Episode 72

Gathered around the dining room table, Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia listen to Aristespha's aetherphone on the tabletop. From the other side of the call, Nash sighs out with a mix of frustration and fatigue. "So... That's the summary. Noxian- Or Isaac- Or whatever you want to call him, showed up and took something. I wish I knew more than that. And, I REALLY want to know WHAT he took. But... I've been dealing with the fallout of everything else since yesterday."

Closing her violet eyes tightly, Aristespha rubs the temples of her head, gritting her teeth. "Gods almighty. How are the higher ups dealing with this news?"

Nash pushes out a halfhearted laugh through the phone and groans out his annoyance. "Well... Running around with their heads on fire, but with FAR less direction. No one these days really has the temperament and experience to handle something like... THIS. A minor scandal or two, maybe even a major one. But... This is beyond their ability."

He sniffs in a long breath and loudly grumbles. "SO... For better or worse, all the major players this side of the continent have been informed and brought in."

With an inquisitive furrow of his brow, Sebastian leans his ghostly visage over, drifting closer to the aetherphone. "Major players? Like, who exactly?"

A chair squeaks out from the other side of the call, and Nash relays, with apprehension growing in his tone. "Well, the Big Ones. Let's see... You got the Greater Azure Alliance, of course. Appaland has been called in. Even the Coalition Of Independent Lands to the north, and Perimeter Defense Force to the south. To say the least, it's gotten... Interesting?"

Cideeda raps her claw tips on the wooden dining room table top, furrowing her light brown brow in thought, and directs her curious voice towards the aetherphone. "Anything useful turn up on the camera footage from anywhere else in the area?"

Nash hums in thought and sighs apologetically over the speakerphone. "Well, unfortunately, nothing really that useful despite what we've tried. We were able to track him from when he arrived on the campus and when he left."

With hints of aggravation sneaking out, he huffs. "The problem is that he walked onto the campus from the surrounding neighborhoods. HELL. He even entered and left from two different points, through older sections of campus that haven't been updated in a long time. So, we're trying to locate any other cameras from homes and businesses to see if we can figure out where he went. But, it seems like he picked the perfect spots to appear and disappear. Least amount of surveillance cover."

A hopeful tinge colors Nash's voice, and his intrigue piques. "But... We did notice him use an aetherphone. I've already pestered a few people I know in the network companies, and they're combing through the data."

With some disappointment weighing on his tone, he explains the further. "Unfortunately... Officially, they can only release basic information at the moment, until they get an official court order or warrant to be able to dig further."

A sly chuckle slips out of him. "Unofficially, they let me know they found two strange outliers mixed in with the usual devices detected. Oddly, the last time those devices checked in recently, they were out west almost to Radotahin."

Blinking confused, Dretphi cocks her head to the side, pondering out loud. "Do not know what could be in Radotahin. Two devices? An accomplice?"

Sotalia crosses her arms, sneering her upper lip, and grumbles out her growing irritation. "Gods damn it. Not only did he steal something that was important enough to him, he's ditched the area AND has someone working with him?!"

Turning her head to the side, she growls out, stretching her neck tensely. "Fuck! How are we ever going to find him at this point?!"

Nash's voice rises up from the aetherphone, and he explains with a soothing cadence. "Hold up. Those techs warned me that those devices were really suspicious. You see, they've shown up in other odd places before, based on their network access history. So, I wouldn't read much into where those things are now."

With an audible shrug of fabric, he sighs. "At this point, this is all random bits of the info. So, I won't have anything too concrete until the legal paperwork starts landing on the right desks. To say the least, it's going to be crazy for the next week. But, I'll get you all the information and data I can manage."

Drawing in a long breath, Nash firmly states. "Just remember, THE hornet's nest just got drop kicked into our party. SOON, the GAA, Appaland, COIL, and PDF investigators will be everywhere."

A sly hint emerges in his tone, and he chuckles hopefully from the other side of the call, his chair rocking back with a slight metal groan. "This could work out for you all pretty soon. I get the distinct feeling any clearance you need to do your work will be a lot easier to get, and you probably will be hearing from a GAA representative in the area."

Twisting his mouth contemplatively, Bach internally deliberates and shrugs his shoulders. "I guess that's one good thing to come out of this. I mean, it helps if you have updated paperwork to show people when you want to get into places. Maybe even an official phone number to call to verify us."

Aristespha nods slowly and reopens her eyes with a calming sigh. "Very true. As much clout as the Grand Library has, it would still be quite beneficial to have something local officials can immediately recognize and respect."

Cideeda rolls her emerald green eyes with a begrudging nod. Sotalia tosses back her fiery orange, wavy hair over her shoulder, brushing the stray hairs over her swept back horns with a mumble. "Might be useful... IF he hasn't escaped to the west."

A long silent pause fills the room, some background chatter leaking from Nash's side of the call. He returns his attention to the conversation, groaning. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I just got a warning from my graduate students that another horde of officials are making their rounds. Guess I'll need to lead them around to the scene and hand them copies of all the evidence. I'll talk to you all as soon as I can."

Aristespha manages an appreciative smile and directs a gracious voice to her phone. "Thank you, Nash. Please. Keep us informed."

Tapping the end call button on the aetherphone screen, Aristespha sinks back into her dining table chair and tilts her head of long, silvery blue hair over the back. A few tense moments later, Sotalia's ire peaks, and she firmly grabs her hips, gritting her teeth. "GODS DAMN IT! While we were digging through the places Noxian must have dismissed as useless, he went and got something that was of some real importance. AND LEFT WITH IT!"

Her body language tenses, and she spins away from the table, walking irritably away tightly grasping her horns. "FUCK! GODS FUCKING DAMN IT!"

Signs of dismay and discomfort form in the team. Sebastian straightens his posture, narrows his gaze in thought, and projects a resolute declaration. "He has NOT gone far. And, I DON'T think he's done with this area yet."

Sotalia pauses a moment and glances over her shoulder back towards the table with a trace of hope in her voice. "Why do you think that?"

Crossing his arms, Sebastian searches his thoughts and twists his mouth, forming his theory out loud. "I don't see why Noxian would head off to Radotahin so suddenly. Can't dismiss the possibility, BUT... That doesn't fit what he's been doing. And, it doesn't feel like those devices are exactly trustworthy."

Cideeda's furry ears perk up, and she tilts her head to the side with a thoughtful, sly smirk. "YEAH... Nash said those techs have seen those devices pop up before. They could be second hand, or bought from the..."

She lifts up her eyebrows. "Usual Places."

Nodding in agreement, Dretphi searches her thoughts and idly grips the back of the chair she stands behind. "Noxian has not worked with others before. Do not think he would leave with someone else now. Not to an area he has never been to."

Bach grimaces, darting his blue eyes around his mind, and slowly shakes his head. "We did find at least two places he might be interested in. I mean, I don't think he'd just completely abandon those easy pickings... yet. Even if he did wander off, I still think might visit those spots. Why not before you head out that far?"

He glances over to Aristespha quizzically. "Are any of the locations on that list out west?"

Pondering to herself a moment, Aristespha shakes her head. "No. From what I have determined from the data, the research station seemed to have had a limited detection range. It certainly did not show results that far away."

A proud grin appears on Sebastian's ghostly visage, and he nods happily to the team. "Exactly. As careful as he was for the most part, I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled a trick or two to mislead and cover up things."

Exhaling out her fading frustration, Sotalia steps back up to the table and tugs at the corner of her mouth. "Gods, I hope that's the case. Because I don't know what to do otherwise. Still..."

She narrows her golden eyes and slides a suspecting gaze over towards the team. "Now, I'm wondering who he was talking to? Someone on the inside? Someone he knows from the past? I wonder if they can figure who and where the other caller was during the heist?"

Resting her head upon her folded ivory hands, Aristespha furrows her brow, staring internally, and thinks out loud. "The Grand Library is his old home. I would not be surprised if there was someone helping him out with a place to stay for the time being. Possibly he is trying old contacts for information? Calling up old friends?"

She frowns briefly and sighs. "I just don't know. I hope it would not be someone directly helping him do all this."

Sotalia musters a hopeful smirk, resting a hand on her hip, and taps her long, black nails on a chair back. "Well, I DO hope he does stop for a visit. Would hate for all our efforts to go to waste."

Bach shrugs his shoulders, stretching out his back. "I don't think it was a waste regardless. We still got some useful data for that list to figure out what those other numbers meant."

Aristespha smiles and nods in agreement. "Yes. Seeing what was to be found and correlating those sites on the list has helped decipher some of the significance."

Cideeda's fluffy tail wags, and she grins toothily to the team. "Well, I hope something trips one of the traps. Otherwise, we'll need to sneak and break in again to get everything back before someone else discovers all of it."

Blinking at the realization, Sebastian grimaces with a twist of his mouth. "Yeah... Then, we'd have to explain TWO incidents worth of breaking a few laws."

Aristespha grits her teeth briefly and bites her lower lip uneasily. "Let us hope we do get some broader investigative authorizations from the GAA, Sebastian."

---

A dim red glow illuminates the horizon against the encroaching night sky, and a few sparse clouds barely drift along overhead. Standing, Isaac wanders off in thought, the gentle breeze swaying wisps of his white hair. With a relaxed sigh, he narrows his gray eyed gaze out to the fading light and stretches out his thin, wiry frame. A house door leading into the garage opens, and Dr. Dawkins walks out with a thoughtful smirk towards Isaac. "Ah, yes. One of the reasons I've kept this house. Too good of a view."

Isaac glances over his shoulder with a smile and nods, resuming his stare out into the colorful distance. "I can't argue with that sentiment. I have had a wonderful time here."

Dr. Dawkins steps next to Isaac and lifts his green eyes up to the scenic night sky, chuckling to himself. "I really do wish the context surrounding your stay was... Different. Just know, you are more than welcome to stay as long as you like."

Perking an eyebrow, he parts an eager smirk. "But, I do understand the hunt. And, that itching desire to venture toward the next step of your quest."

He hands over a thick portfolio binder, brimming with papers and other documents, into Isaac's hands, and shines a bold grin. "I made sure to make copies of all my old notes and maps relating to getting to, from, and around Perimeter and the Weird Zone. I am quite certain you'll find something of use in there."

Isaac shifts his focus down towards the collection of documents in his hands, opens up the leather folder, and briefly studies the contents. He swells with appreciation and bows slightly, honoring Dr. Dawkins. "Thank you... So much. I'll definitely take time when I stop to go over them thoroughly."

With a smile, Dr. Dawkins nods. "There's a list of my previous contacts in the area for whatever tasks you might need help with. But, before you go too far, I would strongly recommend looking over the off-the-record routes for getting to Perimeter. With good weather, you should be able to travel most of them."

He examines Isaac's sedan, narrowing a scrutinizing stare, and side eyes Isaac. "But... You might want to... Change out vehicles once you get to Perimeter."

Meeting Dr. Dawkins's subtly insisting glance, Isaac nods understandingly, grimacing into similar sentiments. "Yes. I figured it might be time, since I'll be going to less accessible places."

With a humored smirk, he perks an inquisitive eyebrow at Dr. Dawkins. "Am I correct to assume that there's a recommended contact for such a transaction?"

Chuckling with a slight grin, Dr. Dawkins narrows his green eyed gaze and nods slowly. "Of course. A few actually. It always threw off artifact thieves when you left in different vehicles than what you arrived in. They eventually figured it out, but it always bought us a day or two down the road before we had to worry about them."

Isaac laughs, shaking his head in brief disbelief, and gazes at Dr. Dawkins. "I feel I have only gotten to experience the smallest sampling of what you are capable of, Dr. Dawkins."

Straightening his posture with a proud smile, Dr. Dawkins holds his hands behind his back and shrugs his shoulders innocently. "Maybe so. By the way, call me Emanuel. You WERE my student and employee. My friends... Call me Emanuel."

A bit of surprise swells in Isaac, and he gazes at Emanuel, smiling happily. "I will... Emanuel. Gods. THAT is going to take some getting used to it."

Laughing heartily, Emanuel rests his hand on Isaac's shoulder and shakes his head with a grin. "You'll have plenty of time to get used to it when you call and message me. Remember to use the new aetherphones."

He pauses a moment and furrows his brow. "And, send anything... Interesting... That you are willing to part with back through one of the preferred package services on my list. Thankfully, most of them like money more than they like asking all those pesky questions."

Lifting an inquiring eyebrow at Emanuel, Isaac scratches the gray scruff on his chin thoughtfully and hums in thought. "I will do so. Unfortunately, it might be some time before I find anything worth the trouble. First, I need to finish checking a few sites in Amaranth Valley before I head down to Perimeter."

Emanuel concentrates a cautious gaze upon Isaac, twisting his mouth uneasily. "I would exercise caution there. You would not want to put yourself at risk, right now. Especially when a greater prize is possible elsewhere."

Nodding understandingly, Isaac mentally weighs the options, staring at the supplies filling the backseats of his sedan. "THAT is very true. But, I don't believe I'll run into too much trouble. The locations haven't garnered much attention lately, so I doubt anyone is putting forth any resources to guard them."

The summer wind breezes by. Crossing his arms contemplatively, Emanuel shrugs his shoulders with an examining gaze at Isaac. "Just exercise caution, regardless. Some of the worst surprises I've ever had to experience spawned from the most mundane of situations."

Isaac steps forward, turns around, and extends a hand to Emanuel with an appreciative smile. "I will. As much as I enjoy your company and generosity, I should be off now. Need to take advantage of the night to travel."

Emanuel firmly shakes Isaac's hand, nods thoughtfully, and sighs. "Indeed. I will try my damnedest to keep you updated on things here. Gods. I pray it remains quiet enough."

He pauses a moment in thought and smirks. "Good luck, Isaac. And whatever happens, my door is always open to you so long as I've got one to open. Always appreciate someone to share a drink with."

Isaac bows with a grateful smile to Emanuel. "Thank you Dr.-... Emanuel. Gods damn it. I'm going to have to practice."

Laughing loudly, Emanuel shakes his head and waves to the departing Isaac. He returns to the door in the garage leading to the rest of the house and watches Isaac entering his sedan. The vehicle starts, the lights turn on, and Isaac grants a final farewell. Rolling down the long driveway to the access road, he disappears out of sight down the sparsely lit roadway. Emanuel presses a button on a panel next to the doorway, and the garage door slowly closes.

---

A warm summer breeze blows through the open garage door of the ranch style house and circulates the air inside, traces of dust and debris swirling in the current upon the floor. Wearing her new bodysuit, Cideeda stands rigid in posture and waits. Finishing up the latest adjustments to the slip-on armor plating, Dretphi stands up fully and admires her handiwork. "Move around."

Cideeda steps forward carefully and purposefully, sensing every bit of her motions. She gets in the middle of the garage and flexes her arms out to their extremes. Twisting her flexible torso around with the rest of her body, she gracefully morphs between a series of contortionist maneuvers. Slowly widening her stance, she eases down into full side split with ease, twists her upper body around along with her arms, and arches herself backwards. Pulling her legs together in front of her and pointing her clawed toes, she folds herself forward and rests her head upon her shins with her furry ears flicking at her ankles.

Sitting back up with a long draw of breath, Cideeda smirks proudly, bringing her legs close and feet underneath herself. She tucks into a forward roll and springs herself up into the air, sticking the landing on her feet with her arms out for balance. Pivoting around from the threshold of the open garage door, she prances elegantly in exaggerated motions and flexibility showcasing poses with a prideful grin, stretching out. "Barely held me back."

Shifting her weight between her legs, she hops upon the balls of her feet and rolls her shoulders around. "Had to push against a little bit of resistance. But..."

She flashes a confident, toothy grin. "I'll manage."

Blinking out of his staring stupor, Bach snaps his focus back to the unfinished armor plate on his lap. He shuffles around his seat upon the floor, picks up the thin metal piece, and taps it on the ground. "Uh, yeah... All that might be easier after this latest incarnation of your armor enchantment."

He pushes the plating forth along the ground, and it slides across the floor in a gentle glide toward Cideeda's eager, awaiting clawed fingers. "Think I got it just right for what you need. Thinner and sleeker protective layers, with a very low friction coating."

With a firm grip, Cideeda plucks up the armor piece and studies it carefully, dragging her claws hard across the surface. Her fingers easily slip along the plating, and a faint golden glow fades from the path her fingertips pressed. An excited grin appears on her light brown face, and an accomplished glint sparkles in her emerald green eyes. "OH... I LOVE it when my designs become reality."

She smiles towards Bach with an intrigued lift of her eyebrow. "So, when can you update the new plating with the latest version?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Bach dons a nonchalant, easy-going smirk. "I mean, not too long. Maybe just a few tweaks that'll take a few minutes per plate."

Dretphi steps up behind Cideeda and presents a sleek, plated head guard to her. "Try it on. I believe the measurements are right."

Cideeda examines the piece of headgear. Apprehensive initially, she studies the construction and design. She swiftly dons the protection and cinches it into place. Her furry ears perk and flick freely through the crafted clearances on the sides. She taps her claws upon the plating on the forehead cover, faint traces of a magical barrier appearing. A satisfied, toothy grin appears, and she rests her gloved hands on her sides into a confident pose. "Pretty close. Nothing that little wearing in won't fix."

Cideeda's confidence wanes towards casual unease, and she watches Dretphi train her steely gray gaze upon her in a mix of awe and joy. Dretphi clasps her hands together with a slight bite of her lower lip in an overwhelming appreciation of her creation. "This is... Cute! May I take a picture? My mother will want to see this."

With a slight chuckle, Cideeda presents a smile with a pose, nodding calmly. "Oh. Sure. Go right ahead. I mean, you did make a lot of it. You should have a few pictures of it."

Dretphi searches for her phone nearby, and Cideeda glances over to Bach with an uncertain grimace. Darts his blue eyes to either side, Bach shrugs with his hands out to the side and smirks vaguely encouragingly in return. Dretphi takes pictures of Cideeda from different angles. Flexing his hands in a break from his enchantment work, Bach wanders his gaze around the garage. He notices the minigun from the large security droid on a workbench and points over to the weaponry. "Any progress on getting THAT working?"

Cideeda slides her attention over to the device, crosses her arms, and sighs with traces of frustration. "Unfortunately, not much. I just really need to sit down for a day and just tear into it without interruptions. BUT, we've been running around so much that I just haven't been able to set aside time just to do that..."

A guilty smirk graces, and she rolls her emerald green eyes with a shrug. "And... I've been a bit distracted with trying to figure out what I'm going to exactly do with all the golem parts I have."

Gripping her hips, she drums her fingers in sync with her thoughts, pondering out loud. "As much as I am learning about magic, those things are a bit... Large? And well..."

She wrestles with a grimace and grumbles. "Unwieldy for me right now?"

Flicking her furry ears, she briefly grits her teeth. "Gods. I don't know how to say it correctly. Maybe if they were smaller and simpler, I'd actually make some headway in figuring out how to work them."

Bach narrows his gaze and nods understandingly. "I think I get the idea. There might be something we can do. I'll have to check with Aristespha and Sotalia, and see what we could come up with."

Cideeda steps away towards the distraction of a nearby box of golem components. Dretphi glances over to Bach and quietly agrees with him. Bach and Dretphi watch Cideeda dig through the box with a happy smile.

---

Stepping through the sliding glass back door of the two story house, Trakenthin slowly moves through the opening, staring at his aetherphone. He furrows his brow, struggling with the bewilderment plain on his face, and cocks his head. He blinks at the end of call statistics screen, and the prompt disappears, revealing the home screen on the device. Pulling the sliding door behind him to a close, he steps past the table of the dining area, sorting through his confusion. His attention diverts away from his phone, and he glances over to Tassilda and Deedri sorting through reagents and recipes.

Deedri carefully measures out exacting amounts of powdered compounds into a series of small flasks and gently swirls the granulated mixture along the glass bottoms. Tassilda narrows her light blue on black eyes at the process and cocks her head of raven hair to the side curiously. "Is there any particular reason you don't use one large flask and divide out the potion later?"

Flicking her furry ear back from listening to Tassilda's question, Deedri focuses her auburn gaze upon the task and explains with a smirk. "Limiting liability. There are a few steps in processing these reagents that can accidentally spoil the potion, if not done correctly. Each is tricky by itself. Hence, together it makes it quite difficult. So, I like to do a series of small batches and contain any mistakes that may have gotten through."

Settling the last small flask on the counter, she glances over to iridescent fluid faintly steaming in a large pot on the stove and twists her mouth in anticipating frustration. "Occasionally, despite my best efforts, there can be some variance in the mix or an impurity that throws the calculations off."

She furrows her fair brow and grimaces. "When that happens, it can cause byproducts that can ruin the whole batch and are almost not worth the effort to filter out."

Crossing her arms, she turns around, facing Tassilda, and leans against the edge of the counter with a sigh. "I consider the first flask my litmus test and adjust from there. Thankfully, I rarely have any problems after the first flask anymore."

She glances to the side, briefly frowning. "Still frustrating when something does happen."

Tassilda brushes her hair over her swirling horns, rests her hands on her hips, and smiles with a chuckle. "Do I sense some previous scarring from past failures?"

With a playful roll of her eyes, Deedri grumbles and slowly shakes her head. "Oh gods... So many hours wasted on salvaging potions with reagents I had to pay way too much for."

A sympathetic groan leaves Tassilda, and she nods understandingly with a faint sneer of her upper lip. "Don't I know it. What's worse is when you have to make do with the ones you know aren't quite right."

Exhaling out flits of bad memories, Deedri grimaces and briefly grits her teeth. "Introductory Alchemy was a really rough semester on my digestive track."

Leaning to the side, Deedri glances around Tassilda and waves over towards Trakenthin. "Hey, Trakenthin."

She narrows her curious gaze at Trakenthin, cocking her head to the side. "Are you okay?"

Trakenthin blinks back to awareness, noticing Deedri and Tassilda, and puzzles for an appropriate response. "I am okay. Do not know if my father is."

Tassilda turns around and observes Trakenthin, focusing her concern upon him. "What ever has happened?"

Putting away his aetherphone, Trakenthin steps closer to the counter opposite of Tassilda, rests his hand on the counter top, and twists his mouth in contemplation. "Nothing is wrong. I do not believe anything bad has happened."

He furrows his dark bronze brow and tilts his head to the side. "My father called me."

Narrowing his stare internally into his own mind, he grimaces a few times and scratches his head of short, dirty blonde hair, searching for the pieces of an explanation. "He requested my assistance... For a task he did not disclose. Described it in vague terms. Assisting honor?"

Quirking her brow, Tassilda shifts her weight, intrigue influencing her pose. "I always heard being vague was difficult in the grath language? Since, well, it has exact words for every different degree something can be. Am I wrong?"

Trakenthin shrugs his shoulders with a roll of his hazel eyes and sighs. "It is not hard. Gaps between the definitions provide ambiguity. Tone context can obscure further. Contradictions worsen it."

Deedri ponders a moment and gradually rocks her head side to side, her understanding developing. "It seems like it's similar to word order when framing in fvalian. Sometimes there's a subtle difference between a big red ball and a red big ball."

Blinking with her thoughts, Tassilda furrows her brow and glances between Trakenthin and Deedri. "All this makes most Emin dialects sound very straight forward in comparison."

Trakenthin thinks a moment, granting an agreeable nod, and contorts his face. "I am surprised my father is here still. I assumed he would have left for... usual reasons?"

Crossing her arms, Tassilda sways her stance and studies Trakenthin's expression with a slight frown. "Not that I believe it's the best for your sake, but you don't believe he just wants to spend more time with you?"

Humming in thought, Trakenthin deliberates between flicks of hazel eyes, remaining unconvinced overall. "Not strictly. An ulterior motive exists. Can not determine that right now."

He lowers his eyelids, exhaling a long groan. "Will probably ask me for money."

He twists his mouth into an unamused smirk, slumping his shoulders slightly. "Not the first time. Will NOT be the last."

Narrowing her concerned gaze at Trakenthin, Tassilda pries with a slight grumble mixing with her supportive tone. "You seem to have a very... TRYING relationship with your father. Despite your best, noble efforts."

Drawing in a long breath, Trakenthin releases out stale frustrations and nods slowly in begrudging acceptance. "Yes. Long story. Rhymes often."

An appreciative smile appears on his face, and he shrugs his shoulders. "If he only asks for money, I will consider it a good day."

Deedri briefly checks the concoction in the pot on the stove and glances over to Trakenthin with an inquisitive perk of her furry ears. "When did he say he wanted this favor from you?"

Trakenthin pauses for a moment, checking his recent memory, and ponders out loud. "Soon? No exact date. Under a week? He had chores to handle first. Do not know what chores he would have here? It is perplexing."

Tassilda smiles at Trakenthin and sighs with a supportive voice. "Well, if you need my assistance, don't be afraid to ask."

With a happy tone, Deedri nods towards Trakenthin. "No matter how it goes, we have your back."

Subduing a bit of embarrassment, Trakenthin grants a very appreciative smirk and bows slightly towards Deedri and Tassilda. "Thank you. I will leave you to your tasks. Off to read a book."

Trakenthin turns and walks away. A sly grin graces Tassilda, and she playfully inquires. "OH. Is that the new one the girl from that review aethersite suggested? You seem to LIKE a lot of HER recommended books."

Trakenthin's dark bronze skin flushes with hints of red around the cheeks, and he stumbles upon his vocabulary towards some response. "Uh... Yes. She has... Excellent recommendations... that align... with my... preferences..."

With an air of satisfaction thick around her, Tassilda pivots around, facing Deedri, and directs her voice back. "Okay. Just curious. Let me know how it is after you read it."

Trakenthin disappears through the archway into the living room and quickly up the stairs. Deedri narrows an accusatory stare upon Tassilda, mildly chiding her. "Tassilda. What did you do THAT for?"

Shrugging her shoulders with a guilty smirk, Tassilda bites her lower lip. "Well... I HAD to confirm my suspicions. I just keep seeing him browsing that same aethernet site."

Returning a scrutinizing gaze back at Deedri, she smiles with a giggle. "Oh, don't tell me you weren't curious yourself."

Averting her auburn eyes away, Deedri slides her focus back to her task, granting an admission. "Well. Yes..."

She sighs and motions the contented Tassilda over. "Now help me with this pot."

---

Aristespha and Bach sit cross legged upon pillows on the floor of the garage. Sotalia rests her hands upon complicated magical markings encircling Aristespha and Bach. Focusing her attention upon the protective circle, she releases flows of magical power down her arms and hands. The energy spreads away and sinks into the carefully drawn shapes upon the concrete floor. Moments later, she gazes between Aristespha and Bach and smirks eagerly, a glow rising out of the circular barrier. "The circle of protection is charged."

Cideeda finishes a few final adjustments on the aim of a camera and presses the record button on the device. Giving a thumbs up, she nods towards the team. "We should be recording."

Kneeling down nearby the circle opposite of Sotalia, Dretphi keeps the sheathed Sword of the Spirit Realm in her hands, at the ready. "Sword is prepared."

Sebastian hovers nearby, grins proudly to Bach, and nods to him. "When you are ready, bro. Kind of getting the hang of figuring out this elder energy sensing part of the sword. Might actually have to try detection at a distance next time."

Finishing the final sequences of incantations with hand gestures, Aristespha smirks approvingly with a sigh and aims her violet illuminated gaze upon Bach. "That would be nice, Sebastian. Maybe we could recover some of the functionality the sword lost."

Bach rolls his shoulders into a stretch, positions his hands close together in front of him, and nods with a snort. "Yeah, that'd be real nice. Have the damned thing actually help us out again rather than just stating the fucking obvious."

Sebastian's ghostly visage rolls his translucent blue eyes, and he groans, commiserating. "Gods. Tell me about it, bro. If the creator of this damned thing wasn't very likely already dead for over a few hundred years, we'd be forcing him to write an instruction manual at gunpoint."

Shaking his head briefly, Bach grits his teeth, exhaling a long breath, and settles his full attention ahead upon his task. "Yeah... Well, I'll get started then..."

He swallows down his nerves. "Here we go..."

Aristespha directs her voice to Bach, calmly instructing him. "Focus on maintaining control and finer flows. Avoid pushing yourself too hard."

With a nod, Bach closes his eyes and reopens them to a brilliant blue glow. Narrowing his stare at the space between his hands, he concentrates fully, turning within. Magical miasma rises from his arms and upper body and condenses into elaborate magical structures, hovering near in anticipation. The last bit of the energy mist collects upon the layers of prismatic machinery. Bach draws a long, careful breath and tenses his body. Fighting against a pained wince, he summons up a cool, collected attitude and concentrates on calming minor tremors and spasms in his body. Small pinpoints of white appear in the centers of the glowing blue in his eyes. The sword vibrates in Dretphi's expectant hands, and Sebastian observes his wavering and flickering form.

"NEW FLOW DETECTED. FROM FAMILIAR SOURCE."

Attention fully upon controlling himself, Bach slowly breathes at a consistent rate and stabilizes the sporadic twitches and shudders in his arms and hands. Seconds of straining concentration later, thin threads of pure white drift out of Bach and weave between the encapsulating confines of the magical constructs around his arms and upper body. The strands of magical energy flow steadily and diffuse into the vaporous cloud between Bach's hands. The miasma condenses gradually into a denser form and draws the constant thread flows towards the center of the tiny, glowing orb. Slight tremors and shudders pulse around Bach's body. Remaining cool and collected against the building stresses, he paces his breaths. The minutes pass. Sotalia gawks in wonder at the small sphere of white brilliance. Cideeda peers over Dretphi, the two observing the scene in astonishment. Sebastian's form warps and wavers with the flows of energy, and he occasionally stabilizes for brief periods, his visage distorting soon after. Twisting his mouth in frustration, he grumbles out his annoyance, riding out the constant inconvenience of his studies.

Aristespha observes the energy flows, carefully leaning closer, and examines the magical processes at play. Minutes later, the thin flowing threads of white energy fade out, and Bach secures the glowing ball of energy in his hands. Faint trembles rattle his composure. He remains fully focused upon the stable orb hovering above his palms. The rest of the team observes the magical phenomena, contending with curiosity and awe. Blinking his brightly blue illuminated eyes, Bach fights against a wince and sighs out a mix of stress and looming exhaustion. "I'm starting to feel it..."

Noticing the familiar signs of fatigue, Aristespha signals Dretphi with a hand motion and nod. Partially sliding the sword out of its scabbard, Dretphi guides it close to the floating white orb above Bach's hands. Layers of elder mist vent off the ball and sink into the exposed blade. Sebastian's visage flickers and distorts. Furrowing his brow thoughtfully, he searches within, judging the feeling. Seconds later, the sword vacuums the last of the quickly disappearing energy sphere into itself. Sebastian's ethereal form stabilizes, and he gives a thumbs up. "All clear!"

Aristespha grabs hold of Bach's arms, and Dretphi and Sotalia stabilize Bach by a shoulder each. Tilting backwards, Bach eyelids try to close hard, and consciousness struggles with the hold of his mind. Closing his glowing eyes, Bach rocks back against the support of Sotalia and Dretphi. Immediately, Bach flutters his eyes and startles back to full consciousness, shuddering his head. "Gods almighty... THAT is still a helluva hit afterwards. Even when taking it slow. But..."

Blinking around, he musters his bearings and glances around. "I don't think I went out completely, this time."

With a comforting smile, Dretphi shakes her head towards Bach. "No. You woke when you put weight back."

Gently patting his shoulder, Sotalia grins to Bach and quirks her intrigued brow. "I think you might be getting better at this. You'll be quite the challenge soon enough."

Bach smiles awkwardly and shrugs his shoulders. "Well, I don't know about THAT. But, the kickback wasn't as bad as the times before. So, that's progress, I guess?"

He glances over to Sebastian and smirks amused. "So, brother... What was the score on that bundle of energy?"

Sebastian searches the top of his head, dramatically contemplating with a hum, and slightly shrugs his shoulders. "Well... Maybe a little more this time? It's been pretty consistent. Which is fine by me, since the whole coming down from all that seems really rough on you, bro."

Leaning forward, Bach props himself up by his arms and sighs, hints of frustration venting out. "Yeah. I mean, I don't know what's going on there. Gods dammit. I really wish it wasn't the case. Then, I could just spend my spare time dumping elder energy into that fucking sword, and maybe get enough to satisfy it."

Aristespha releases Bach's arms, sits up straight, and grumbles to herself in agreement. "That would be absolutely lovely, but I agree that would be too much of a risk to you at this point, Bach."

Sotalia frowns slightly and rolls her golden eyes with a sneer of her upper lip. "And, well... Gods damned Noxian doesn't seem to want to retire and stop being a fucking problem. So, we can't just sit around and wait."

Cideeda walks over to the camera setup, hits the stop button, and properly turns off the equipment, nodding at the sentiment. Sebastian shrugs his shoulders, holds his hands out to his sides, and grins boldly. "Well. We can't very well be called adventurers and leave a threat like him wandering about anyway. We'll figure all this out one way or another. He and everything else hasn't stopped us yet. So, I don't see a reason to stop ourselves."

The team appreciates the emotional uplift and encouragement. Stepping across the garage with a spring in her step, Cideeda wags her long fluffy tail, climbs up the steps towards the kitchen door, and glances back. "Anyone else hungry?"

Aristespha, Bach, Dretphi, and Sotalia exchange glances, arriving upon similar conclusions. Cideeda grins toothily and opens the door. "Well, I want more Fval Spice and..."

Lifting a sly eyebrow, she flexes back motioning towards the outside world beyond the garage door. "We haven't had a chance to hit the game shop lately."

Dretphi and Sotalia perk up, and excitement swells within Dretphi. "All the new issues should be available."

With an encouraging smirk, Cideeda glances down at the dust and dirt on her shirt and shorts and slips through the doorway with a final declaration. "Sounds good to me! I'm changing to some cleaner clothes, first."

Sebastian drifts close to the door, and peers into the house, Cideeda turning down the archway into the main hallway. He flies over to the rest of the team and whispers quietly. "So... Cideeda's birthday is coming up soon. Anyone got any ideas? She's a tough one to shop for."

Sighing in defeat, Sotalia shakes her head of fiery, wavy orange hair. "Gods. I don't know. I've been trying to think of SOMETHING."

Dretphi hums in thought and shrugs her shoulders. "Gift cards are bland. Do not know what else right now."

Aristespha contorts her face, grumbling, and rests her ivory chin on her hand. "I have a few possible ideas. But, I do not know what specifically, and if they would be best ones."

Glancing between everyone, Bach narrows his eyes in thought and cocks his head to the side. Searching his mind for a few moments, his confidence builds, and he grins proudly. "I got one."

Surrounding attention settles upon Bach, and Aristespha, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia wait expectantly. With a sly smile, Bach nods and gazes around at the team members present. "I got an idea. And, it should incorporate a number of things she's interested in. But... I'm going to need help from all of you to make it happen."

The group shifts into a quick meeting of the minds, and Sebastian keeps watch through the doorway.

---

Very dim moon light leaks through the partially closed window blinds. The faint rays creep across a desk covered with contingents of plastic military figurines and squads of model vehicles in various states of painting. Scatterings of midnight light barely illuminate a freshly configured bodysuit upon a chair and a neatly laid out set of slip on armor plating upon the floor. Cideeda's long fluffy tail hangs out to the side of the bed from under the sheets, and she softly slumbers. Her furry ears flicks reflexively, her tail retracts back under the covers, and she gradually stirs. Unconsciously flexing her clawed fingers into tighter grip on her sheets, she mumbles out a few slurred phrases of fvalian, snorts dismissively, and rolls up another layer of her bed covers around her.

Settling her head of short multicolored hair back on her pillow, she eases back to a quiet, peaceful rest. Minutes of idle, soothing domestic background noise fill the air. The air conditioning unit on the wall softly spins up a faintly droning fan, and provides another layer of background noise. The gentle breeze circulates the air in the peaceful bedroom and softly blows the fluffy hair in Cideeda's ears and the tufted tip of her tail peeking out from underneath sheets on the other side of the bed. Her light brown face twitches under the artificial breeze, and she turns her head to the other side. A peace fills the space.

A sharp, jarring alarm rings out, reflecting off the walls of the room. Crashing out from her unconscious state, Cideeda grits her teeth reflexively and tosses in bed with a jumble of fvalian swears leaving her. The sharp, harsh din of the alert noise persists. Cideeda groggily opens her emerald green eyes and stares half-awake in the direction of the sound. With her furry ears pulled back, she drags her annoyed self across the bed to the night stand and fumbles her clawed fingers for her aetherphone. Finding the device, she quickly snatches it off the night stand and studies the device with growing confusion, her consciousness restarting. Tapping in a security code through the waning blur of slumber, she turns off the jarring alarm. With immediate relief, she relaxes her tensed body.

Searching through the application menus, the screen brightly lights up her squinting eyes, and she locates a prompt, pressing the on screen display. A connection progress bar appears on the device. A video feed appears. The imagery streams. Cideeda's face contorts with an uneasy, developing familiarity, studying the layout and contents of the room shown. Her emerald green eyes lock onto humanoid movement, immediately summoning her full focus upon events transpiring on the screen. She cocks her head to the side and puzzles briefly. The scene brightens from a new light source. The video feed adjusts and refocuses. Cideeda's eyes spring wide open in absolute shock. The immediate, unquestionable recognition stuns her dumbfounded and wordless for moments.

Snapping back to awareness, she scrambles upon the bed, sticking her finger and toe claws into the surface fabric, and launches herself off towards her bedroom door. She lands smoothly in front of it, her loose nightshirt catching air and her long fluffy tail trailing behind her. Flings the door wide open, she draws in a large breath and screams out into the hall. "WAKE UP! NOXIAN IS AT ONE OF THE SITES!"