally give up on trying to get us to surrender, everything has been taken care of already.”  “No, it hasn’t.  I know it hasn’t because I’m still here.  If I’m still here, then it means there is a future where I might come back to still try to fix the past.  Until I simply fade away, my work isn’t done.”  Kori was getting used to how all of these timeline things worked, understanding Velvet’s place in everything.  It was rather grim that the entire meaning behind Velvet’s existence was to deal with such a threat, but the logic at least made sense.

More notable was the details on what had changed.  Things were starting to diverge, but there was a lot that was still the same.  Velvet might have some problems being as accurate in predictions.. but things were still possible to predict.  Of course too, her belief on Velvet’s inclusion in the timeline was mostly a bluff.  Well, her presence was a sizable difference, and would have had some impact on the timeline, but there was something far more substantial that had occurred to change everything.  In all accounts, actually, even that might be due to the butterfly effect, their own personal development caused because of both daughters travelling back and instigating such changes.  Kori’s future self may have had something of a good idea there then.. but such changes were profound enough to have her believe that this timeline could be salvaged.  Rosa meanwhile was contemplating the terms of such a grim existence.  Such implied that, in her death, she had resolved both daughters to this grim semblance of an existence, their lives fading away either when they succeeded or when it came time for her to actually have such a child.  Clearly, there was quite a lot more riding on everything than she might have first expected.  In all of her considerations, she took another look over Velvet, considering the girl in a new light.  Velvet had clearly gone the mile to cloud things over, but she could pinpoint some slight resemblance now that she was aware any existed.  Velvet almost seemed like an older sister, in a way.. though she wasn’t.  Her future daughter.. that just happened to be older than she was.  She really did have quite the family here with this world.. she was beginning to feel like she might belong here more than she might the other.  Kori in all honesty wasn’t that far off from the same assessment, but it was an idea she was trying to ignore with her present thoughts.  Realizing that she felt more foreign to her own planet than she did on the other side would be itself too much for her right now.

“Velvet, do you want to stay a bit at Hypertech, just for a little while?”  “Uh, no, thanks, that’s fine.  I’ve got a lot of work to do.”  “Work, seriously, you need some time to relax too, you know.  Seriously, you’re reminding me of the worst qualities of your mother.”  “But.. aren’t you…”  “Oh, I know.  Let’s think of it this way.  We have to consider the shattered relationship between Hypertech and Aerospace.  As an executive member of Aerospace Command, we’re going to need you to be present to handle all of the business details of our interoperation relations.”  “Uh, but I’m already talking to you, and you’re vice chairman of the whole company, Drew’s right hand.”  “I’m.. what?”  “Oh… Did that not happen yet?  Shit.”  “No.. nothing like that has happened yet, so you’re going to have to be present before Drew.  Come on, you know this stuff has to be done in an official capacity, that’s how these things work.”  “You’re sounding like my mother.  Fine, whatever.  Just so you know though, I’ve not given up.  This is a huge setback, yes, but it’s just a matter of time before things go wrong.  I will find a way to get your surrender.. I refuse to let you just die like that again.”  Rosa could see her shared family stubbornness shine right back at her through Velvet.  However, Rosa could also see the relentless determination Xwyhr had constantly complained about, the same one that didn’t like to relax nor seek help, just to do everything on her own mindlessly.  Rosa was adamant that, when it came time for this timeline’s Velvet, she would ensure that such would be corrected.

Even so, the stay was still short and quick, Velvet handling negotiations with Drew with complete professionalism, the fact that this was in all truth a father/daughter meeting not even evident in the whole scenario.  Velvet did insist on not including lesser employees though, so Rosa only got an account for what happened through Drew second hand.  At a professional level, everything had been worked out.  At a personal level, nothing had happened.  Rosa however did notice that Velvet knew exactly where to go, knew every turn and every passage.  This had really been Velvet’s home once.. on another timeline.  But even in Velvet’s ever present resolve, this only turned to inspire Rosa even further.  She would save Velvet from such misfortune, she would find a way Velvet could rest at last.  Not only that, she would ensure that such grim terms would in no way repeat themselves.  There would be no more sacrifices, and she was totally willing to seek help in order to ensure everything worked out.

However, for now, they would have to look forward to the problems just before them.  The one performance had worked out, but the cursed concert had yet to begin.

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FV – Chapter 54

Flawless Performance

Night’s arrival felt all too swift, the fateful moment at long last.  All of their preparation had amounted to this next stage of their grandiose act.

“Holi, can you give me an update on our situation?”  “Oh, welcome back, Kori.  Everything has gone according to plan so far.  Your surveillance grid is fully operational.  Does that mean we’re going to be proceeding with…”  “Tonight, yes, but not quite yet.  We need to delay a bit longer, give people time to begin their night.  Delaying now would be far easier than trying to hold things off under hostile terms.  Where is Sophie?  We could at least get everything in position so that we could go right when opportunity knocks?”  “Sophie is in the inventory room.. so I guess she’s of like mind to you.”  Kori nodded as she ran off, leaving Holi just as suddenly as she had arrived.  Nothing about that had been new that night anyway, just about everyone was stirring about all over.  Even Holi herself was quite literally all over the place, her nanites spread out in a vast calculating network.  There was far too much to do to simply stay in one place at a time.

“Holi, I need your help with something.”  “Oh, Rosa.. what is it?”  “I’ve got some slight stage alterations I’m hoping to run by you at the last moment.  Nothing too major.. though it might certainly have quite the impact.  I especially want your input on how I should convince Kori that it would be a good idea.”  “Ah, so you’re working on a surprise.. but you want to share the surprise in advance.  That might be a good idea, Kori would be left quite flustered if things suddenly broke from her plan unexpectedly.  What exactly is it that you have in mind, then?”  Rosa went over the details of her idea with Holi, the whole concern becoming very quickly evident.  No wonder Rosa sought help with this particular problem, this really was quite a stroke of ambition.  Fortunately.. it really wouldn’t impact the plan very much at all.  In fact, in all honesty, even Holi believed there would be a lot of value in the accomplishment of Rosa’s little project.

“Kori, perfect timing.  I’ve got your attire already prepared for you.  I made sure to include all of my sister’s random doohickies, all while not diminishing the vibrant flare of the decor.  I’m really hoping Holi manages to get a recording of everything, it would suck missing you two up on stage dressed up like this and performing.  If you want to take this and go get changed, I can work on styling you up too.”  “You’re about as eager as Holi was.  I don’t mind getting changed, but we should be careful about being too quick with makeup and all that.  Like I had told Holi, we’re probably not leaving quite so soon.  It’s going to be rough already having to wait all uncomfortably, it would be even worse if your work didn’t hold up long enough for the main event.”  Sophie still handed off the package she was carrying to Kori, not disputing such logic in the least.  Just as Kori left to get change, Rosa arrived too, picking up her own package in much the same way.  Sophie could tell though that Rosa was pondering something.. but Rosa was gone before she could form her inquiry.  Holi however remained behind.. and was already open to filling in the blanks.

Kori returned soon after in a full body dress, a glamorous appeal far beyond anything she had ever even bothered considering before.  Sophie had gone all out on this one, the whole thing outright shimmering in its light and buoyant flare.  The electric azure tones diligently clouded over the blue marks of her conduit blood, despite the whole thing doing even less at covering such marks than she might have usually been used to.  Makeup was supposed to handle much of the rest, along with a proper distribution of shadows.  Rosa was going to be the center stage anyway, all lights on her, Kori was just playing a supporting role here.  Music was far more Rosa’s thing anyway, this was just going to be her show.. even if it might have been fun to have made something more out of everything.

“My word, it suits you perfectly.  We should have you wearing this sort of thing more often.”  “Uh, maybe not.  I feel it draws a little too much attention to myself.. which really…”  “Yes, yes, you’ve always preferred to blend in rather than stand out.  Just like it’s been far more your style to do things for others than to find your own happiness.  Quite rightfully, that won’t do.  We need you out there having the time of your life, because you’re going to be representing Hypertech out there.  Fake smiles won’t be nearly as good at drawing in people’s interest than actually being the authentic Kori out there.”  “Wait, authentic?  I thought we would be hiding the fact that I’m a conduit, because that would…”  “Oh, yeah, that really was a crummy idea.  Think of the controversy when your fanbase learned the truth?  No, certainly.. there is no way we would have any long term value in clouding over everything.  So instead, we’re going to have to bring out all the best in the real you.”  Sophie’s sudden shift in the plan was leaving Kori going outright pale.  There was no way this would work.

“Actually, that’s not really that bad of an idea.”  “Tristine!?  I thought as another conduit you would understand.”  “Well, yeah.  I understand that being hated for what I am sucks.  I know you’re just worried about the whole thing leading to a sudden riot, airhead this, airhead that.  However, I still remember the conduit that stood up to a crowd that would have wanted to riot upon my presence.. and that conduit got everyone’s awe.  Clearly the trick is to do something amazing.. and then have people figure out what they’re seeing.  Maybe you could hide the whole thing until you really get started.. but if you then shock everyone with a sudden reveal then you’re bound to get everyone’s attention.  At that point, it would just work for you, wouldn’t it?”  Tristine was honestly sipping coffee neutrally as she just dropped Kori’s jaw with such a statement.  Holi smiled, knowing that involving those two would have had the impact Rosa was going for.  Tristine was just glad that the request to show up came with a cup of coffee, she was still really tired.

Rosa then showed up while Kori was still stammering her case.  Rosa’s outfit was very similar to Kori’s, just her velvetine look used a very reflective violet instead.  Her sister was then equally all over her too, sharing even more praise than Kori had endured.. an act which also had the result of drawing everyone else away from Kori’s attempt to plead her case.  Rosa glanced at Holi, who gave a silent smile and nod.  They would be making room to ensure Kori got the social recognition she so truly deserved.  Kori meanwhile pondered that there might not be any concert curse on this side.. but they were really already trying to tempt misfortune by dabbling in some very precarious stuff.  Even hearing the rest of Rosa’s plan.. it really was a horrible plan.. even if everything really was well within Kori’s abilities and expertise.  However, no one gave her room to express her doubts of her own value.. and she inwardly wished that things might possibly go so well.

Eventually enough, Kori agreed that the time was ripe for them to begin.  Everything was in position, so it was time for their grand performance.

Velvet searched over her equipment for any sort of peculiar quip.  She knew full well that this was when that stupid music festival was scheduled to occur.  She also knew she had to prevent it.  What was dumb though was how much had been screwing up for a while now.  How long has it been since the last DMA raid?  There should have been some very established encounters by now.. but nothing had happened.  Did she just remember her history lessons that badly?  Sure, she wasn’t ever actually good with history.. that might make sense.. but something really felt wrong.  Questioning herself didn’t help her either, as she could remember that the whole thing was due to happen in a park.. but she couldn’t remember which park.  Obviously it was the park which got targeted by a lot of strange deliveries.. but so far that was none of them.  Meanwhile, there was no sighting of the two girls either.  If they used any of their zealous quirks, she would have readings of their progress.  If they just walked in, she would have reports of their passage.  Nothing, absolutely nothing.  Was this the wrong night, then?

She turned to look out of the window, reviewing the sprawl of buildings below her.  To ensure she could get anywhere she needed quickly enough, she was in a shuttle of her own.. the pilot just hovering there waiting for instructions.  Then, suddenly, she got a notification, the shipping request she had been tracking had suddenly been marked with a destination and instructed to move expedited.  That’s what she had been waiting for, it was time to move.  She passed on directions to her pilot, who even just happened to be that same Nick that had previously been acquainted with Kori, before waiting for their own hasty arrival.  The moment she touched down, her equipment received another message.  The shipping target had been changed, there was a data entry error, the new address had been provided.  Wait, that was on the far opposite side of the colony!  That.. wasn’t even a park, it was a small field within the commercial district.  She returned to her shuttle and relayed new instructions.

“I’m sorry, but it appears your shuttle can not be authorized for takeoff.  My equipment here says that it’s detected a dangerous fault in the engine, and it will need to be repaired before you could be allowed for takeoff.”  “What?!  There’s nothing wrong with the thing, it looks perfectly fine.”  “I’m sorry ma’am, but aerospace control will not give you authorization to lift off.”  “Damn it, I am from aerospace control, and I damn well say this thing can take off.”  “I’m sorry, but within that shuttle you would not have all of the information before you to properly make such a call.  If you wish to escalate the matter, you would have to contact a working executive member of aerospace control.”  The dispatch for aerospace control simply refused to listen to Velvet’s own assessment.  She could perfectly well see all of the display indicators for the system for herself, she knew how all of this worked.  An engine fault would have shown up for her, but the thing didn’t even exist.  Escalating things wouldn’t even do anything, that process would take no less than an hour.. would be faster travelling there by bike for herself.  She pulled out of the shuttle, getting such a bike she already had handy, and began the slow trip for herself.

“Shame about that engine, right?  At least it will be really easy to fix.”  “Holi!  I should have known you would be behind this.  Wait, what are you doing here anyway?  Have you been following me around?”  “Maybe.  I also looked into that nanite suppressor you had handy.. that’s something which you might need to take in for some actual real repairs.  Your OSIDF distortion tin can is possibly garbage too, unless you think that can be fixed.  Also, the crystal in your thingamajig may have shattered, that you’re going to have to replace.”  “You do know that messing with aerospace equipment like that is illegal, right?  It’s called destruction of property.”  “Wait, you expect someone actually broke your stuff?  When I looked it over, I didn’t see any signs of that sort of thing, there isn’t a single thing that would prove anyone guilty of actually sabotaging your stuff.  Speaking off, you missed your turn, this road is a dead end.  Aren’t you glad you have me here helping you out?”  “I hate you so much right now.”  Holi made it clear exactly why Velvet was suddenly having problems.  It became dreadfully difficult to predict what someone was doing when that person was capable of watching what you were actually doing.  Holi having hacked administrative credentials really didn’t help with things either.  Intercepting things was going to become a whole lot harder.

However, Velvet did remember her mother telling her stories about this event.. and none of them were especially full of fond memories.  Just because Velvet was going to be late to the party didn’t mean that things were just simply going to work out.

“Holi says that everything is going well on her end.”  “That’s good at least.  Do you think my makeup lasted that trip, or do we need to look into that?  Really, are we sure that showing everyone…”  “Kori, relax, everything is going to be fine.  We managed to avoid the snow by making most of the trip through Ruixse anyway, though Mheridz is probably still scrambling around at our sudden disappearance.  Our stealth gear was running on arrival, the careful thermal masking working perfectly to hide the cold of our arrival.  We didn’t even pass through the barrier here, Velvet’s stuff even reports how cleanly that went off.  Your holo is doing fine too, just make sure to not brush too close to anyone.  Just because people can’t see your dress blowing around doesn’t mean they wouldn’t feel it.”  Rosa clearly had a lot more confidence in things right now than Kori did.  However, nothing Rosa had said was wrong, things really were proceeding very smoothly.

The first of the deliveries arrived, with Rosa being faster to identify herself as an employee of Hypertech and recipient of the package.  This was very possibly the largest OSIDF unit she had ever seen so closely.  Fortunately, soon after, other parts of their assembly also arrived, including the tools needed to get everything in position really quickly.  Kori’s cybernetics proved immeasurably helpful in the process, but even Rosa’s personal holo skills were diligent in getting the job done.  A crowd had already begun to gather, curious as to what might possibly be going on.  Meanwhile, Rosa connected the whole unit to the thermal grid, everything precisely where it needed to be.  Kori walked over beside Rosa, the two exchanging a nod.  It was time.

Absolutely in sync with the other, Rosa switched the principles around them while Kori called upon her instrument.  The surrounding lights went out, their functions removed, as the place momentarily went dark.  A swirl of gravitational might whirled as everything settled into place, the dark elements infusing a purple veil clouding their surroundings.  This sudden dramatics shifted countless eyes in their direction.  Then, Rosa switched things back once again as Kori jacked into the system.  The OSIDF unit came to life right away, forming a holo stage along with the restoration of lights.  Rosa meanwhile unshouldered her kellegno, pulling it free from its container that was no longer concealed by a holo.  Her disguise was completely discarded even when the lights went out, leaving her performance dress visible for everyone to see.  Then, Kori got the lights under control, setting Rosa under a gleaming spotlight.   Holi would be helping with that process too, taking over the dramatics while Kori began creating her playlist.  Rosa’s DRE fins even took to a glowing shine, having a dazzling display of sparkles swirl around her.  Rosa then slipped on the audio receiver and plugged an ionic wave transmitter into the kellegno.  Then, she took a deep breath.. knowing this was going to be the hard part.

“Hello, everyone.  I’m Snowbell and I’m here with DJ Mixer on the behalf of Hypertech, here to surprise you all with a flash performance.  All of our equipment today has been just newly provided by Hypertech’s supply partners, and in such a short time has been prepared before your very eyes for your own amusement.  DJ Mixer is even right now preparing our supporting melodies from scratch.  Today, we’ve got a list of songs, some which you might be very familiar with, others will sound right out of this world.  I hope you’re all ready, cause this show is about to begin.”  Rosa’s voice echoed through the amplifiers, broadcasted to everyone in the vicinity, getting even more attention.  News crews were even quickly on site, catching that this was going to be big.  Kori scrambled to get the last pieces together she would need to begin, knowing that she would have to build the rest while the performance was ongoing.  She’d done worse before.. but not nearly in such a stress-filled environment.  Turning on her own receiver, she turned on some faint lights to highlight her presence, letting her dress shimmer in the shadows.  Then, she set the first song, adjusted the initial settings, loaded the first score of effects, and had it begin.

The bass wave struck the streets with a boom, a startling high-quality rush of audio that demanded attention.  The song itself smoothed out after that, building upon the quick insert into melody before Rosa herself pitched in.  Setting her instrument to her shoulder, she began playing to the chord of her own lyrics, her singing voice resounding powerfully across everyone gathered.  More than just commanding attention, this commanded intrigue, inviting people into their performance.  People were outright coming out of the nearby buildings just simply to have a better chance to hear everything, many of them drawing closer in the process.  The crowd itself grew as people came in from beyond the immediate area, pressing their curiosity to the scene.  The field filled.. and then exceeded its limits, the crowds surging for blocks in radius.  Businesses momentarily closed as they were cut off.. but even so it was the staffing for such places that had willingly marked their business as having the staff out of office for a time.  Streets closed, but even that was uniformly willing as no one was especially in a hurry to leave.  Song followed song, with Kori’s transitions blending smoothly from one song to the next and Rosa easily keeping up to the almost endless singing she was enduring.

Aerospace then showed up.. and had immediate troubles trying to address a crowd more interested in ignoring them.  Uncertain what to do, the on site agents simply waited for instructions to come in from above.  Quite certainly, they were well aware they had a job to do.. but weren’t quite certain how to actually do it.  In honesty, there weren’t any problems with waiting for instructions either.. as they could actually manage to hear the whole performance from that distance and.. waiting.. wasn’t that bad.  Velvet however also showed up, seeing how things had been shifting in her absence.  This wasn’t right, Rosa’s shine was supposed to have stumbled already due to having her confidence shattered by the previous party’s failure.  She could hear her mother from here, absolutely nothing about that sounded like a shattered confidence, her mother sounded outright proud and ambitious.  Well, then maybe she would have to manually sabotage this whole performance.

“I would be careful with what you’re planning to do.  Got an awful lot of witnesses here right now.  Ah, were you going to take down the thermal grid?  Don’t worry, I’ve got an administrative override ready for that already.”  “That won’t matter if the whole place is manually disconnected.”  “My word, an executive of aerospace control contemplating shutting down the commercial district.  Do you know how much that would cost the surrounding businesses?  You would be making more than a few powerful enemies doing a thing like that, enemies aerospace certainly would hesitate to keep you protected from.”  “Shit, how much did you guys plan out?”  “Everything, obviously.”  Holi had actually taken the opportunity to appear as a holo beside Velvet, keeping the executive company as she stressed over the terms of her circumstances.  Alright then, if there was no alternative, she would simply wait.  Once the crowd began to disperse in disappointment, she would have her opening to deal with things then.

“Thank you, everyone.  I hope you are enjoying things so far.  Once again, I’m Snowbell and I’m here with DJ Mixer on the behalf of Hypertech, the people behind this great performance.  All of our equipment exemplifies the potential Hypertech has to offer, as it has been configured here on the spot as a part of our show.  In fact, let me take this opportunity to tell you more about the great minds behind such a great company.  I’m actually an employee of Hypertech myself too, music is more of my hobby, while commanding mechanical marvels is more of a specialty.”  Rosa set aside her instrument to start dazzling her audience with a dramatic display of holographic projects she furled around her, the effect boosted to a longer range by drawing from the ionic unit hidden under the stage.  “Meanwhile, let me introduce to you one of the great geniuses behind hypertech, a star analyst with more information processing skills than most machines.  Of course, it might help that the two of us are part machine ourselves, augmented by Hypertech with some top quality cybernetics.  Let me give you.. DJ Mixer.”  Rosa indicated behind her while the lights shifted around right on time.  This was by far the part Kori dreaded the most, a direct involvement and direct exposure of herself to their rather sizable audience.  With the light shining directly upon her, her azure dress only seemed to exemplify her rather blue traits of her conduit heritage, her cortex itself gleaming in direct light.  Sophie had ensured her hairstyle did the exact opposite as to what it was supposed to do, her cortex was almost adorned visibly in a matter of pride.

“Wait, so the DJ is.. an airhead?”  “Shit, no airhead could do this kind of thing.  Didn’t you hear the woman, they’re cybernetic.”  “Wow, so Hypertech is so skilled they could turn an airhead into a genius?”  “This puts a whole new feeling to the whole conduit they were normally called, the girl is wired in all the best ways.  She almost seems human, I really get that feeling.”  “Oh shut up, that’s almost an insult.  Haven’t you been hearing them perform?  This isn’t the work of some mortals, those two are almost divine.”  “Wait, I recognize her.  Isn’t she that one marvelous enforcer from the whole aerospace incident, the one who kept the peace better than anyone ever could?”  “Oh, so she worked for Hypertech?  No wonder she just disappeared, wasn’t hypertech dismissed by aerospace?”  “You could discard wonders like this?  Wow, that’s shitty.  No wonder aerospace has gone down in quality of late, they just went full stupid.”  Several random voices in the crowd spoke up quite audibly, a shouting competition passing over the front lines.  Rosa could see the news crew following along with the discussion with as much intrigue as the original performance.

“Alright everyone, let’s settle down.  No point in getting upset here, we should be all here having a blast and enjoying the music.  So on that note, let’s get right back into things.  DJ Mixer, if you will, please bring us our next song.  Come on, everyone.  If you want to hear the next song, I want to hear you ask for it.  Next song, next song.”  Rosa got everything moving around peacefully, drawing the crowd right back in.  She was honestly shaking at this point, really really nervous about what was feeling more and more like social interaction, let alone how easily it could be to lose the pace she was trying to build and having things shift in all the wrong ways.  Kori herself was worried about the same thing, leaving her absolutely frozen.  The crowd however picked up steam with this new direction, chanting for their next song.  Kori listened to the surge demand from their audience, people who knew she was a conduit now.. and that didn’t matter anymore.  She was being respected for what she could do, not hated for what she was.  This.. had never happened before.  Well, to her as Kori at least, she still knew this feeling as Axln.  In fact, finally, this was itself starting to feel like quite the party.

Kori conceded to her audience and got the next song going, leaving the lights on her as she worked to the music.  Rosa herself got her equal share of lights, picking up her instrument again and preparing to pitch in.  Both of them were outright beaming with pride as their crowds cheered.  Snowbell and DJ Mixer chants were yelled through the music, the crowd making up for the lack of amplifiers to support their chants with sheer numbers.  The entire performance proceeded straight to it’s natural ending.. with the audience demanding even more.  Kori loaded three more songs into the list after that, the two of them able to keep up to even such growing demands, and even that didn’t satiate their audience.  However, by this point, they were both really tired and brought things to a close regardless.

However, it was at this point when the crowds did begin to thin down that Velvet was provided with her awaited opportunity.  Holi scrambled to follow, catching wind of Velvet’s impulsive move, realizing that they might not have anything prepared to deal with this.

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FV – Chapter 53

Mixed Parties

Preparations for the planned performance lasted for no short period of time.  After two Aestean moons, a complete calendar month, a new Ruixsi season began.

Axln wasn’t even certain what the point was of tracking such seasons, there was still no actual sign of anything changing.  Quite simply, it just felt like they were having a holiday for the sake of having a holiday.  Aestus might have more dramatically held no impact between cold and cold.. but the current void phase of Ruixsi ensured that the elements were still too weak to demonstrate any real change either.  Supposedly though, that would change eventually.. once Taeqhyx came around once again to ensure the elements flourished.  Of course, that would depend on chaos having not claimed conquest before that occured.  This did mean they didn’t have forever with which to just wait.. but there was certainly no reason to hurry.  This might be why she was actually open for once to the idea of actually attending one of the student’s parties.  In fact, more than attending, she was actually scheduled to be their mixer.  Now, after all this time, she still wasn’t anything amazing.  Figuring out creative mixes was still something she remained really bad at.  Where she excelled was how much the entire process had her remember complete songs at will.  She could then prepare any song with any previous arrangement she had already memorized.  That’s no small thing either, considering how many parties she had been to.. how many songs she had witnessed.  She could almost pretend to be a professional simply with consideration in how many variations she’s memorized.. how many thousand.

Her work had also continued on the other side, with Sophie introducing her to an almost equal count of songs in turn.  Holi was pretty much acquiring the things wholesale.. and not even at cost.  Then there were also all the professional DJ configurations on everything.. also not exactly acquired with consent.  At one point though, she had the entire synth structure for every song memorized that she didn’t even need such songs anymore.  Her memorization was so skilled, she was able to go to Ruixse and recreate the songs there as just another song stored into the little instrument.  That’s actually going to be part of the party too, playing a bunch of songs that honestly might as well be flagged as Terran Mythos and getting even that done right from outright memorization.  It was how she looked fresh, she could easily pull 10 songs no one had ever heard of and actually present them correctly.  Cross-culture transitions were possibly the hardest part, but at least she wasn’t that bad with the creativity required there.  That helped too, because she had also done the same thing in reverse for Aestus.  Jacking into the equipment, recreating the same complete sequence, suddenly there’s another Ruixsi song on Aestus.  She even eventually removed all records of the originals she had illicitly acquired.. though her ability to reproduce everything anyway made that a rather mute point.

Rosa meanwhile felt like she knew four different ways of speaking.  Ruixsi speaking, Aestean speaking, Ruixsi singing, and Aestean singing.  Of course, she was not only equally good at the first two, she was actually equally remarkable at the second two.  She’d invested considerable effort into rediscovering whatever singing voice she had supposedly just forgotten, and then had matched her progress in the other world.  Suffice it to say that she had already become quite popular in the academy, especially in the creative culture field.  That’s generally what was considered the fine arts over in Ruixse.. almost the same thing.  Even in areas she wasn’t any good at, the students there loved when she showed up, inviting her to even build an ambience with which everyone else could work within.  The absolute demands on her voice had been rough, quite honestly even with both worlds, but she had really gotten skilled at singing for long periods of time.  To her, professional singing wasn’t any harder than talking at that point.  It really was simply the four ways she could speak.

Of course, such was not the only accomplishment she had gained through all of her efforts.  At the same time, she had attained considerable skill in handling musical instruments with her hands.  Much more than just the originally projected single instrument, she had shown a lot of skill in a large variety of them.  She did have a lot of problems handling some of the larger instruments, and she didn’t exactly enjoy instruments she struggled to sing while playing, but there were few other exceptions to her musical abilities.  She did really love the piano, but found it a bit unwieldy to work with.  Bowing and plucking instruments were really fun too, but mostly the more mobile ones.  One of the Aestean instruments she found was of a model said to have derived from a couple of things once called a keytar.. which was supposedly like taking a guitar and giving it a mini piano or something.. and a collegno.. which was a violin that worked the same way as a piano.  The entire concept of such an elegant piano inspired her so much that she even created a Ruixsi version of the same thing that was an actual instrument.  Once complete, she made sure to give it a proper Terran Mythos name by sharing the same name as the original, a Kellegno.  It was practically played like a harp, looked related to a violin, and worked like a piano, absolutely perfect for her.

Of course, most of her attention had been taken by such progress in music that she hadn’t managed to devote much time to other creative cultures.. or fine arts.. or whatever.  She had shown some talent in a few other different areas at least, especially drawing.. but she hadn’t had much opportunity to fully investigate such additional potential yet.  She had invested so much into music that it had almost overtaken her entire schedule.  She was so famous that there were people in the academy trying to have her do musical work for the entire academy.  Her talent was excessive enough that she’s already received a number of tutoring requests.. opportunities where she would actually teach other people how to do what she did.  If she wasn’t careful, she could end up an instructor herself.  As things stood, she had already accepted one request she found very difficult to refuse.  She was actually going to be attending the same party Axln was invited to.. and she would be performing live to Axln’s music.  This would be the first time they would have ever worked together with their musical research.. and it was going to be with an audience.

Axln took consideration of the warning about the whole concert curse ordeal, wondering if this would even count.  It wasn’t exactly a concert.. but it might be close enough.  The whole event was practically a rehearsal for the real deal, so it might be a smart idea to rehearse their countermeasures as well.  Such would be how their chaotic being would contribute to their efforts.  Axln and Lyun both arrived at the appointed early hour with all of the right equipment.  Quite honestly, the gear they were using here paled in comparison to some of the actual stuff they were getting ready.  The only authentic contribution present was Lyun’s kellegno.  During setup, Lyun took an opportunity to review the list of songs Axln was preparing to use for the party, so that she could ensure she would remember the lyrics and melody.  She didn’t have everything as memorized as Axln did, but lyrics were her thing.. that she had down really well.  Meanwhile, she might not remember most of the melody.. but when the music started she just instinctively knew what to play anyway.  Her creative capacity was outstanding, enough that she could create brand new melodies at a whim.. even if her lyrical compositions still might need a lot of work.

By the time the party started, both of them were ready and already going at it.  Xwyhr had in fact told everyone that she had taken care of the mixer for the party.. but at no point had she told anyone who the mixer would be.. or that there would be a special guest to go with all of the music.  Their side of the whole gathering committed most of the attention of all those in attendance.  Not only that, but the number two place for the same was the cell’s of those present as they spread word about what was going on.  Quite quickly, the place was outright packed to capacity.. beyond capacity.  People were gathering outside even just so they could be close enough to hear.  At one point, administration had to get involved because of how dangerously packed everything had gotten.  Typically, a party like this would have been broken up if it had lost control like this.. but administration instead began simply regulating the density and organizing people, working directly with the event’s host to ensure that proper conduct was met.  The whole thing didn’t start off being official.. but it became official.  Axln knew that such an outcome was absolutely unheard of.. and pondered if such a turn of good fortune may have been chaotically engineered.

Once the party concluded, the crowd began to disperse.  Axln even found her sister talking to someone from administration, potentially hearing something about officially becoming an academy event coordinator.  However, her attention was quickly divested when she noticed even Jhez had been present at such a student party.  He had actually not been one of the original guests, but had shown up after hearing the news along the grapevine.  His choice time of arrival had not left him with the best perspective, but he had managed to post himself not far from the door regardless.  Randomly wearing casual clothes and the most goofy of hats probably had left him standing out far less than a teacher would have normally given such circumstances, he honestly looked like yet another student right now.  A smile masking her need to giggle, she went over to Jhez to discuss his opinion of how well things had gone.

Lyun herself was smiling as she shook her head, not missing how that had transpired either.  She had witnessed Xwyhr on a cell earlier, and had her own guess in how Jhez might have gotten word of everything.  Xwyhr was very obviously feeling accomplished right now in that regard.  Not only was her sister obviously having some of that fun she’s long wanted, not only has her sister gotten really close to Jhez in the process, but now she would be making waves in handling official social events.  The girl seemed to love to organize fun, so that was obviously a great accomplishment.  Lyun herself may have picked up from the same example, her own instructional connections providing her an opportunity to have Axln get some recognition as well.  It seems being considerably skilled at memorizing vast quantities of information regardless of subject.. or even talent.. happens to be very valuable in instructional efforts.  Of course, there is also the concern in being skilled at working with students.. and any of the teachers who had presented such concerns will be left with rumors aplenty asuading any of such worries.  Neither of the two siblings knew about that either.. but mostly because she wasn’t actively working towards anything in particular.  If however any of the teachers ask her to inquire on Axln’s willingness to teach.. then that might be a reason to involve the others.  At the very least, such redirection had so far been reasons aplenty to have people not consider her for teaching.  She liked reclusive atmospheres much more than having to interact so directly with several other people.

Actually, that had been her greatest struggle so far too, performing in front of a bunch of strangers.  In that light, she had done really well.. considering that was more people than she had ever handled before.  To her, there was still a distinct difference.. she wasn’t interacting with such people.. they were just a background who happened to be appreciating the same enjoyment she was.  That was really probably not an appropriate outlook for a teacher, but that’s perfectly fine for a performer.  Even exposed to all of the details, she felt Axln had a social demeanor that had grown through the entire process.. a social talent Axln may not have had before.  Visibly, that wasn’t even something past Axln would have had, not with all of the self-isolation.  Kori suffering reprisal for simply being a conduit had prevented any real social outreach there either.  However, just because it hadn’t been a thing before didn’t mean that Axln wasn’t actually potentially socially outgoing.  Quite certainly.. that’s where things were going all of a sudden.  All of these parties were getting to the girl’s head.  She could tell because she herself was quite introverted.. and had felt Axln was also introverted.  Nothing about how Axln was now felt anything except a repressed extrovert.

This was possibly one of the goals she had set out for while trying to envisit her own creative expression, to learn if there was anything similar being repressed in Axln.. and in that she felt she had found something after all.  A social niche.. something herself could only struggle to understand.. but even that was probably fair.  Axln herself had struggled to keep up to all of her own musical ambitions, she could at least endure social atmospheres enough to give Axln the support needed to achieve a sufficient social expression.  This however had an added difficulty, one which made such a problem even harder in the other world than it did here.  Axln might have broken out of her shell here, ready to interact socially with numerous others.. but Kori wasn’t exactly so fortunate to be in a position that made such a thing easy.  Kori was a conduit, which didn’t make her any less of a person.. but that wasn’t how the average human thought.  Being social would still be exceptionally challenging when most people treated Kori like trash.

Fortunately, that has been a problem that had bothered her from the very beginning.  Putting in the effort to prove that conduits should be treated like decent people sounded like a great use of their time to her.  Viably though, there was no way such a thing could be achieved anytime soon.  Now, there was also the consideration that she personally wasn’t all that acquainted with very many conduits, lending a subtle bias to her consideration.  However, maybe a sense of bias was all that would be needed for now.  Even just proving that Kori herself was not the same airhead that people thought she was, that Kori was actually a really cool person.. that would do things.  Even having the average humans accept one conduit as a path to having humans start to accept others.. that could yield a great long-term plan.  However, this would require the skill of someone who was really good with people and the whole social deal.  Her sister was a prime candidate for the whole thing, though even Drew might have a couple of good ideas.  Drew wasn’t honestly the most socially outgoing, he was just good at leading a team.  Sophie on the other hand was almost as much the social face as Xwyhr was, having grown really good at dealing with people as a result of her work.  Of course, Sophie wasn’t the most excited with social ambience either.. but she was still good at it.  It was a dilemma Lyun had grown accustomed to.

For now at least, she had managed to get all of her equipment packed up.. and even the stuff Axln had managed to spontaneously neglect.  They were ready to move on from this.. actually, they might be ready in general.  Quite honestly, the only things they still lacked was in equipment.. and the last few pieces of their set were due to be completed in maybe a day or two if everything went smoothly.  Meanwhile, Drew had actually managed to requisition everything they needed.  It was fortunate that none of it needed to be actually delivered to Hypertech.. considering that doing so would still be challenging.  Instead, everything was ready for shipping to whatever location they picked and would be easy to expedite in ten minutes from any last moment requests.  They could do so at any time now.. and maybe next night would make for a great opportunity.  The artificial lighting of the night would build up a great sense of atmosphere.  The hardest part would be in trying to make sure they could ensure everything occurred without problems.. especially problems involving having their actions predicted.  Velvet remained their greatest threat to this whole endeavour, something they would have a very difficult time dealing with.  Velvet had already been able to anticipate one of their intercepted deliveries before, preventative measures would be far more difficult.

“Axln, it’s late, could we just get going already?”  “Oh, uh, right.  Sorry.. I’ll go pack up.”  “Don’t worry, I already took care of that while you two talked.  Technically, Jhez might deserve a bit of rest for himself too, I hear he’s got a class project to arrange for a few of his classes for the cosmology fair.. and some of the other teachers have wondered if he might have forgotten about that.”  “Jhez might leave a lot of stuff until the last day, but it really wouldn’t be fair just assume.. wait, where did he go?”  “He ran off already.. around when I mentioned the fair.”  “Oh, well, I guess that’s for the best.”  Lyun was giggling as Axln returned from checking to confirm that Lyun indeed had everything accounted for and was ready to go.  They brought everything over to their little underground domain and packed everything away appropriately.  With that taken care of, they both settled into another round of suspended sleep.  The daylight that greeted them provided them with an opportunity to confirm that everything was in order and to assure that they would be ready to execute their plan on their next return.  Dusk then returned them to the academy and the aftermath of the dawn’s party.

Jhez and Xwyhr were completely unreachable for the entire dusk.  Of course, when it came to Jhez, that made sense.. between regular courses and the previously mentioned fair.. he had a lot on his plate.  Xwyhr however was the irregular one, who had always found time to step away from her studies to do other things.. regardless of even the intensity of such studies.  Lyun however made use of her new connections to discover that Xwyhr had been excused from her classes that dawn so that she could attend an orientation at administration.  It really did appear that the girl was unexpectedly going places.  At this point, even beyond her graduation, she already had a career at the academy potentially lined up for her.  She might not be the only one though.  Lyun discovered through those same connections the invitation she had projected she would need to offer to Axln.  Quite honestly.. Lyun had wanted to bring the whole thing up with Xwyhr first.. leading her to a bit of hesitation.  However, she also realized that such efforts would interfere with their already ongoing projects.  Her responses to such inquiries were then that they already had significant academy projects to look into for a little while longer, but that she would bring up the matter with Axln once they had enough of an opportunity to appropriately consider it.

Of course, these same connections were well aware of her project.. the whole musical concert that would garnish the attention of the foundry.  There wasn’t a single soul who objected to such terms, only a fountain of eager support.  She was even given plenty of opportunity to spend that dusk in a very formal rehearsal room, an area with which the two of them could practice for the big stage they would be taking to come nightfall.  It was even the first time Axln had even been within such an environment, though Lyun had been here for a few of her class lessons before.  The room was capable of both holding a sizable audience and providing sound suppression.. so in all actuality they were able to practice in an area that felt like a public stage.. but which didn’t gather them any audience at all.  Axln visibly looked out of place at the sheer immensity of the whole environment, far bigger than those parties she had been going to.  Meanwhile, Lyun realized that her next performance would be in an environment like this.. just with countless people taking into their audience.. potentially even more than the party had garnished.  She even stumbled a few times in her performance at first, in this realization.. but quickly corrected such mistakes.  There would be countless people listening.. but none of them people she would have to directly interact with socially.

There wouldn’t be room for such small mistakes either, not once the real deal came.  There was too much counting on their success already, everything had to be as flawless as possible.

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FV – Chapter 52

Introductory Lessons

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Disappointingly enough, making use of Xwyhr’s information presented far more delays than acquiring it had.  Jhez was quite unapproachable for most of the dusk, and the approach of his exam wasn’t leaving the regular party crew very open to any meetings.

Axln was actually surprised at just how much testing was synchronized.  Every major course was actually scheduled to have an exam at the same time, the next one actually being the next dawn.  Such was why the whole place actually felt rather deserted, possibly.  In that light, her sister was crazy.. skipping out on scheduled last-minute studies for her class.  She did have other classes to attend though, so she was already gone.  Apparently, Jhez’s class had become a study class to provide him with enough opportunity to make sure such a test would be ready.  Between that and his otherwise unavoidable course load, it was late dusk before Jhez would finally be free to step away from his work.  The young professor still had things rather rough, making Axln feel slightly guilty for having eaten so much of the guy’s time.  However, as opportunity brought merit to relief, it was actually Jhez who came to Axln in search of respite from a hard day’s work.  Apparently, it was her presence that made bearing such tension all the more easier.  Given such an opportunity, Axln brought Jhez up to speed with the plans she had fostered since they last met.  Jhez had inclined an offer to help out if he was so capable, and Axln had seen a lot of positive results in accepting offers of help from others.

“This is a really bad idea.”  “Wait, what?”  “Oh, oh, oh, not the whole inspiration into music thing, exploring passions is great, any teacher would love to see that come to pass.  Yes, I really don’t mind helping Lyun with exploring her potential there.  What is concerning is how this same idea has echoed throughout history.  There are a great number of times where someone held an ambitious opportunity to bring great change to society.. and had at least once held a concert for that purpose in some way.  Every.. single.. time.. it had yielded misfortune.  The terran mythos expresses it as the concert curse.”  “Okay, yeah, I’ve studied plenty of the logical spectrum here.. so I know rightfully that even here would consider curses like that just some supernatural paranoia.”  “Technically, everything about the veil’s influence is considered illogical, not explainable by matters of elements, instrumentation, the gift.. nothing.  Your ability to world hop, that’s not explainable either.”  “That’s.. technically true.. and on both sides.  Still, you make it sound like we’re just fated to fail because we’re making music.”  “Uh, I’m not sure I understand you.  What do you mean by.. fated?”  “You know, destiny and all of that stuff.”  “Actually.. no.  I mean, it sounds like it could very well be a real word, you didn’t even use a proper terran accent either.  But, no, I know of no such word.”  Jhez looked outright baffled, a consideration that in turn confounded Axln.  Of all the times to suddenly have a linguistic barrier, this was outright random.  However, even after numerous attempts to even explain what the word might actually mean, Jhez’s confusion was not dismissed.  Instead, it seemed like the very concept of fate and destiny were unfamiliar foreign ideas.  Bad luck was just a matter of probability shifting poorly, but no outcome could simply occur because it was supposed to, things only happened because the requirements for a given outcome had randomly come together to settle upon any one given result.

Axln didn’t even know what to think of this.  Sure, from a logical perspective, not even considering aspects like fate in an outcome was totally correct.  However, this was almost the extreme opposite of the beliefs behind fate, as if there was nothing that could control outcomes beyond the absolution of random chance.  It stemmed upon the idea that people weren’t even in control over their own lives.  In that respect, this absolute inversion was still.. not actually logical either.  Fate wasn’t something so omnipotent as to be the only thing that ever made things happen, but taking control over one’s own fate was the greatest influence in altering what might happen to oneself.  Jhez meanwhile showed this concept being proven and founded in actual reality, that probability was the greatest influence over any event, and that an outcome could hardly be predictable.  To Axln, this hurt her head more than anything.  Repeating a controlled experiment enough times would have it both succeed and fail at least once, even if nothing actually changed.  This world didn’t apply matters of science.. but still had a strong foundation in a sense of logic.  This one thing however seemed absolutely insane.

“So things are supposed to randomly go wrong because progress and music don’t mix.  I’m sorry, but that’s a bunch of crap.”  Axln felt this was the worst kink in the whole deal, having her idea torn apart because of this frivolous mumbo jumbo.  Everything was so perfect too.  「If there are any worries about random circumstances, remember that such a prospect lies definitively in the realm of chaos.  If you need help with reforging elements of chaos, remember that such is not beyond your abilities.  If you need to spin this tale of misfortune into an unexpected turn of opportunity, that is then easy to prepare for.」Axln broke into an almost deranged laughter, broken logic broken by broken logic.  Of course, if things here really did work so erratically.. that might actually make things work even easier.  Fate might not exist here, but she herself had the power to yield the same results.  Even Lyun had that same shared potential, something they should both look into during their performance.

However, considering that, she realized that she might be on the edge of another powerful divergence in the timeline.  Mheridz’s timeline would have held a version of them both without such an ability.  As a result, Axln might have faced this same scenario and had given up.. or she had chosen to defy the odds and make something happen anyway.  Considering her feelings of that moment, she was certain she wasn’t going to just let such dark probability make a mess of things.  Rationally though, she had plenty of concerns and worries upon such, that something might indeed go wrong.  Bad luck could come in a number of different forms, more than just failure.  Probability was at least something she could understand logically, and even in that timeline she would have worked hard in contingency plans for a number of unexpected surprises.  This time however, the plan was to outright directly interfere with luck itself.  At minimum, such a swirl of chaotic involvement would render her odds as neutral as she would have originally expected them to be.  At best, this was inverted into a really good luck charm and she was going to land an unnaturally positive outcome from things where they should have actually gone bad.  In all consideration, this was rightfully cheating.

That did leave a lot to consider going forwards.  According to Jhez, she was about to invite misfortune upon herself, in a fairly significant way.  If that was going to change.. then that was going to make a lot more of their future unpredictable.. even for Mheridz.  However, that might only affect the timeline on this side, Velvet’s predictions would remain much more reliable as that side would remain untouched by such broken logic.  Axln would need to be certain to discover what had changed, so that she could make the most of the difference.  Of course, she would be discussing all of this with Lyun later too, the two of them would have to both work on this one.  However, the one indisputable thing was that there was no reason to worry about moving forward with her original plan.

“I still think we should stick to the plan, there is nothing that would work even half as well.  Even if things go a bit wrong, things would certainly go a lot worse with a weaker plan.  I will keep your worries in mind though, doing what I can to address such a concern.”  “Well, if you are so resolved, then I’ll just have to trust in your resolution.  Half the time though, someone seems to just die.. someone close to one of the performers.  I really hope that’s not going to be the case, this time.”  “I will give you.. a fifty percent fatality rate is really disturbing, but you have to think of what happens if we actually fail this at all.  A lot more than one person could die, might even be the same person dying.. plus extra.  These odds are miserable, but it’s still the best outcome.”  Axln wasn’t even considering the idea that, running away and pretending nothing was wrong, that might actually save all of the lives involved.  Technically though, that wasn’t true.  According to both daughters, their future will be ravaged by chaos, which itself would kill countless people.  In fact, she’d also discovered that Rosa herself perished in that timeline.  Discovering the secrets kept within the confines of Ruixsi history was the only way to ensure a path that could save anyone.

Soon after that, Axln found herself left to her own devices while Jhez worked with Lyun to get a foot into the musical side of the academy.  Jhez didn’t even need to hear Lyun perform, simply trusting Axln’s confident assessment.  Such confidence wasn’t even misplaced, Axln got word over her cell that Lyun’s audition went off perfectly.  It wasn’t the only message she received while waiting.  It appears that there were student’s ambitiously working towards the conclusion of their next test, there was going to be a late dawn party and Xwyhr had ensured that her sister had received an honorary invitation.  There, she would be introduced to a couple of other prominent.. mixers.  She wondered if mixers had specific mixer-names, that way she could introduce herself as Mixer DJ.. in contrast to being DJ Mixer.  Hell, maybe that would just be a thing for her.  It was so miserably fitting that it couldn’t be anything but indisputably accurate.

Having only started the base process over their dusk, it left the two of them with very little to accomplish overnight otherwise.  However, they both knew this was about to occupy their time for a while going forward, so they both decided to invest the opportunity to simply get some of their normal basic responsibilities done, stuff which would lighten the load once their performance preparations actually began.  Come dawn, they continued with much of the same inspiration towards responsibilities, for much the same reason.  However, at around mid dawn, Lyun was called off to her lessons, the teacher in question having little to do while students simply spent the time completing their test.  Insanely enough, there were almost twenty moments invested into this exam.  Notably too, that was also when classes that dawn would conclude, which was still otherwise early.  Lyun would have all of that extra time for her own special learning experience, right up to when her teacher decided to call an end to that dawn.

Otherwise, the afterparty began another twenty after the exam concluded, though the doors opened ten moments before then for those handling setup.  Xwyhr had said that such was when she would be expected, getting an early opportunity to speak with the mixer during setup, about setup.  It left her a bit of extra time to invest in the continuation of her responsibilities, but even that was eventually spent.  Her next responsibility would be.. to party.  It was strange, mixing obligation with entertainment, but even that was still acceptable.  What was new was the idea of attending a student party.  As Kori, she had never been one for parties.. ever.  Not even to celebrate Fiona’s award, they had such a celebration in a much quieter ambience.  The awkwardness of being a conduit at a party was one thing, but she didn’t believe it remained her only problem.  Even as a human.. she doubted she was all too interested in parties.  After all, supposedly she was originally far more outdoorsy, which wouldn’t have been very receptive to such cramped spaces.  Eventually, she became a bit too serious and individual, which may have provided her with more reasons to not party than Kori had ever endured growing up.  This was possibly why she felt physically tense simply walking into the still empty establishment, her body liking this even less than she did.  However, she was neither here as a conduit, nor was she here for senseless games, she had a job to do as a human.

Even with just the setup crew, the place was already too loud to think, let alone talk.  Supposedly, Xwyhr was letting her know that the first mixer had only just arrived, the one who will be handling music today then.. the same reason why everything was already so loud.  He had a wind instrument in place that was already looping a single melody, with an amplifier that would have been more than loud in a hall ten times the size.  Catching on quickly, it appeared her demonstration would be without any verbal support.. she would have no chance in hearing anyway.  In that light, she made use of her power gear as a sound dampener, hopefully salvaging her hearing in the process.  Admittingly though, she knew better than to block such things out completely.  Learning about music would be a lot more difficult if she couldn’t hear what was being played.

The mixer pulled out several other control instruments, stuff clearly designed to manipulate audio in a number of ways.  Watching the mixer work, she determined at least what everything did, even if she had no idea what anything was called.  Manipulating audio qualities, transitioning songs, all of that was quickly starting to make sense to someone as keen with configuring systems as she was.  What was a bit more challenging was the creative thinking behind what to use when.  She could read the name of every song, but she didn’t know any of them until the songs started playing.  She could tell there was an art in both transition and in audio adjustments to each distinct quality of songs, not even constant across an entire song.  Then she learned that this introduction was only the basics, as more instruments were introduced.  These things were interesting, instruments designed to make actual adjustments to the melody itself, applying distinct measures and beats where none were originally.. created while the song was itself played, or at least shortly before.  Tristine had talked about this idea before, it was musical synth.. or this side’s version of the same.  Again, the controls were easy, she was certain she could do any of the same things the mixer did.. but she had no idea when she would need to.

Her mixer instructor was good, interpreting her visual queues with excellent accuracy.  At one point, the mixer drew attention to the end of a song.  Making clear instructions gradually, visibly leaving Axln aware of what had occurred, the mixer prepared a song transition, administered melody synth, and configured audio quality, all to a complex arrangement using very definitive settings.  Axln could tell the quality wasn’t as good, but that might not be the point here.  Then, the mixer let the previous song resume.. waited for the song to near its conclusion.. and then let Axln take over from there.  Oh, so.. she was to demonstrate at least how good she was at repeating all of the previous settings.  That wouldn’t even be hard, she still remembered everything.. even if by nothing more than simple memorization.  Her settings were perfect, the exact same results occurred through the repeat of the lesser quality song.  Clearly though, the mixer wasn’t absolutely impressed.  Axln had managed to complete all of the same process.. but she wasn’t able to actually improve the results.  It only dawned on her after the fact that she realized that such might have been expected of her.  However, things did not end there.  A second round of practice began.. and this one was a flurry of actions.  Certainly, it was an intensity which was designed to be intimidating.. but Axln had been exposed to worse.  She knew how to work with nanites, things that ran in timeframes this side would only struggle to express.  She was very used to watching things happen rapidly.

After she completed that practice, this time her instructor was impressed.  Clearly the mixer had tried to project what was supposed to be the hardest result to simply memorize, possibly so that she would instead have to fill in the blanks with her own creation.  However, once again, she had completed a perfect rendition of the exact same results demonstrated to her.  That in turn might explain how her third challenge became so unexpectedly unsurmountable.  For the third instance, the mixer simply indicated a choice song.. and then left her to not only pick all aspects of transition, but to actually figure out everything else she might need in a song.  The song though.. was visibly the same one that had been looping originally.  Even reading the title, the song simply got into her head and didn’t let her escape.. and it hadn’t even begun yet.

Despite that, her choices of options had plenty to be desired.  The transition was nowhere as smooth as before, the audio even spiked at a few points in her errors, and she hardly touched synth at all.  She was good at imitation and replication, but she wasn’t exactly musically gifted.  Introductions were then over, setup having been brought to a conclusion, and the mixer simply took over the regular responsibilities.  However, she was allowed to remain there through the entire escapade, watching all of the choice settings applied for their music.  Given the opportunity, she resolved to see if she could learn what she could.  There would be patterns to this process, settings applied simply to achieve the desired results.  She applied effort to analyze the patterns chosen and to then attempt to predict what sort of choices would be applied before it occurred.  Given the abundance of creative elements at play, it was far more challenging than the sort of analysis she typically applied herself towards.

Lyun meanwhile finally found her bed and collapsed upon it exhausted.  Dawn was already over, and Axln was still missing.  Lyun’s lessons had at least gone well enough, she had really appeared to impress her teacher with the absolute quality of her singing.  It was fortunate that said teacher was actually familiar with teaching elves.. the bad news being that Lyun certainly couldn’t tell.  Stamina had become fleeting for her, something she wasn’t allowed the time to recover.  For most things, she would have probably gotten frustrated at such disregard and impatience.  However, instead, she found herself having fun.  She could see that this had become her opportunity to relive the experiences she would have had as Rosa, doing much of the same thing in her classes of that world.  She really hoped it was at least as much fun.

Inspired by the sheer quality of her musical prowess, she had even immediately been given another opportunity to meet someone else about actual musical instruments come dusk.  It was an experience she was looking forward to.

However, Axln being missing brought its own problems.  If the party wasn’t over, just how late would it run?  Would Axln even know?  Probably not.  In all accounts for such, Lyun simply decided that she would take this fine opportunity to get her own rest regardless.  If Axln did show up, leaving Lyun to wake up with plenty of extra suspended time to work with, Lyun could find a nice place to practice singing without drawing any attention.  Mostly, she was too tired to ponder the idea of waiting.  She fell fast asleep soon after as a result, although she wasn’t alone in this for very long.  Axln meanwhile had grown tired of her own exertion, especially so late into the day, and as a result she had unexpectedly fallen asleep in her spot at the party.. despite the fact that the musical intensity made that feel like that shouldn’t have even been possible.  So when Lyun woke up at dusk, still finding Axln missing, she reached out to Xwyhr seeking answers.  The message she got back spoke of how Axln had actually managed to fall asleep unexpectedly, and how Xwyhr had to provide a place for her sister to spend the night.  The two of them had in turn rendered the entire incident into an impromptu sleepover, though Axln was even now still sleeping.  Axln had at least received another invitation from a mixer to learn some more tricks of the trade, even without involving a party in the process.  Xwyhr would have to actually go to class soon, so she really hoped her sister would actually wake up soon for her.

It was simply the beginning of a long journey of discovery in music, with plenty more that the two would need to learn in the process.  Even with everything proving so exhausting, they would have to learn to perceiver.. so that their performances would go off flawlessly.

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FV – Chapter 51

Preliminating Antiquity

Even before the main event would occur, the girls first needed to complete their trial run.  Even that would require some digilent practice and preparation.

“So how does it feel to suddenly be good at something you didn’t know you’ve been good at?”  “Oh come on, Drew, you know you it’s a lot more complicated than that.  It’s like an episode of mass amnesia in anything that had to do with me, and suddenly everyone remembers this one really big thing.  Don’t worry, that’s about as impossible from my world as this world.”  “Except, this is your world too.  That’s why you have such a history to work with.”  “That’s the part that’s blowing my mind the most right now.  Xwyhr said I should get comfortable with both my lives, because both of them were an important part of me.. and yet now I figure out just how right she actually was.”  “Supposedly, you’ve been pressuring yourself to do technology your whole life, when your real passion was in fine arts.  That might even be as true here as it is there.  Don’t forget, I’m well versed into being pressured into doing something without passion.. even while having enough talent for it.  I didn’t want to run a company, though I hear I do a reasonably good job at it.  In the process though, I make sure to invest time for both my needed talents and my wanted passions.  I would heartily recommend the same.  Your talents in multiple variants of technology.. robotics, machinery, cybernetics.. having such an expansive experience and talent would really take you places.  I expect your variant of the same in your other life would be much of the same deal, too.  However, you shouldn’t neglect your passions, it’s smart to take your own time to invest into such a thing too.  I’ll see if I can acquire some basic supplies to help you with such self discovery, too.. something for artistic expression in addition to all of the musical performances we’re already working towards.  I’ll just slip in such requisitions along with all of the random personal projects I’ve funded for myself.”  Drew took a moment to indicate his private workroom again to Rosa as they muddled over some of the initial plans they had developed for all of the musical requirements.  Rosa was already getting quite embarrassed at all of the personal attention.

“Come on, you shouldn’t waste business money on my own personal pursuits.”  “I waste business money on MY own personal pursuits already, I fail to see how this is any different.  Besides, I think of it as funding employee development.  You’re already learning music for the profit of the business, think about how much value you could bring if you learn artistic design, too?  I could have you make promotional banners or such, no one on site is capable of the same, your own sister is the closest we have to someone with design skills, and hers are a touch more in fashions and textiles.  I hear she’s been overwhelming Tristine with exploring fashion options for wardrobes of all female staff, too, so your sister would probably be all over an opportunity to realize her own personal passions if we actually had more commercial avenues with which to achieve it.”  “I guess, if that’s just how things work in this world.”  Rosa shrugged, realizing Drew was already convinced on the subject.  Now she has both Xwyhr and Drew pressing herself to discover her own personal happiness and putting some considerable value in the process.  Drew however had only just begun.

“Honestly, I can’t see why you shouldn’t realize your passions in both.  There, you might live in a school, but that’s all the more reason to learn, right?  … or.. relearn.. or whatever.  If you’ve been ignoring your passions there too, then it’s prime time to dive in.  Your next visit, you should go figure out how the fine arts actually work there too.  So far, you’re going to need to anyway, to explore options of reasonable instruments to learn.  Just.. you might want to not stop at just a sense of obligation, you should learn all of this for yourself, too.  Don’t just dabble in singing and whatever instrument you’re going to need for all of this, explore a bunch of instruments you might like, even ones you’ll not need.  Then look into drawing or whatever other fine arts appeal to you.  Considering how you move with holos, I think you could even do dancing.. if that actually appealed to you.  Theater arts, for all we know, could be your thing too, and that’s really handy sometimes in business presentations.  Literature.. I guess you didn’t value much initially.. so it might not have as much passion for you.. but there is only one way to be certain.”  Drew himself wasn’t especially familiar with the fine arts himself, so realizing what sorts of creative pursuits this could include remained a bit beyond him.  What was not beyond him was finding cause to encourage Rosa into delving into the process for herself.

In the end, Rosa was forced to accept the wisdom of her closest friends.  It wouldn’t even be just friends, she knew that Sophie would be all too encouraging upon the same subject as well.. having apparently been the cause for that originally.  It was fortunate she had developed a basic ability in reading, because now she would have to learn how to read a musical score.  She didn’t even know how the other world represented musical scores.  However, she was also determined to not be alone in all of this process.  Everything here was stuff she had never realized about herself, stuff she was only now coming to realize.  She was determined to share this opportunity with Kori.. or specifically Axln.  This dusk, she wanted to uncover Axln’s side of this whole ordeal, so that Axln could also profit from such self-discovery opportunities.

Even so, both Kori and Rosa devoted themselves to learning what they would need to know to properly research Ruixsi music in what time remained before dusk.  Kori wasn’t exactly the most musically versed individual, so most of the process involved actually listening to a vast selection of different music.  Tristine worked with her too, discussing critical components like amplifiers and the sort of stage machinations that would be required to make a good performance work.  Rosa meanwhile spent a lot of her time actually practicing her own singing, her sister attentively at her side as her artistic side was expressed.  Rosa’s work otherwise involved considerable research in Aestrean instruments, a list she would have to cross compare when coming to a decision on which instrument she wanted to learn for her two performances.  At one point, she even caught Drew sort of just standing in the hallway, listening to her sing.. instead of actually getting work done.  Sophie was also occasionally stopping to simply enjoy the music, and even some of the generic staff just slowed down as they made their way past.  Rosa honestly hadn’t even done anything important with this newly discovered talent of her’s.. and yet she was already appreciating her own ability.  This was honestly something quite fun.

Eventually, dusk arrived, and the two settled in for some suspended slumber before switching worlds.  The very first thing Lyun wanted to do was to test out her own singing.  She even noticed her voice broke on a few distinct notes, wasn’t quite as skilled at carrying a tune, and fumbled with how it presented pronunciation.  In fact, if she tried to sing with an Aestean accent, it was actually a lot better, even if she wasn’t quite as good as Rosa.  All signs of talent without practice.  What remained mind-blowing for her was that she might possibly be better in her otherworldly accent than in this world’s version at this point.  Was she honestly going to need more practice as Lyun than as Rosa?  Actually, considering the stamina required for singing, that might realistically be inevitable.  Even so, she wasn’t just working with a human advantage here, this was going to take a lot of work.

“Cool, singing.  I’ve got to say, that’s a new one, Lyun.  Then again, really, you aren’t that bad.”  “Xwyhr, when did you get here?”  “Two songs ago, if I must be so honest.  Is my sister around?”  “Yeah, she’s just in the other room, doing some research.  Why, does Jhez have some more unexpected time free or something?”  “Oh, actually no.  We have a test coming up, he’s probably working on getting it all set up for us.”  “If you have a test, shouldn’t you be studying?”  “Ah, I’ll study later.  The dusk is still fresh, not like I should study all dusk long.  But I was hoping to press her for details on what might have happened this dawn, I never got the chance for that.”  “It seems Axln had a lovely time investigating the deep reaches of history.. to then later have reality distract her in the final moments of their time together as she discovered what sort of stuff I was up to.  Then I had her spend the rest of the time basically doing nothing while I got some work done, letting her supposedly relax.. though it seems that only made her tense.  Thanks to that, she’s come up with this grand idea of putting on a musical performance to try and inspire a lot of societal interest for our little world history project.”  “Is that why you’re practicing singing.”  “One of the reasons, yeah.  The rest is.. kinda personal.”  “Personal is good, I like personal.  As long as you’re doing this for you too, that’s fine.”  “Yeah, yeah, I know.  Exploring passions, that sort of thing.”  Xwyhr was a bit perplexed at Lyun’s statement, but let it pass.  First, she wanted to see how her sister was actually doing, not just hear about it.  Lyun decided to follow along too, curious at what sort of scheme the girl would cook up this time.

“I’m not interrupting, am I?”  “Oh, this?  It’s fine, probably a dead end anyway.  I was trying to figure out if there was a good way to look up personal details on oneself.”  “What?  Why in the world would there be private records taken about the lives of another person, that sounds creepy.”  “That might explain why I’ve come up with nothing.. and might be another difference between this side and the other.  I’m surprised that the foundry at least wouldn’t be so controlling.”  “If it doesn’t have anything to do with instrumentation, it doesn’t matter.  So yeah, if you wanted very distinct records on instruments, they probably have a gallery.”  “Makes sense, I guess.  Now though.. I have no idea what I could do.”  “By the divine, are you still trying to tackle something on your own?  Is there anything you might want help with, or are you not open to the idea of asking for help?  I swear, after all of this, you’re still being so devoted to simply working unless someone else is there to distract you.”  Xwyhr actually started to lose her mask at this, Axln’s actions starting to really frustrate her.  Was her sister really this hopeless?

“Help?  Actually, that worked with Tristine and Sophie, surprisingly enough.  Xwyhr, we discovered that Lyun here actually had a bit of a hidden life on the other side, a life that was then left unremembered by everyone.  However, we found records that hinted at what sort of life this other aspect of her might have had, and it’s.. it’s already changed a lot of things.”  “Ah, that might explain the singing then.  So Lyun was quite the singer?  That’s something I would love to experience more of once she’s had some time to adjust to it.  But I guess then you’re wondering if you’ve got the same thing going on then?  Well, I’m glad you decided to open up your concerns to your sister, because I’m glad to tell you that there is a really easy solution.  Our culture is very founded in matters like journals or diaries, stuff a person keeps to track all of the things they’ve done in their life.  No one else gets to see that sort of stuff, except family of the deceased, at least.  Which then just so happens that, after learning about Yhzia passing away, I managed to request her own collection and had gone over it.  Quite honestly, the most confusing part then was just how often you were actually mentioned in everything, even though neither of us were supposed to know she had a twin.  You especially showed up a lot in her light-capture picture gallery.”  “Wait, there are photos?  I mean, yeah, light-…”  “Yup.  Yhzia was pretty handy capturing that sort of stuff, even if most of her sights were just architectural.”  Axln was stunned at Xwyhr’s sudden response, spoken as if it was the simplest thing in the world.  Lyun was the only one to pick up that Xwyhr had that same playful mask back on, a glint of inspiration surging at this sudden development.  Lyun however was surprised that Axln was already on this project at all, she was herself pondering a decent enough solution to this dilemma.. and had herself not realized the potential offered by such private records.

“Quite honestly, I knew that’s why you would get along well with my teacher, and why you would love that fair too.  Says you were quite the history guru, the whole thing being sort of your thing.  The two of you actually loved to adventure together, possibly a part of being twins.  Most of our family sort of took our own ambitions individually, but I guess being twins made for a great opportunity to do things with others.  However, at a point, suddenly you slipped out of the pictures, to be replaced by Lyun.  I honestly had to look up why.. and it seemed you two had a falling out when it came to exactly the sorts of places you wanted to explore.  Yhzia loved civilized developments, buildings and all that snuff, while you instead were more into adventuring the wild untapped remnants of history.  Diving into the unknown, if you weren’t just diving into our history.  The world, even Celesi history, that was always your thing.  However, after things went sour with Yhzia, you started slowing down with such personal ambitions and started becoming a lot more.. serious.  You took the whole ambition in knowing history and just turned it into just simply.. knowing.  No more fun and games, discovery was only about working with information, wasn’t even about exploring anymore.  Even Yhzia felt you were getting pretty distant at that point, it was like you were discarding a family heritage.”  Xwyhr’s voice faintly broke at some of the later statements, traces of emotion leaking past the mask.  However, she managed to discreetly compose herself before continuing.

“So, if you have suddenly gained the ambition to realize your own personal passions, I’m proud to let you know I’ve been on that for a while now.  I suspect.. I’ve been working on this for longer than we might have remembered.. but all of my other work would have been left at my house.  I was really mostly just curious to figure out if there was any accuracy to such stuff, but when I learned it might actually be all true.. I really had to try to fix it.  Don’t give up on your passions, and really.. don’t give up on your family.  I already lost one sister, I don’t want to lose another.”  “Wait, so the passions I had lost…”  “Yeah, you technically forgot them long before you.. forgot them.”  Xwyhr wiped away a few tears that had begun to escape there, Axln not even noticing as she started putting everything together.  A respect for history.. that made too much sense.  It was something she had started surging into even as Kori, with a pursuit of conduit history.  This sense of wild adventure, well, that’s not surprising either, though she would have expected it to be more of a cause to the company she had kept.  Sophie was all about wilderness, and Fiona was ever eager to tap into the unknown.  However.. it wasn’t as if she had ever really complained that much about such ventures either.  Actually, they were always a lot of fun.. for the most part at least.  Quite rightfully though, they were stuff she always found to be frivolous and unproductive, especially compared to important things like researching technology.

It seemed her life as Axln had panned out in something of the same way, just with a lot less reason to aspire into technology and a lot more of a cause in exploring.  Such was possibly why Axln had aspired much more to such ventures than she had as Kori.  The foundation of such was then nestled completely in matters of family.  Ah, so then, when Axln had suddenly felt isolated by such factors.. when such stuff had betrayed her, she then felt a reversal which inspired a need to apply her skills to anything else.  That was also familiar to her, humanity’s spite having generally inspired a similar reaction.  So.. past Axln had grown distant, isolating herself from family, and just went at everything alone.  That.. that even sounded really lonely.  She couldn’t even imagine struggling without having a single person with her.  Clearly, said past Axln was outright destroying herself by keeping herself so isolated.  What Axln didn’t realize was that this was also why Xwyhr has been encouraging not only Axln’s happiness, but also the forging of lasting friendships.  Even present-day Axln had a habit of just taking up everything without anyone else’s help, a bad habit formed from before their memories.

Lyun was pretty much silently grumbling at this point.  So.. Xwyhr’s schemes had been building upon Axln’s passions and ambitions, having realized that fact a long time ago, leaving Lyun herself to be left behind as no one was going to share this sort of thing with her.  At least being told of Xwyhr’s speculation would have been some immense help, she could have looked into matters a long time ago.  Lyun outright then blamed Xwyhr for her scrambled circumstances, someone who could have addressed it way earlier.  Instead, she had everything dropped on her at once.  Still, hearing that there could be photos about this sort of thing around really did inspire her.. stuff which Sophie might have kept in her house stashed safely away.  She was honestly curious to see what else such photos might tell about her past as Rosa.. but maybe she knew enough for now at least.. it might be best to turn such a thing into something far more gradual.

“And.. I killed the room.  Wow, thanks guys.”  “Hey, if you had shared anything about this sooner, we wouldn’t be so overwhelmed.”  “Ah, well, no one asked.  Can’t teach someone to ask for help if you don’t have something to ask about, right?  Well, no, really.. I thought you both already knew.”  “How would either of us know if you kept all of Yhzia’s stuff for yourself?”  “Because you didn’t even ask for Yhzia’s stuff?  Because you knew she had passed on long before I did, so I was pretty certain you had looked over everything a long time ago.  With Axln being Yhzia’s sister.. why exactly didn’t you bother with that anyway?”  “Mostly because we sort of stopped staying in one place for long enough to make that even an option.  Also, because I was too busy to remember that might even be an option.  Back then, Axln actually being Yhzia’s twin sister didn’t even feel real.”  “Ah, because you never took time to relax.  Probably should have expected that, actually.  Oh well, my bad.”  Xwyhr didn’t even sound remorseful to Lyun’s pleas, not even a touch of genuine guilt.  Lyun could hear the unspoken passage of blame, nesting that this was exactly what they had done wrong.  Lyun wanted to refute such.. but couldn’t even find the words to express such denial.

“Well, actually, all things considered, you might actually be capable of helping us with something else as well.  You’ve taken me around the academy frequently, showing me the sights everywhere, you seem quite versed at where everything here is.  As a result, I’ve got some quality access to people who are well versed in history.”  “Actually, you found him long before I found you.. but I guess.. yeah.”  “Maybe then, you could help Lyun find a good outlet for her own curiosities?  We know she’s got an untapped interest in music, but it might extend to some additional creative expressions in any artistic form.”  “Ah, yeah, I get what you mean.  I can provide you with the exact divisions you’re going to want to look into, but getting you into such stuff would be a bit beyond me.  However, if you could get Jhez to recommend Lyun to any of them.. I’m certain that would start something.  You might want to simply start with music, even specifically singing, as it would be the easiest to get a referral for.  Prove a case, get your head in the door, you’ll possibly find all the right doors echoing the first.”  “Oh, well, that helps.  Still, that doesn’t do much for my own part of the same plan.  I don’t even know how to DJ at all.”  “Deahjeh-.. what?”  “… or even that word.  The idea was to support her musical efforts with a controlled accompaniment of …”  “Oh!  A music mixer!  By the divine, your sister has got you covered!  Music mixers are all the flare in dance parties, which are quite the big deal with students feeling burned out by their courses.  As an important contact in matters of organizing parties, I in turn know all of the other important contacts for the same.  My word, the people I could introduce you to that could then teach you a thing or too.”  Axln was starting to realize that a certain societal factor managed to really persist between both cultures.  However, she was mildly concerned that the English use of mixer in this context might have.. slightly.. been lost in translation.  Then again, it might also be a bit.. too close.  These were student parties that were being discussed, it really wasn’t that different.

Quite unexpectedly, Xwyhr had effectively provided them with some considerable direction in everything they needed to further their musical goals.  Not only that, but it seemed that she had even been working to address Axln’s question long before it was even asked, leaving everything progressing surprisingly smoothly.

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FV – Chapter 50

Legacy Memories

While Rosa continued to remain otherwise occupied with Drew, the others of Hypertech continued to investigate this unexpected avenue of discovery and ambition.  Quite quickly, it was appearing that the plan really might actually be possible after all.

“Kori, can you try reading this in a singing voice?”  “.. and once was when…”  “Okay, no, you’re no singer.”  “Just because your family has a talent for this stuff doesn’t mean I do.  Heck, you have to consider that I would even have to use their accent while singing too, so that’s not going to happen.”  “Oh, could you just read this.. in that accent then?”  “.. and unce was when a time wherever was what few weud…”  “Oh hell, that’s remarkable!  You sound just like how Rosa used to be.  Really, I don’t think the change in pronunciation would amount to anything for you, but clearly we’re not going to have you singing around here.  Tristine said something about you possibly having enough talent to do the DJ thing well enough, though.  That might be a better place to start.  If your whole presentation is going to be about the value of the sound devices used.. the instruments.. someone is going to have to personally keep the music going so that my sister has something to sing to.”  Sophie was outright blowing Kori away with all of this sudden ambition, and she wasn’t even going to be involved in the whole actual project.

Kori however could tell she herself wouldn’t be beyond the responsibilities such a project landed upon her.  Here or on the other side, she could almost completely just jack into their audio equipment and manage such a score herself.. as long as the score was made for her.  She didn’t trust she could make up her own score very well, but even recalibrating equipment to a song transition wouldn’t be challenging at all.  Participation otherwise, not even a question.  She couldn’t sing, and her manual dexterity was a bit too lacking.  Her hands probably held no better tune than her voice.  Sophie however didn’t let pure speculation amount to anything conclusive, though, not considering that no one could remember what Kori might have discovered growing up on the other side.  That was a concern Kori couldn’t dispute either, it was an idea that was starting to have her wonder about herself too.  What exactly did Axln experience growing up on such a planet, what kind of history was then forgotten?  It didn’t matter that it may or may not have actually happened, because history was still history.  The events of the past still shaped what would come after it, her own unknown history still a thing that affected her present and future.  It was a growing speculation she simply had no opportunity to investigate right now, and not only because all of the required information wasn’t even here.

“So, we’re going to have to get you up to speed on song transition at least.  We can’t even request the help of a professional DJ, but maybe Holi will have some lessons she can snatch for us.  Oh, and that school you’re at in magic land, maybe they can teach you something like it.”  “They at least wouldn’t call it DJ, that planet doesn’t use the two letter name system, especially because their written structure doesn’t use our letters.  That, and I expect they never had to worry about discs to jockey.”  “What to what?”  “Right, we don’t use the same either.  A millenia later, and we’re still using words that have lost all meaning.”  “Music is still probably going to be music, even if they have different names for little things.  I wonder if we can budget some sound equipment for you to experiment with?”  “I really don’t think Drew would agree with that.  You’re kinda spending his money on something his business won’t even prosper from in that case, how in the world would you make him agree to something like that?”  Sophie was visibly considering Kori’s question, possibly with a bit too much intensity.  Kori thought she was being rhetorical, that such a statement was enough grounds to dismiss the idea.  Even before Sophie could voice a response, the door suddenly opened to invite another into the discussion.

“What would I not agree with, again?”  “Oh, hey Drew.  So, I was reviewing our fiscal situation and determined that we need to hold a promotional campaign in order to harness some more business exposure for Hypertech.  Already got a great thing going for the same idea too, how do you feel about a musical campaign sponsored by hypertech?  If we provided the right audio equipment, in perfect working order, such a promotion could be quite the hit with the general population.  In that case, we’ll have businesses pressuring aerospace to open up opportunities with Hypertech for us, giving our cause even more voice.”  “Interesting idea, but we don’t exactly have any performers for such a campaign, and we can’t campaign to draw in the right performers.”  “Oh, that?  I’ve already taken care of that part.  Might take some practice, but I hear the singer is something special.”  “You.. have?  And how much did that cost?”  “Free, you already took care of it.  Seems my sister might have quite the talent she’s never brought up before, something we might need to investigate.  If she’s as good as she sounds, it might really be a smart idea.”  Drew blinked a few times, not actually having much of a comeback for Sophie’s unexpected idea.  Kori was herself outright speechless, aghast at how things had suddenly turned around there.  Suddenly, this whole idea was going to have hypertech prosper.

“Wait, what have I not brought up before?  Sorry, I seemed to have been a bit slow showing up to.. something.  What’s going on?”  “Sis!  Perfect!  We need your help with something to open up the avenues of Hypertech’s commercial opportunities.  You’re like the only one who could possibly help with this sort of idea, would you be willing to lend a hand?”  “Oh, yeah, sure.  What does it involve anyway?”  “Music.  Singing, mostly, though you’re going to have to actually play.. something.  I wonder if you’re more into strings or percussion.  We shouldn’t have you with anything which would get in the way of your singing.  Strings would probably be the best idea, though I’m not sure what exactly.  Percussion is more an accompaniment, something we would do better leaving to our DJ to watch over.  Oh, but we have to use modern equipment, so no actual old fashioned string instruments.  Shouldn’t be too synthetic though, that would be about as valuable as just playing a live recording, which wouldn’t be anywhere as good.”  “Wait, wait, wait, hold up.  Music, singing, what?”  “Oh, yeah.  Remember how you took all of those music lessons before?  Of course not, no one does.  But a tuned voice remembers even when the mind forgets.  Here, come with me, I’ve got a score I want you to learn.”  Rosa couldn’t even voice her complaints before Sophie pulled her from the room.  Kori traded passing glances with Tristine and Drew, Drew still being the most confused.

“I was really thinking a synthcord would have been the perfect instrument, though I guess there would be less value in magic land learning such an instrument.  Would at least need an instrument with an ionic wave diffuser at least, something you could connect to an amplifier.  Ionic threading is slight enough in uniform airwaves that even smaller instruments would be viable for such a goal.  But.. we should still pick an instrument that magic land actually has something fairly similar to, or at least something that would work there.  Technically, using a brand new instrument they had never seen before would deliver an even greater impact, but it would still have to run on magic.”  “Okay, I’m not stupid, something more is going on here than you’ve all originally presented.”  “Sorry, boss.  It seems Kori and Rosa are in need of some commercial exposure themselves in magic land, and we’ve figured out that music might give us some value there.  It seems Sophie has realized that Hypertech could also prosper from the same kind of exposure, so we’re being involved in the whole process.”  Tristine recounted to Drew the general process they had undertaken to uncover this original idea, omitting unrelated personal details about Rosa’s childhood.  Kori in turn then worried about how things were going for Rosa.  Specifically, the worries weren’t as much in performance as they were in managing unrelenting confusion.  Sophie seemed far more interested in seeing how things actually were than in explaining how such a potential was even discovered.  Kori knew Sophie, there wouldn’t be time given to explanations, instead Sophie would be all hands forward on the project.  Rosa meanwhile would embrace the sudden challenge, even without explanation.  Rosa then would be the only one who had no idea what was actually going on.

“Okay, okay, okay everyone!  We’re back.  So, I have a small audio player here that will play that same song.. but without any lyrics.  What I want you to do, Rosa, is to actually sing the original song yourself.  I could get you a holo with the lyrics.. but…”  “That might help.  It’s not a hard song, but having handy prompts might make it a bit easier.”  “But.. I can’t make it into something you could read.”  “Oh, that?  I’ve been practicing that a lot already, and it helps that I got to at least hear things already, the writing is just a reminder.  I should be okay.. for the most part.. though I apologize in advance for any errors I might make anyway.  Then again, you want me to actually sing something, so it’s not like you’re expecting much from me in the first place.  You do know, I’ve never sung anything before, right?  Not even in my world.”  “Hey, you better not let that hold you back from actually trying, okay?  I want to hear your best performance!”  “Yeah, yeah, whatever.  Let’s just get this over with.”  Sophie was visibly dragging Rosa along with the whole deal, the two sisters a contrast of excitement and disappointment.  Exactly as Kori had expected, Sophie hadn’t let up, Rosa still had no idea what was going on, and yet Rosa was still going to stand up to the challenge because stubborn.. and maybe a touch of sibling rivalry neither sister would remember.

“Across tides and fields, eternally woven.  Beyond hills and rivers, mountains and shores.  Timeless wonders wrought, forever appealing, yet stricken the cause for its due neglect.  Fell ruins and spires, desolate bastions, once fortified with valorous hearts.  Ambitiously shattered, unabatently battered, the winds of such history would surely fade away.  As winds soared and scattered, drifting outwardly, ceaselessly, the captive eternity shackled to the chains of destiny.  What once was will forever be, even without lasting memory, binding those who might ever.. wonder.. what once was will forever be.  And so from there comes.. the crossroads, a foundation of torment that crosses afar.  Across tides and fields, eternally woven.. beyond hills and rivers.. mountains and shores.  Such timeless wonders, forever broken, could then suffer from such neglect.. when the legacy born from such a wonder, forever appealing to such regret.  With such memories.. woven, of a place dearly bespoken.. … holding strong fast, valourous hearts.. all so earantly.. eternally.. unabatently.  Across tides and fields, eternally woven.  Beyond hills and rivers, mountains and shores.  Timeless wonders wrought, forever appealing… of a place that stood firm.. whenever.. and once was when a time.. wherever.. was what few would then.. forever.. willfully then ever after.. never.. possibly ever.. forget.”  Rosa sang the complete song, from start to finish, poetry in verse.  Technically, the whole song was poetry, it was originally a conduit poem, too.  Technically, it was very well thought of by conduits who didn’t exactly like their place in society, which is why the whole song had come up in the first place.  The song was then really meaningful to Kori.. but she had to admit it certainly wasn’t the easiest song she could think of.

That.. didn’t even matter.  Rosa’s singing was absolutely perfect, the quality you would have expected of a professional.  First-time singing, even that consideration was ridiculous.  It was the voice of someone with at least a Sidus of vocal training.  The most ridiculous part was that Rosa didn’t even seem to notice her own quality.  Agreeably, she hadn’t been as good as the original singer.. she had actually been better.  Rosa’s expression resounded her belief that she had achieved just as poorly as she might have assumed, and it wasn’t like everyone staring at her was clarifying that distinction either.  Kori was really certain why there might have been a number of people who wanted Rosa in their music group.  Certainly, if she had accepted any of those invitations, Rosa would be famous right now.  Screw what accomplishments her sisters had pulled off, Sophie’s scholarship into apprenticeship or even Fiona’s first place award in some small contest that let her start a company with Kori fairly easily.  Rosa’s victory would have overshadowed everyone else.

“Okay, I guess I’ll take this fine opportunity to say it, considering no one else has their voice yet.  You and I did agree to be a bit more open with what we were doing, anyway.  Rosa, that was absolutely remarkable, demonstrating at least a sidus of vocal training to reach such a professional level.”  “Huh?  Training?  Like I said though, I’ve never…”  “Lyun has never had such training.. but you’re not accounting for Rosa at all.  Maybe if you practice enough as Rosa, you could easily learn enough to do just as well while being Lyun too.  Tristine, you’ve got me sold on this idea of your’s, there is no way I would want to see this talent wasted.  Sophie, I’m even in for your idea too, probably a good way to practice here before we try everything on the other side.  Of course, in either case, Rosa has to agree to everything too.  It’s her voice we’re talking about.  She might have enjoyed singing back then, but that doesn’t automatically mean she has the same passions now.  Rosa, how much did Sophie fill you in on why we’re so suddenly into music anyway?”  “Uh, actually, she skipped that part.  This whole thing has been rather random.  It’s.. it’s not random, is it?”  Kori took this opportunity to cover all of Rosa’s known history once again, letting the girl herself know what she supposedly had managed to accomplish in the past.  Even while telling such information, Kori had a growing need to discover the same facts about Axln too.  Rosa clearly knew nothing about all of this music potential.. and yet was this good with it.  She had so much talent in various fine arts.. and Lyun’s life didn’t involve anything like it at all.  Instead, she was still making the same mistake past Rosa had learned from.

Kori couldn’t even blame Rosa for this ignorance, not when there was a huge chance Kori was also making the same mistake.  Axln had a history too, something none of them knew about, none of them could possibly remember anything about, and that history could have come with discoveries of its own.  Lyun hadn’t learned from Rosa’s past, while Kori hadn’t learned from Axln’s past.  They had already made strides on this problem with Rosa with this discovery, and it was changing so many things so quickly.  Rosa meanwhile was reflecting upon this knowledge with her own sense of discovery.  The past everyone had uncovered for her.. made a lot of sense.  Lyun herself had held ambitiously to instrumentation as just something she had to do.. but she never achieved a sense of accomplishment from her efforts, no real sense of acknowledgment.  She could see herself then in all of these past events she had no memories of.  Rivalry with a twin was a new idea, but it certainly wasn’t impossible.  Competing for success.. yeah, that’s her in a nutshell.  She’d also been very independent growing up, except for Yhzia of course.  Yhzia was just someone who was very good at keeping her motivated, at encouraging her and appealing to her personal drive, so they became quick friends.  It seems like, in this world.. Rosa never had anyone like that, instead Rosa had a couple of sisters to spark up some rivalry with.  Then, her non-twin walks in, steps on what she’s doing, and comes out looking amazing.  Of course.. that would bother her.  Past Rosa’s own actions as a result of that made complete sense.

Amassing itself beyond that same concept was Fiona’s first place award.  That would be when Rosa would have felt.. completely isolated and alone.  She was just a failure, her sisters were all better than her, she had nothing left.  Kori even felt like a jerk while bringing up that part of the whole tale, knowing how much that was going to sting for Rosa.  Kori herself had been helping Fiona a lot with keeping her inspired that whole contest, leaving Rosa to then advance alone by her own devices.  Kori might not have such memories of Rosa, but she knew her past self did, and the growing friendship she’s fostered with Rosa here was inspiring a lot of guilt for not encouraging both twins together.  From here though, Rosa found it difficult to understand her own actions.  Clearly, Sophie had promoted the idea.. and Rosa had just fumbled around with it, dabbling in a bunch of different fine arts like her sister.  Then.. she achieved.. success?  What exactly did that feel like?  Actually, she wasn’t completely ignorant to the idea, she had her own measure of success with her involvement in cybernetics.  Then again, it seems she was known for having talent in that area.. but.. not passion.  That was possibly the newest idea in this whole process, that she might have a passion she wasn’t even aware of.. and that had taken her places.

The conclusion was its own mystery.  Sure, the whole painting thing.. actually.. that might make a bit too much sense.  Painting with holos was absolutely fun, and apparently Rosa was really good at it.  Music.. it seems she might also be good at music too, in much the same way.  Rosa took a moment to consider how she had felt with such a musical experience.  Confused, mostly.  Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best test bench for her emotional involvement.  However, hearing she did really well was leaving her feeling.. inspired.  Kori hadn’t even gotten to the part on why the whole musical thing even mattered yet.. and Rosa was feeling like it was something she wanted to do.  Knowing that, why then did Rosa give up on making something out of her own potential, having discovered it.  Even as Lyun, her cybernetic accomplishments landed her recognition from the academy, and.. she was quick to accept, to bring Axln with her.  Wait.. Rosa had never had anyone on her side in things.. Rosa had always been alone.  Maybe.. she just didn’t trust anyone.. because she had never learned to trust anyone.  It was like Lyun trusting the foundry, and why the whole project of getting the foundry’s trust felt monumental.  Like Xwyhr had said, Rosa and Kori.. Lyun and Axln.. they both had grown used to not depending on others for much help, they had been used to being independent.  Past Rosa.. would have been even worse.

“So the idea now is to take your music potential and make something really big out of it.  Meanwhile, I’m supposed to learn how to handle accompaniment for you, like some kind of DJ.  When we’ve got things worked out enough, we’re going to grand-stage your skills against a live audience, getting a ton of recognition and appreciation.. and then drop Hypertech as a sponsor.  When people know that Hypertech is capable of delivering devices capable of such a performance, the company’s popularity would hopefully climb, opening us more options.  Then again, even that’s just a trial run for the real project.  The big goal is to take that same accomplishment and repeat it on the other side, but this time promoting Ezhyrae as a sponsor.”  “Oh, and.. if we actually do well, we would have the interest of the greater bulk of society as a result.  Wait, wouldn’t Velvet and Mheridz predict this and just stop us?  We aren’t exactly allowed into such depth of civilization either.”  “Holo disguises work against the general public, while the other world would just require some use of dark shadows, we just have to make sure we avoid both Velvet and Mheridz specifically.  Even getting caught wouldn’t be a problem if we can keep up disguises, the two of them knowing without proof would make them incapable of taking action, especially if we’re otherwise doing nothing wrong.  The problem with confrontation would be how good those two are at taking down both instruments and devices.  We might need to touch up our disguises with a touch of natural work too.  Sophie and Ezhyrae could both be counted on in that area, at least.”  Kori still impressed Rosa with how interesting this idea was, even if there were plenty of unknowns left over.  Something about the whole idea really felt inspirational.. maybe she really did have a subtle passion for such fine arts.

“We’re still going to need some instruments and devices though, least of all for both performances.  They will have to be really good, too.”  “Tristine is willing to help with some of that process, but we’re going to need to learn a few things about how such instruments work.. musical instruments, I mean.  Auditory gear is pretty complicated on this side, considering soundwaves and the physics behind all of that.  Meanwhile.. I suspect we’re working with wind elemental instrumentation to simulate the same auditory experience.  Supplementing it with illusionary sound could actually help from an accompaniment perspective, but the main resources would need to actually flow directly with wind itself.  Neither of us are good with wind elements, but the academy is a big place.. and they probably already have what we need.  In much the same way as Tristine is offering, amplification gear is possibly our biggest focus.  Ionically, we have instruments that deliver a waveform that is translated into an ionic spectrum, then we need to smooth out the sound for an augmented boost.  Elementally, this is going to require some good kyuemu to amplify the wind spectrum without distorting the quality.  Putting such stuff together with some really optimized performance is going to probably be our job.”  “Well, mostly, maybe, but we should always be open to getting some help from people.  No reason to put everything on our heads, going to have to already learn all this performing stuff as is.  On that subject, if you had only just come up with this idea so recently, how come you already have all the elemental research done?”  “Oh, well, I’ve been trying to do a lot of my own learning in such an area, I might have adjusted a bit to everything at this point.  Probably nothing extreme in elemental knowledge, but hopefully up to what is considered normal.”  Rosa realized that Kori had also been working hard at getting more adapted to both of their separate lives.  By this point, both of them at least could completely fit into both societies as a normal part of each.  Like they were only readjusting to lives they already had, really.. that theory might be a bit too sound.

At the very least, they had a complete plan in place for how they could proceed with the foundry.  All that was left was ensuring they got everything prepared for such a significant venture.

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FV – Chapter 49

Forgotten Passions

By midday, both girls had brought their daily activity over to the world on the other side.  Even without an ambitious goal to aspire towards, the girls knew it would be irresponsible to neglect their other half of their life’s obligations.

Kori was still finding herself off drift even in that regard.  Sure, she was still a bit tired, having slightly underslept due to restlessness, while Rosa had instead actually overslept in exhaustion.  It had given Kori a lot of time to think.. but even that had proved as efficient as it had all dawn.  Rosa meanwhile was back in Drew’s office.. and supposedly doing nothing important.  That concept was leaving Kori feeling baffled, considering Rosa had marched there with an obvious feeling of obligation.. but then had just started to slack off doing nothing but casual conversation about matters of industry?  Of course, Kori had taken time for herself last dawn in a very similar way, she wasn’t complaining about that.  It just felt strange, somehow, like Rosa was still working to accomplish something even while relaxing.  However, if Rosa was going to invest her attention into the place’s leadership, Kori would have to check with Tristine to see if anything else around here needed help.

“Oh, hey, Kori.  You pick a funny time to show up.  We had a mid-dawn power failure here, old core might not be getting enough maintenance.  I actually just finished fixing the darn thing.”  “Oh, sorry.”  “Oh, not blaming you or anything, technically that was completely my bad.  Drew gave me such a hard time about it, something about needing to respect the foundations of my own people.  All of that stuff.. was made by conduits?  It was rough enough getting into this industry, I’m surprised just how much our people just.. at a time.. just did.”  “Oh, yeah, it’s quite the sight, really.  Historically though, our people would have only done this sort of thing for a short while.  Conduits learned as they were threatened by humans, then things got too tense, humans then took their many.. many more generations of experience and shoved it down our throats.”  “Idiot humans.  I mean, not all of them.. but…”  Tristine sighed, a feeling Kori was all too familiar with.  This was a factor of life Kori had complained about for years, silently, like many conduits.  However, there was more familiarity about it than just that.

“I.. I actually don’t think this is just a human thing.  Ignorance stemmed with being possessive of the accomplishments of their people.  I mean, if humans had come here and found conduits at a far more technologically progressed development, we would have still had conflict.  Then, if the conduits had won instead, it would possibly be the humans being oppressed for being foreigners to the world.”  “That’s some deep thinking, for someone who…”  “I’m saying this because of the societal conflicts of the other side.  There, humans and elves aren’t at each other’s throats, but mostly because there didn’t seem to be a reason for it.  What we have instead is some grand organization that has basically achieved world domination by monopolizing the most valuable resource.  Seems there is even a secret behind their success, and they are doing everything possible to protect it.  It’s basically the same idea, all over again.”  Kori filled Tristine in on a few of the related details, just to build a comparison.  All of this stuff was on her head, especially considering the current issue she was seeking a resolution for.  Tristine listened, trying to understand as much about the people of a world where most of the science didn’t make as much sense.

“Ah, so now you’re going to have to stand up against that overbearing oppression, too.  It makes sense you don’t want to just fight it out though, we did.. and look where that left us.  But if the goal is to make people like you, both you and Rosa, then I’m sure you’ve both got this in the bag.”  “It’s really not going to be that simple…”  “Well, of course.  But to the people there, you’re not a conduit.  You’re just one of the regular people.  That’s already an advantage.  Think about that scene in the aerospace terminal, when you sort of walked in and saved me from getting bullied.  You did that as a conduit, the people most hated around here, and people were talking about it for ages afterwards.  I’m certain there are still tales about that scene, of the enforcer that held the peace.  Take away your conduit handicap, suddenly everything is actually even easier.  I mean, really, can you honestly say that this foundry is so many times more intimidating than not just the collectivity of humanity, but even the outstretched reach of aerospace stuff.  Aerospace is basically a branch of the human government, so it should be pretty easy to compare.”  Tristine was actually finding Kori’s tale of politics actually far too easy to understand.  It seems matters of politics really didn’t change much between such diverse realities.

“If you’re worried about handling things with a lot of formality, consider things from a business perspective.  Drew brought our business up from a simple warehouse to an actual contract business for aerospace technologies.. well, until that stopped.  He was always doing business meetings, a whole ton of presentations to market work for everyone.  He had me help with some of the presentations, though I wasn’t actually allowed to attend.  If you want a big organization’s attention, wouldn’t it work to do something similar?”  “Wait, did I walk in at a bad time?”  “Oh, Sophie, hey.  I was just helping Kori here with a project she was stressing over in magic land.”  “Presentations.  You know, that’s something I know a few things about.  Then again, I know almost nothing about your.. magic land.  What kind of presentation are you thinking about at least?  Maybe I could offer a few tips that might actually work there?”  Tristine was surprised by Sophie’s unexpected arrival, even if Sophie was only on break.  Kori could tell something was stressing Sophie too, but she couldn’t tell what that might be.

“Yeah, I have no idea about that either.  Also, it’s not magic, it’s just a different kind of.. science.  Unless you’re talking about the sciences involved, people are still just people.. from this side or the other.  But supporting Rosa’s market venture in order to uncover the organization’s greatest secret.. I have no idea what that’s going to take.”  “Ah, so.. a presentation.  But you don’t have a topic yet.. which you’re going to need for a presentation.  Seriously, is my sister really this ambitious.. no matter which dimension she’s in?  I thought I was making waves, but.. this is something else.  I’m not used to this at all.  Oh, and no, I’m not disrespecting the stuff that you and Yhzia did, you were both clearly trying to go places with that stuff.  It’s just.. strange.. having a sister I know so little about.”  “Well, technically this version of her didn’t exist until very recently, so I don’t think you’re being fair to yourself.  It isn’t like either of us are really all that used to each other’s ‘dimension’ either.”  Kori was getting the impression she had stumbled upon Sophie’s ongoing concern, possibly stemming from their sudden arrival again.  Rosa might be Sophie’s sister, but that was only a technicality in how the world asserted itself.

“Actually, maybe Sophie might have a point.  I mean, sure, no one has memories about it.. but are we certain that nothing ever actually happened?  Did the world just give you both bodies to walk in hence-after, or did it give you an entire history to go with it.  Just like with conduit history, just because no one might remember it.. doesn’t mean it never happened.  Rosa herself feels far too natural to everything, like a case of muscle memory.. even with any of our scientific stuff.  She doesn’t even have an accent anymore.  Honestly, it’s pretty unnaturally quick, like she’s more like remembering stuff instead of learning it.”  “Exactly.  So, if she came here with a complete history.. then that just means no one got the memories to go with it.. but not that things never happened.  We have actual family registry records of her, just how much else might actually exist?  She’s put so much work into learning.. or even remembering.. about her life here.  I want to at least learn what I should know.. to remember what was made to have happened.  She’s my sister!”  Even Tristine jumped when Sophie’s palm slammed the wall in that last statement.

Kori pondered the idea, realizing that Sophie might actually be on to something here.  Even when she went back in time, switching to a new timeline, there were always those small factors that adjusted to the new timeline, stuff that made that timeline different.  In much the same way, it might be that their convergence across the temporal plane resolved more than just a body for each of them.. it might have also resolved their own individual history.  Sure, in that case, it came with group amnesia, absolutely no one remembered either Rosa or Axln.  However, that’s basically the same concern she had in Ruixsi history, no one knew it.  Just because no one remembered, did not mean it did not happen.  This was still an idea that would be difficult to prove, if both planets had simply been redesigned with evidence of both of their presence created at the time they breached between the veil.. or if the entire timeline had been rerendered and the people had been left ignorant to the change.

Possibly the most concerning part of this idea is how much it establishes Rosa and Axln as more than just a secondary self.  If this timeline claimed that they had always been a resident of their planet, then that was under-appreciating the other half of their sense of selves.  Both aspects had to be considered equally.  Actually, even if that wasn’t true.. and their presence was only a matter of creation in the instance.. the future shows they couldn’t diminish the value of their alternate selves either.  Such alternate selves apparently become mothers.  In matters of family, that would even make Sophie a future aunt.  They have an established future, and there honestly is a good chance of an established past.  Even if that past had never happened, it was still a foundation of both of their identities.  Investigating such matters of history could actually be very important.  To help with such an investigation, Kori pulled out a holo in order to call upon Holi’s assistance.

“Hello, everyone.  I hear there is some need for gathering some information from historical databases, correct?”  “Oh, Holi!  Yes, we’re trying to discover if there are any past records of Rosa floating around.  Wait, didn’t we try something like this before?”  “Personal records in most cases are kept strictly confidential, to the point that even the person in question would have to run through hoops to get the base records needed.  However, it seems my newly acquired administrative credentials provide all the access to records we might need.  So, don’t worry Sophie, I can actually make this work out fairly easily.  Notably, there are some base code arguments that still prohibit me from looking up personal records without explicit consent.  To simplify that then, do you want me to search your own personal records for anything that might relate to Rosa?”  “Oh, yes please, thank you.”  Sophie’s eyes were positively glistening at Holi’s offer.  While Holi began such a process, the four of them wandered over to a meeting room to get comfortable in, this was certainly going to take a while.  Tristine felt a bit out of place with how things were going, but she was still welcomed along as a bit of an outside understanding to how this uncertainty was about to proceed.

“Okay, so, all three sisters appeared to have followed each other through education, going to the same schools in turn.  Because Rosa and Fiona were twins, they even shared a class.  School records show a number of times you were involved to end a dispute between the two, as they appeared to constantly compete with each other growing up, and Sophie was the family member seen as capable of bringing the most reason towards the two.  I suspect this left them feeling rather isolated as they competed directly with each other.  Oh, this would mean that Kori would have technically met Rosa on the same day she became friends with Fiona, though Rosa would not have become friends with Kori in the process.  History will tell that the only thing that brought Rosa and Kori together was Fiona’s death.  Anyway, both twins brought their competitions into various scientific competitions growing up, and a number of science fairs Sophie registered to help out in as basically clean up crew.  Obviously, you were there watching over your sisters, though that didn’t continue for long.  There is no record why it stopped, the reasons were obviously personal.  Either you didn’t like helping out at something you hardly understood, they didn’t like you getting in their way, or even something completely different.”  Holi was clearly even trying to speculate with the information she was reviewing, there were some things such logical records would be unable to tell.

“Sophie, of course, was working on her own textile pursuits, her interest in designs and fashion landing her in numerous related clubs.  As your attendance in science events diminished, your own fashion pursuits increased.  Then there was that contest you entered, the design contest for some sort of dress, where you won a minor award.  Wasn’t a first-place thing, and wasn’t the biggest of contests, though none of the events the twins would have competed in landed them with any actual award.  Soon after that, you attended a graphical design competition.. but not as a competitor?  Oh, both of your sisters were actually competing.  They lost, horribly too.  I guess both twins started to suddenly include their third sister in their rivalry.  There were quite a number of other graphical competitions too, much in the same way.  Both attended.. doing slightly better each time.  Oh, and then here, Fiona managed to pull off her first place award in a graphics competition.  That would be soon before Fiona and Kori would have started their joint venture into holographics.  The competitions ended there too, even the science-related ones.  Fiona just completely stopped attending any more of such things.”  Holi even kept an expression of perplexion fitting to such a review.  It was obvious that Fiona had felt there wasn’t any need for further competition, and she had started going ahead with her own individual lifestyle.

“So far, that’s not far off from what we end up remembering.  Fiona and I were always getting into trouble, Sophie showing up being the mature one.  It didn’t feel like we were competing with anyone, though I did drag her through a lot of science fairs.. stuff we tried to do well enough in.  Fiona was always very encouraging in my ambitions in the field, considering I was a conduit and so was rather hesitant in applying myself to such interests.  Sophie was there, those science events, though Fiona never liked imposing on her like that.”  “Yeah, Fiona said she wanted me off her back, to give her space, though I could tell she just didn’t want me doing something I was struggling to keep doing.  She even was the one who encouraged me to just pick up something of my own interest instead, which is why I even entered that contest.  Soon after though, the girl suddenly took up an interest in graphical design.”  “Well, you sort of took her offer and then accomplished something she had never done before, win something.  Wasn’t that the same thing that got you your textile scholarship, which is how you became an apprentice stylist?  Fiona felt that some of her efforts were.. stolen in that turn of events, it was even your first competition and it made your future.  I never understood much of her graphical stuff, but she picked up on it really quickly.  Most of our science fair offers were honestly mostly my design, though we never told anyone.  She was just there supporting me in the process.  Meanwhile, she doodled a lot through school, so I had recommended she tried making something more out of that.. which eventually won her own contest.”  Kori and Sophie might both remember things that didn’t match this history exactly, but such memories certainly made room for the same things.  What left them both perplexed was in where this then left poor Rosa.

“So if both Fiona and I managed to kickstart our future from such competitions.. then what happened to Rosa?  Wouldn’t she have just felt.. isolated and unaccomplished?”  “Searching for her in any other competitions after that, it appeared she had attended a few robotics design competitions, where she scored highly for structure and yet poorly for aesthetics and scripting.  Both of those things would be Kori and Fiona’s strengths, so that might have really stung.  Oh, there is even a critical review of her work from the head of the contest.  Something about having a base talent in the field, but without any true passion.  Ouch, yeah, it even acknowledges she’s really good with such a craft, but that she would fare even better discovering her own passions instead.  She stopped going into such competitions after that.”  “Seriously?  Ouch.  I hope I was there to comfort her or something, though.. I guess being one of the two who were going somewhere with their accomplishments.. she might not have exactly been open to my support.”  “Well, it seems you did at least provide her with a recommendation into a lower tier of the same fine arts educational program you yourself were enrolled in, as a bit of open study lessons.  She tabbled all over the place, from sculpting to painting to music even.  She absolutely failed in sculpting, he designs more intent on function than aesthetic.  Painting, that was something she had a growing talent for at least, though she was far less about expressing reality than she was about capturing imagination.  That was even a recorded feedback from her courses, she managed remarkably well to deliver abstract art.”  Sophie nodded at Holi’s historical assessment, feeling that such to be a positive direction she could appreciate going.  Even Kori could spot how Rosa might really have a place with abstract design, considering how the girl handles holos.  Rosa really did accomplish more when she was unbound by her own expectations.

“Considering how much the Rosa I know on the other side has been, she’s still been quite devoted to her.. robotics.. for her whole life.  This actually might be a lesson she would have to revisit, applying herself a bit more into the fine arts pursuits and passions that.. actually might run in her family.  Well, not all of them I suppose, her disregard for literature would probably make her a poor writer, even in abstract poetry.  Maybe just simple arts would be for the best, I worry how poorly her musical experiences might have gone for her.”  “Actually, no.  She had an amazing talent for the musical and performing arts.  Not dancing, mind you, that did go as poorly as you seem to be expecting.  Her acting was actually reported to be reasonably good, but her musical skills were impressive.  Instructors have mentioned that she had an untapped singing voice which could easily go places, and her ability to handle most instruments comfortably was considered very highly.  Oh, she even was a part of a large concert, doing her own solo performance.. which landed her more than a few invitations to join established groups.  She never did, though.”  “Wait, she’s officially on record as being very skilled handling most instruments?  That’s hilarious!  Sorry, no one else would get the reference.  On the other side, instead of calling their devices of technology machines.. or robots.. they call the stuff ‘instruments’.  Yes, she’s been very good at handling instruments there too.. although, I guess not as well as she might have liked.  I sort of stepped on her accomplishments there too, being even more skilled with such instrumentation.  Musical instruments.. that’s something I would have never expected.”  Kori was struggling to speak through her own laughter, Holi stopping to allow for enough time for such a fit to settle down.

“Never expected.. hmm.  Sorry to interrupt you three as you walk down memory lane like this, but I’m just wondering.  Kori, are you at all skilled with musical performances yourself?”  “What?  No, I’ve never done anything like that before.”  “No, probably not, although I expect your talents would land you some basic DJ qualities that could script out song transitions at least.  Holi herself could just perform well if she was upgraded with the right qualities, but she wouldn’t exactly be a part of the original project.. so that wouldn’t matter at all.”  “Tristine, you aren’t making any sense, what are you talking about?”  “Oh, well, remember earlier how you were saying that you needed a way to capture the interest of society?  If Rosa has skills in the performing arts that are as incredible as her history makes it sounds.. then why not stage such a grand performance as your own presentation?  I mean, I understand very little about music myself, but I’ve had quite a number of repair jobs with a lot of places, some of them in theater productions.  There is quite the quality that goes into the assortment of machinations required to deliver a quality musical performance.  Wouldn’t it stand then that if you could create such quality resources with your established backing and support, even using a schooling system of your own.. which probably has its own fine arts division.. you could then catch the attention of a massive crowd with a quality performance.. ending with a disclosure behind giving thanks to the financial backer you’re trying to raise attention for.. who would then receive credit for any of the high quality instruments used in such a performance?  I mean, I still don’t know how well technology translates over there, but it at least makes sense in my head.  Am I really that wrong?”  Tristine looked flustered as Kori gave her a blank unending stare.  Of course, Tristine almost seemed to have lost it in that bit of a rant.. but she wasn’t actually potentially wrong.

Kori was only caught off guard because, in all honesty, she had never expected to have an answer given to her from someone else on this side.  She had expected this was completely her obligation, completely her burden to bear, and had never opened to the idea that outside, unrelated people.. who understood nothing about the situation.. could really be this helpful.

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FV – Chapter 48

Establishing Finances

Two more nights passed, a period filled with opportunities of self discovery and self improvement.  The entire time was still not spent on any single planet, plenty of opportunity was found to explore such forms of awareness in both worlds.

“Rosa, it’s dawn now.  We should probably get some rest and then look into matters on the other side.  My sister had wanted me back there pretty early, something about having made an important appointment for something.”  “Oh, yeah, the academy was having that fair today, something about a historian’s exhibit.  Your sister’s way of thinking isn’t even surprising anymore.”  “Oh, so the two of us are going to go see an exhibit?”  “Naw, she’ll tell you she has too much homework to worry about and probably just ask you to bring her teacher.”  “Except.. wasn’t her essay supposed to be done today?  Certainly that would mean she wouldn’t be busy so quickly, right?  Besides, she’s always seemed able to just find free time when she’s needed a chance to step away from her work.”  Kori could hear how tired Rosa even sounded in such statements, clearly they both just needed some rest.  It was more than a little perplexing how much Rosa just suddenly seemed so worn out there, but maybe research had just been hard today.  They had both invested the time into trying for practical applications with true chaos.. the results being more confusing than anything.  Even their limits in usage seemed to be flexible without cause, something that they found easy to do at one point later proving too taxing for another.  At least the matter of process was making it easy enough to adjust to such absolute randomness.

Such, though, wasn’t the only thing that had gone on.  Rosa quite frequently disappeared for what she called business meetings with Drew.  When pressed upon the idea, Rosa did admit that most of the time was spent making sure Drew had someone on hand who he could associate well with in all of the corporate struggles they were currently enduring.  Kori might have provided some stock of supplies, but Velvet cutting them off from civilization was simply making things hard for everyone.  Supposedly then, making sure they had proper leadership was supposed to keep them organized?  That might be a fair assessment at least, such was generally the same struggle on the other side, with the academy isolated by the foundry.  There at least, the academy had quite a stock supply to work with, the citadel providing even more.  Even so, things were clearly pretty rough at the academy, it was even starting to feel like Jhez was counting on her to be there for him.  Considering such thoughts, she settled down to her time-suspended sleep, ready to visit the other side once they had both woken up again.

“Great, Axln is here now.  Okay, so I’ve got these two tickets to this really sweet fair I think you’re going to love.  Sadly though, I’ve got a few assignments to still worry about from some of my other classes, so I won’t be able to go with you.  Lyun probably won’t enjoy this sort of thing, but it seems like my teacher is actually free today!  If you go ask him, he’ll probably be just as thrilled as you to go check things out.  Have fun now, and be sure to tell me all about it!”  Xwyhr quickly handed off the two tickets and made sure everyone was promptly moving along.  Axln accepted both tickets while Lyun felt the onset of a mild headache.  As expected, it didn’t take much for Jhez to be compelled to visit the fair either.  Once Axln and Jhez were gone, Lyun turned on Xwyhr to get an honest assessment of the situation.

“Homework.. right.  Need any help with this ‘homework’?”  “Actually, yes.  I got that essay done, and it seems like everything had been taken very well by relevant people in society.  Well, in the academy at least, of course nothing has been able to go beyond that.  There has been quite an outreach of speculation from such, but we’ve landed a bit of a roadblock.  Everything seems to honestly point to the foundation of the void’s resourcefulness on Ruixse, the same potential that made the entire kyuemu industry rather lucrative.  A lot of this involves the cycle and distribution of elements between solar seasons, but finalizes upon what made such a thing so rich.  That.. that would be the foundry’s greatest secret.  The academy is now certain that this path had never gotten conjecture before because the foundry had ensured it never would.”  “There is no chance the foundry would be willing to spill such a secret and endanger their profits just simply for the sake of historical research.”  “Yeah, that.  The foundry even really hates the academy right now, making that even.. less likely somehow.  The only chance we have in learning more is to outright take the foundry’s greatest protect-secret from them.. without their consent.”  Lyun could see where Xwyhr was going with this.  Someone would need to break into some of the most secure sections of the entire foundry and actually directly and explicitly steal such priceless information.  This wasn’t even a matter of just wandering into some underground vault to steal some boring shell of a rock, nor was it breaking into some floating legacy to take a book no one knew about.  This would be the foundry’s greatest asset, possibly the biggest heist historians had ever recorded.

Just as certainly, this would have definitely been recorded by history, Mheridz would be well aware that it was due to happen.

“I.. I.. I don’t know, this just seems impossible.  I’ve tried going up against the foundry before.. all my life even.  Going up against a group took everything we had.  Going up against the entire collective at once, I…”  “Girl, have you learned nothing?  You aren’t alone, this isn’t all on your shoulders.  Sure, you might have a pretty big role to play, but not everything.  The future of the world is everyone’s responsibility, right?  Never just one person’s, everyone’s.  If this is a number’s game, you have to keep in mind that you have Luna and the entire citadel.  Beyond that, you would be surprised how much the academy has taken an interest in your ersatzi friend.  There is already another division of the academy who has been providing even more ersatz stuff for the girl to work on.. possibly why she looked so overworked when we visited.  But beyond that, yes, don’t discount the entire academy as a whole.  The foundry has been treating us like garbage, there has been quite the growing resentment here.  Learning that such a vital part of global learning has been kept from the academy, why.. it has most of the departments absolutely seething.  If you could then organize all this ambition into one unified momentum…”  Lyun was still hesitant, but could see Xwyhr had a point.. again.  The girl was an outright social whirlpool, bringing people together instead of just doing things on her own.  Actually, that was even a resource Mheridz had too, a mass collection of people who had her back.  Such an idea might still not be enough, but such a collection of their own would at least be a prerequisite.

“I don’t know, let’s just talk about it during breakfast.”  “Oh, it’s okay, student budget, I don’t have breakfast very often.”  “Don’t worry, my treat.  I owe you anyway, something about losing a bet.”  “Oh my!  Girl, this I have to hear about!”  Lyun brought Xwyhr to the food market, not even paying attention to the food Xwyhr recommended.  Even as the two ate and talked, Lyun was more distracted by this sudden involvement of the foundry.  The more she thought about it, the more it simply continued to worry her.  More than just having to account for her own success, this would make her responsible for any mistakes that would impact anyone involved.  Thinking about it that way, everything actually felt like it was even worse than she had originally anticipated.  However, the entire time she was worried, Xwyhr just sat there supportively smiling with the occasional giggle at matters of discussion.  The result left Lyun still feeling concerned, but not actually as stressed as she would have expected of herself.  Such continued right up until they finished eating and found the need to move on.  Xwyhr, of course, hadn’t actually been lying about having homework to do, she just hadn’t been inspired to look into such stuff right away.  Not having done any homework by the time Axln finished her outing could very well come back to bite her eventually.  As such, Lyun quickly found herself suddenly left on her own once again.

Alone had actually been a norm for Lyun for quite a long time by now, ever since achieving her own independence.  Sure, Yhzia had been around occasionally, her best friend through her entire life, but even Yhzia slipped out frequently to do stuff on her own, leaving Lyun to her own devices.  Starting a workshop had just been her own thing.  Even so, her greatest obstacle to success had always been the foundry putting a stranglehold on her resources.  The foundry’s products were thus always the best because they were the only ones who could finance a product of enough quality.  After all, with how rare kyuemu shards are during a noctal, they were the only ones who could provide a seemingly endless supply of the stuff, the greatest source of their fiscal might.  Such was exactly what had always held her back too, never having a supply of the stuff, since she certainly couldn’t make her own shards.

At least, not back then.

The sudden revelation was startling, that she held a financial vice grip that exceeded even the foundry.  Using science, she could convert any quality of the ashen wastes into actual shards.  More incredible, the ashen wastes were filled with ashen as fine as sand, the most compact shard imaginable, which could be seated into any instrument.  Additionally, if she completely ionized such a thing as far as possible, draining it of every last drop, it would be the purest product imaginable.  Collecting more than a small sample of the stuff, she could create an almost industrial capacity that would resound in the fiscal community.  However.. she wouldn’t have the time to make the most of it, such a thing would demand far too much of her presence.  She could sell it to a business, but that would put power in the hands of another, which could be its own problem if it was someone she didn’t trust.  However, this would also be a direct ticket into some of the depths of the foundry’s greatest closed doors.  Being rich like that would set her into a seat of influence, making the whole operation a slight bit less impossible.

Xwyhr was still correct, there was no way she could achieve this alone.  She could store her work on the citadel, but she needed a business liaison for all of the transactions.  The academy wouldn’t work for that either, as that was too expansive of a business.  Ezhyrae’s little company on the other hand, that might itself actually work.  Having several ersatz for transactions would even make such stuff a whole lot easier to process.  This in turn would get them enough details on where they needed to go.  Additionally, having Ezhyrae a third party, their own success or failure wouldn’t even jeopardize such a fiscal connection, letting them possibly reuse such in the future.  They could possibly engineer a ruse too, with the academy’s help, giving an opening to where they needed to go.  Certainly, Mheridz wouldn’t fall for it, but there would be no way she could prove a case to the rest of the foundry.  Render the entire competition into a counterplay, counter finances with finances, influence with influence, and numbers with numbers.. that would thin Mheridz’s options to something far more manageable.  Mheridz might have a lot of counterplay against both of them, but she still wouldn’t have any counter to the newest secret their aspect of chaos held.

Meanwhile, Lyun knew this wasn’t the time to start working on her side of the plan, she herself couldn’t do anything right now.  Converting ashen would require applying a scientific shift, which would very certainly have an impact on Axln’s day at the fair.  Destabilizing instruments with science might even have a few very unfortunate results.  If she could do nothing for herself, then she would start her plan off by working with others.  Her foremost idea was checking with Ezhyrae and seeing if the girl had a problem with becoming rich and popular all of a sudden.  Maybe she could even request ersatz help getting a bunch of ashen dust brought to the citadel.  Luna would need to be properly informed as well, but didn’t seem to be the type to complain to anything she would ever request.

「Do you want Axln to also be informed about your plan?」Oh, what?  Ah, that would be her feeling of chaos then, trying to communicate with her.  Except for the fact that it felt like she just knew such messages, it was almost in it’s own way akin to how Holi worked in her ears.  Even easier was how her replies were equally as unexpressed as her chaos had been.  Axln should probably know about this stuff, but only after her outing with Jhez was concluded.  It wouldn’t be right to interrupt their time with such material, it would ruin the entire occasion.  「Very well, your principled approach will be accounted for.  This should be quite interesting regardless.」  Fortunately, that would even address Axln’s inclusion into matters, having things not kept from her.  With such a concern resolved, Lyun made her way back towards Ezhyrae’s place, going over all of the details again in her mind.  With luck, Ezhyrae might be in a better mindset to accept such an idea compared to the last time she had dropped by.

Axln walked away from the last exhibit of the fair, feeling very refreshed by the experience at least.  It had actually been a lot of fun going over the various aspects of cultural history the people on this side had experienced, especially since arriving on this specific planet.  The noctal and diatal flow of time really did cause a lot of notable cultural shifts through the ages, with society in a rush to secure elemental energy in time for the decline, but then having to endure a period where a wisp of elemental could ignite like dry kindling.  The contrast to simply enduring a natural process of going from cold to warm and back again felt a lot less developed in comparison.  The fact that the people of this planet generally got along far better was quite refreshing as well.  Notably, she had actually enjoyed the whole experience with her current company, serving very well to take her mind off of other troubles that had been haunting her of late.

「Lyun has a message for you now, an effective account of what she’s been up to.  She’s tracked down some kind of principled secret that is integral to the same history you had just reviewed.  The secret is currently in the hands of those she calls the foundry, requiring a dramatic course of action to properly address.  Her current plan is to invest into influences that could manipulate the will of such a group, what she calls a fiscal plan.  The direct principled awareness might make more sense to your principled mind, do you want such information?」 Wait, Lyun has been…  Of course Axln wanted to actually understand more, this sounded very serious.  In a flicker of what felt like a pool, Axln felt the knowledge of Lyun’s plan as if it had been momentarily projected over their previous pools, an act which still felt mildly confusing.. but Axln did manage to sort everything out.  She did however go more and more pale the more she managed to sort out in her mind.  This was no simple heist, this was a seriously big deal, and Mheridz was absolutely certain to be involved.  Her own daughter.. that was certainly going to make for a strange confrontation the next time she found Mheridz.

“Is something the matter?”  “Oh, just reflecting upon something I had learned before.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t affect you.  However, it seems what Lyun figured out might be something more interesting to you.  It involves Xwyhr’s essay.”  “Ah, yeah, that was a very interesting essay, too.  Several of the other teachers are all talking about it, considering its potential historical relevance.  Did you get to read it?”  “No, I only just learned what it was even about.  That part about the foundry being related.. seems Lyun is working headlong towards that.  Her idea to break into the foundry with enough fiscal influence.. that’s even how Mheridz had made her way in originally.”  “That’s nothing as easy as it sounds, not even the entire academy has enough fiscal influence to pull that off.”  “Maybe not, but the academy can’t just create qeld from nothing.  Lyun’s plan involves creating enough top-quality fine kyuemu to potentially fill the citadel.”  Jhez took his turn going pale, outright staring at Axln.  That much kyuemu didn’t even exist anywhere within current civilization.  Axln was well aware that such a quality would have been unheard of too, having at least worked with the stuff enough to know how much purity would be filled into such a thing.. and how difficult it was to get a usable piece so small.  She hadn’t exactly invested much knowledge into why smaller pieces were so unstable, but she had personal knowledge of the value of microscopic power sources over larger varieties.  Such dust wasn’t exactly microscopic, but it was considerably smaller than the smallest sample she had ever seen in use.

“She actually generally has everything taken care of fiscally, she just needs to put in the effort to make her plan happen.  However, just having all of that kyuemu won’t be enough, we need to also get the foundry’s attention too.  Such would remain difficult when we can’t even access their areas of society without things going wrong.”  “You could always consider going under-cover, especially considering that shadow gift you’ve developed.”  “Probably wouldn’t be enough, there is someone who would just sense it’s just really us there, predicting our arrival before it happened.  Even avoiding that, getting the foundry’s attention.. in a respectful way.. isn’t some easy feat.”  “Hey, I wouldn’t underestimate your own ability.  Remember two girls walking into a mall, using their research in an impressive display of support and encouragement?  Drawing eyes from a crowd as you saved someone from a toppling shelf, as I recall.  I’m all too convinced that you could do this, you just need to figure out something that would draw more than enough attention.”  Axln could feel herself going slightly scarlet at Jhez’s compliment, not having ritualistically thought she could be considered so positively in society.  Conduits generally never would.. but she wasn’t exactly a conduit here.

Even so, she didn’t exactly have any good ideas for what would establish such a goal, possibly considering her lack of experience in the field of societal charisma.  Even by the time the two of them parted ways, she still had no answer.  This was simply something she would need a lot more time to investigate a decent enough solution.  Such did leave her feeling a bit at a loss though, having simply enjoyed herself while Lyun got some real high quality work done.  Lyun however wasn’t anywhere to be found, having still been at the citadel at the time when she finally settled into scientific principles for work, leaving Axln to her own devices back at the academy as she tried to get out of everyone’s way.. so that none of the instruments present were affected.  With nothing better to do, Axln simply went off to the archive’s regular library to see what else she could learn or discover while she waited.  This process consumed her entire dawn, with only short occasional breaks to split up the entire period.  Axln knew that her job was to at least figure out her own side of the plan, but she still couldn’t make any progress with that either.

Eventually, the two of them opted for a longer break, another round of time suspended slumber.  Lyun was outright exhausted by this point, but Axln was instead feeling considerably restless.

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FV – Chapter 47

Chronological Intersection

Kori took account of her circumstances, going over all of the options still available to her.  Her situation was bleak, but it wasn’t as if she couldn’t do anything.

She already had two very obvious escape routes, although both of them would involve giving up on the final box.  First, she could go back in time and revise her trip so that she only took what she needed in the time she would have before getting caught.  Of course, the problem there would be in predicting what else might go wrong if she went back in time, let alone the growing pretense of guilt she would feel about giving up on a timeline like that.  The other solution would be to simply switch to the other side, which would not only leave the box there at the expense of HT.. it would also leave her at the mercy of whatever predictions waited for her on that side too.  Running just left far too much uncertainty.. uncertainty she was starting to feel in growing quantities, such as with worries if everything was alright.  Ah, that would be Rosa, being concerned because of the whole time stop thing.. a measure that Kori had needed to avoid aerospace security while trying to recover the supplies Sophie was trying to get shipped in.  Rosa had apparently gotten Holi’s message too, but hadn’t been aware that things would involve aerospace security.  Of course, things had gotten much worse than that.

“So, now would be a good time to just surrender, at least one way or another.  I mean, if you’re going to use your time stuff anyway, might as well just hand that over so that we could make some proper use of it.”  “Timestopping is one thing, but I think I’m good on this timeline, thanks.”  “Well, then I might recommend the other way of surrendering then, as things are about to get a  whole lot worse for you.  Trespassing is going to come with some hefty punishments, and this time I’ll be able to have you detained without having to worry about taking care of everything on my own.  Aerospace security has you surrounded, and I can at least make sure you’re not going anywhere while time is frozen.  None of your other quirks work very well in this state anyway.”  Velvet was obviously the key here in making sure Kori couldn’t just walk away in a timestopped state.  Wait, Velvet was there too?  Yes, unfortunately Velvet had apparently managed to outwit Kori again, leaving her effectively pinned in the instance of time.  Additionally, having pooled thoughts was unfortunately just making it harder for Kori to actually figure out how to deal with the situation, so Rosa would have to go for now.  Apparently, Rosa would be using the same suspended opportunity to ponder her own ideas, but was willing to do so without pooling thoughts anymore.

“Being so prepared, I’m guessing this wasn’t new to your future.”  “I was well aware that Rosa was going to innovate lightspeed technology, though it’s surprising she pulled it off this quickly.  Such would be the reason you managed to escape with what I can assume would have been at least one or two of your packages already.”  “True, I guess that works in your favour, we won’t need to borrow any more of your trashy bikes anymore.  Actually, wait, you probably brought one here, maybe I should borrow it.”  “Don’t be a fool, you know such things are beyond your grasp right now.  If your plans are to have nanites hijack it, you’ll find that the area is currently shielded against nanites.  If your plans are to hijack anything either for yourself, you’ll find that there are currently no active connections available, even if you had Holi’s help.  Your technology is sealed from you right now.”  Kori was starting to feel ripped off by how much Velvet knew.  It was like they could make all the progress in the world, and their enemy would already be ready for it.  Oh, but maybe there were still options, Kori would just need to ask Rosa for a favour.

“… No, you’re not going to pull off anything with gravitation elementals either.  You forget that I was even there to see that, I can already predict where such research had taken you.  You would have gone and done plenty of research related to dark elemental junk as a result, learning plenty in the process.  This is why it’s fortunate I have the place also elementally shielded too, something which won’t even annoy the average person because no one here even knows what that involves.  Meanwhile, if we’re going to play with instruments, I’ve got a few things just waiting for the time to use them.  Like I said, you don’t have any options anymore, just come quietly so that there is no risk of you getting hurt.”  “Wow, I’m touched, you’re worried I’m going to get hurt.  Holy hell, that’s rich.  Endless threats, get thrown through hell, but somehow needing medical kits is pushing things too far?  Maybe because we don’t have many medical kits, maybe because some idiot is making sure we have absolutely nothing.  And now that I come to pick up supplies, you’re throwing the biggest fit imaginable.. but don’t want me getting hurt?”  Velvet stepped backwards as Kori advanced threateningly in turn.  With all consideration, if Velvet wasn’t willing to assert harm.. then how exactly did she hope to enforce anything in a one to one confrontation with Kori.

Kori knew aerospace medics were supposed to be really good, especially for their executive staff, there was nothing dissuading her from giving Velvet more than a few injuries.  This whole situation was leaving her very uncomfortable, and wasn’t even really inspiring her to be nice.  In all accounts, if Velvet was knocked unconscious.. that wouldn’t even be Kori’s problem.  Sure, more permanent injuries could have some catastrophic problems when considering defenses against DMA threats, but there was plenty of opportunity before that extreme was reached.  Kori even lunged forward with a cybernetic punch, Velvet reacting in a surge of fear with a flurry of motion.  Kori wasn’t even sure what had happened, she was just on the ground with a mild concussion.  So.. what had happened to not getting hurt?

“Your resolve there certainly didn’t last long.  Back you into a corner, make you panic, and you lash out with calculated intensity almost by instinct.  Actually.. a lot like Rosa.  Hold on, you two actually do have a surprising number of personality quirks in common, like you’re yet another sister for the girl.  Wait, but don’t you come from the future.  Couldn’t that make you more her…”  “So your annoying deductive skills were even this incredible at this age.  This would probably be why Kori told me to do everything to avoid being predictable.”  “Oh, you mean the future me.  Yeah, that’s probably not a bad idea, really.  I’m really good at deducing patterns.  The fact you got flustered there even proves that I’m on to something, too.”  “Damn it, yes, you’re right.  I’m Rosa’s daughter, or I will be.  The Rosa from my time at least was my mother.  The one here hasn’t exactly reached the point of being ready for motherhood yet.”  Kori was stunned at the implications of Velvet’s statement at the very least.  Kori might have managed to figure it out, but the meaning behind such a statement was still substantial.  Rosa would one day get so comfortable on this planet so as to actually start a family here.  That.. that really was saying something.

“Surprising that Rosa actually manages to get comfortable enough here to actually have a child, that’s actually mind blowing.  Then again, if you’re the spoiled brat which she gets left with in the future, clearly I’m going to have to put a lot more work into making sure her kid doesn’t become such a hopeless idiot.”  “Oh, well, you were quite the handful to look up to in my own timeline anyway, I was just always thankful that you already had your own concerns to worry about.”  “I did?  Weird…”  “… Really?  You figure me out but you can’t even place your own daughter?  No wonder Mary always seemed so harsh and unforgiving.”  “The hell!  Mheridz is…  Shit, that actually makes too much sense, thinking about it carefully.  So Rosa gets comfortable here, and I somehow start fitting in really well over there.. and we both have brats that keep doing really stupid stuff.  Note to self, I suck at parenting, learn to do better.”  Kori still couldn’t even imagine herself as a mother, not yet at least, but Velvet’s point was still a little too difficult to refute.  Any past encounters with Mheridz had felt like she was going up against herself, just one that was capable of predicting the future.. and potentially a lot more grim and ruthless.  Certainly, if Kori really did end up with such a result of motherhood one day.. she had seriously screwed up.

“Actually, you’re forgetting the harsh conditions we grew up in.  Remember, these stupid DMAs just get worse, right up to the time we’re finally born.  Both of us have the most miserable childhoods as a result, growing up in civilizations that are falling apart, all of us basically struggling to even survive.  Meanwhile, the two children of great heroes are left to sit around and watch as their parents desperately hop between worlds trying to save both.  It really becomes a huge deal to live up to, makes for some of the worst childhood imaginable.. and even adult life hasn’t exactly been the greatest either.  At least you finally gave in to letting us learn to fight for ourselves, eventually.  Was an overwhelming study, learning everything in such conditions, but…”  “Wait, so the reason why you’re actually immune to stopped time is because…”  “Yeah, there may have been a few split hairs back then, but there was no other way to hide the details.  The so-called traces of chaos your kids inherit, as we’ve taken to calling it, were basically genetic, as far as anything matters.  Really doesn’t compare at all to what our parents could do, but it’s still enough to make a difference.  I learned you were personally not impressed to learn that you couldn’t get an advantage in parenting young kids by stopping time.”  “I’m not surprised.”  Velvet really was pouring on the future details pretty hard at this point, to Kori’s benefit.  Very likely, most of this was simply because keeping those particular points secret weren’t exactly beneficial anymore, not with the root idea known.  Velvet was just basically venting frustration at this point.

“Quite honestly, the whole idea is to not only remove all of this burden from our parents, but to also turn things back enough so that the two of us who result from a decent timeline actually get a decent chance at a decent life.  It’s honestly crazy that, right now, we have to watch our parents be absolute children and not accept reality the way it is.  Once we’re actually born in this timeline, everything is going to stabilize by wiping our current selves from the timeline, so you would have to go through the same process all over again until the next version of us ends up old enough to clean up this mess for once.  There is no point in all of that wasted effort, just give us the chance to deal with this bloody mess already!”  There goes Velvet’s patience again, bringing everything back to that one original idea.  Oh well, visiting Velvet seemed to be a great way to discover new secrets of the future, but right now maybe Kori would have to be more worried about the present.  Even so, this was still too much for her to deal with on her own, and she hadn’t garnished any information that would prove a useful resource in escaping her circumstances.  It mostly just sucked that Velvet knew everything about them, giving her a counter to absolutely anything they could do.

「Except there was something that principled did not know about, and had no control over.」 Hold on, that would be one of those chaotic ideas.. but Kori didn’t exactly feel pooled.  Her ideas felt distinct enough, it wasn’t as confusing as normal.  It actually felt like she just knew a message there.  「Working as an intermediary seems to address the confusion your own chaos creates, though you both need to be a lot more expressive through this medium.  No wonder you confuse each other, when you can’t even direct your own chaos appropriately.」Kori could tell this was probably an irrational expectation of what would basically be principled chaos, expecting them to control such things very well was just unreasonable.  「So you feel that a descendant could do any better, especially one who is without a being of chaos?  Rosa confirmed that this individual isn’t even aware of the concept of true chaos, much like the original chaos being fully ignorant.  It might be appropriate to demonstrate such to both sets of kin then, to reveal the potency that is true chaos.」Wait.. Velvet.. doesn’t know about that?  This might actually be her only advantage then.

Kori thus then figured out why Rosa might have been a bit eager to investigate such potential a lot more indepthly.  If Velvet did not know about it.. then it was a difference between this timeline and the one their daughters came from.  That was alone significant, well beyond comparison.  It was thus unfortunate that Kori herself hadn’t actually invested much effort into the project, not wanting to count on something with erratic limitations.  To her, through her experience manipulating time, it just felt like there would be too much of a price to such chaotic opportunities.  However, at this point, everything else had betrayed her because of how it all existed in the future.  This true chaos stuff might be completely unpredictable.. but that might actually be its greatest asset.  Her chaos could shape it into a stable and usable form, stuff that appealed with and directed to principled ideas.. in the most random of ways.  However, doing so would consume some of her chaotic.. stuff.  She only had so much of it, and freezing time was already eating away at her stock.

“Sometimes, you take an eternity to finally decide on things.”  “Hey, it hasn’t even been a second, stop being so impatient.”  “You stopped time, idiot, that’s sort of how that works.  Oh well, there was always a limit to how much you two could do this sort of stuff.  If you’re just going to exhaust yourself until you just collapse, that might actually make things pretty easy.”  “Exhausting!  Velvet, that’s genius!  Absolutely perfect!  I’ve needed a chance to repay you for that one.”  “Huh?”  Velvet was simply left still confused while Kori acted.  She had a plan.. and it seemed like chaos revelled in the opportunity her idea presented.  A green sphere formed in her left hand, the dense concentration of altered air shifting subtly in the process.   Then, without warning, she restored time as her chaotic arm crushed the green sphere.  The backlash of pressure expanded wildly as the sphere imploded, gasses escaping in notably random directions.  Even being random, that seemed to at least include the locations of every single aerospace security guard, even Velvet.. and excluded Kori herself.  Kori then picked up her box again as the sleeping gasses faded, walking up to the slumbering Velvet.

“Now it’s your turn to fall for a sleeping gas trap.  I hope you also feel like an idiot when you wake up, questioning what in the hell just happened.  Don’t worry, warehouse staff will probably find you soon enough.. will probably treat you way better than you treated us too.  I must thank you though, for offering this timeline its second chance.  I expect your presence here had shifted things ever so slightly, like going back in time seems to always do, giving us the opportunity to make a difference.  I think I’m completely convinced, we don’t need another timeline to fix the problems your future had previously held, this one is good enough.  We just need to not find a new way to screw up instead, which would be a lot easier if you were a lot more cooperative.  Thanks for the talk though, it was very informative.”  Kori snickered as she walked away from the area, her arm covering most of the burden in the process.  Once far away enough she couldn’t hear Velvet snoring anymore, Kori took accounts of what remained of her situation.  She still needed a way out, her ionic veil having been completely drained when exposed to whatever Velvet had put it through.  She had the box, but was still without a ticket out of here.

「Rosa is wondering if everything is alright now.」Oh mostly.  Velvet was taken care of, but she didn’t have enough ionic drive to actually make a return trip, so.. this was going to be a very disappointing walk home.  「Rosa appears to be offering to turn things around for you, recommending that you make use of the principles of your spent resource to shape your way.」 Sometimes, the chaotic perspective of things was more confusing than anything else.  「You take the ‘elemental’ concentration of the missing ‘ions’ and furnish ‘darkness’ from it.  Is that any better?」 Wait, elemental?  So Rosa was offering to switch over to elementals instead.  Of course, a gravitation well would give her a very quick ride home, it might not be such a bad idea.  She was even a distance from whatever elemental shielding Velvet might have set up, so that would really be an option once again.  She wasn’t aware of this whole exchange between ions and elements though, but it sounded like Rosa claimed her drained ions implied she was left with a high supply of elementals.  That was great news, the only remaining concern was how much chaos she would leave in her wake if she dashed through the city making devices blink off as they failed under elemental principles.  Oh well, she was kinda just embodied chaos anyway, this sort of thing maybe just sort of happened.  She should probably at least be nice with the barrier though, even if the thing could endure the slight ripple, it would still remain a short enough walk.. not a big problem.

With that, Kori quickly returned to HT in a veil of darkness, Tristine falling over as gravity betrayed her.  Tristine herself was pretty shocked, the ionic specialist knowing that it’s scientifically impossible to radiate darkness.  Her tools however weren’t working.. again.. exactly like how things had been when she was responsible for helping Kori recover earlier.   Fortunately, such did not last very long, the darkness fading as Tristine’s tools came back to life.  It was like she was experiencing a fairy tale for herself, a slight fragment of what Kori would be going through all the time in that other world.  Yeah, no, she still liked having reliable science at her beck and call.  Her thoughts directed as such, Tristine invested her full attention to the stock Kori had managed to recover so easily.  In her eagerness to resume work, she grabbed a handful of parts she really needed and ran off, missing Kori effectively falling over to the ground.  Sustaining a timestop, trying to wield unpracticed chaos so dramatically.. yeah, she was feeling pretty drained right now.  She expected even Rosa wasn’t even feeling so good right now either, but Kori was also feeling drained by the stress of her circumstances.  Everything had really been.. too much.

Clearly, the two of them would need to look into a few of these matters with at least a degree of urgency.  Their greatest hope in dealing with either daughter would require them to harness true chaos, so maybe there was grounds enough to focus upon that for a while after all.

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