Episode 81

In a small, single bed motel room, the bright glow of the sun fills the space with a warm ambient light. An aged, worn small flat screen television shows the Perimeter weather report, dynamic digital maps relaying information about the area. A professionally dressed fvalian woman guides viewer attention over to a number of smaller storms coming in off the western coast and pantomimes in a north eastern direction towards a huge expanse of land with the simple label of "PWZ".

"We will experience a number of small, intense storms crossing over Perimeter and the surrounding territories throughout the day. With the summer heat warming coastal waters and the jet stream arching down, this pattern should continue throughout the week. These sporadic cells will continue into the PWZ and further. And, speaking of the PWZ, here's Tom with the Weird Zone activity report from the Alpha Observation Post."

A large picture with bordering decor graphics appears in the background, and the fvalian woman steps off to the side. Within the framework, a hazy, distorted video feed shows a human man with faintly, uniformly glowing blue eyes in an olive drab, all-weather survival suit. Calmly nodding with a pleasant smile at the camera, he draws in a long breath.

"Thank you Diannee. I'm very happy to report that present PWZ activity has been relatively mild, even in the more troublesome areas of the zone. While we do expect the storm cells to be category one maelstroms in the zone, experts are not anticipating them having enough energy to last too far past the northeastern borders. BUT, for those that are in and around the zone, please keep your radios tuned to an Alert Network Station for up to date information about maelstroms, outbursts, and other dangerous phenomena. Back to you, Diannee!"

Sighing bored on the motel bed, Isaac lifts up the remote at his side and presses the mute button. He furrows his brow thoughtfully, arching his back slightly, and ponders out loud. "Okay. One thing going in my favor, at the very least."

Brushing back his head of wispy, wild white and gray hair, he slowly sits up on the bed and pauses with a pained wince, rubbing his neck and back. He settles his thin frame upright, slowly surveys the piles of supplies and other equipment surrounding him on the bed, and grumbles to himself. "Time to figure all this out... I guess..."

He reaches out to the nightstand and grabs hold of a pad of paper and a pencil. Glancing over to the small desk to the other side, his gray eyes spring wide. He leans out, stretching his arm far out, and grasps hold of a paper bundle. Unwrapping the sandwich, he takes a few bites, staring out distantly, swallows, and sighs. A slight frown weighs upon his face, and he slowly shakes his head, his shoulders slumping gradually. "Just not the same... Even with all the olives..."

Balancing between writing down notes and the unsatisfied consumption of his meal, he sorts through the supplies and equipment on the bed and scattered in the room around him. Minutes of inspections and rechecks later, Isaac hums in thought and twists his mouth uncertainly. Idly tapping the pencil to the paper pad, he narrows his distant stare and quietly deliberates within his mind between rocks of his head and furrowing his brow. He puts the paper and pencil down and grabs hold of a worn folder. Flipping through a few sections of documents within, he slows to an earmarked spot and parts the paperwork, studying a prominent list within. He slides his finger down the crossed out entries of names and contact information. Isaac mumbles to himself, shaking his head. "Gods, Emanuel, I really hope you found someone new I can work with..."

He lifts his finger away from the paper and studies the remaining contacts, squinting at the unfavorable descriptions noted off to the side. "Gods... Really scraping the bottom of the barrel otherwise..."

His eyes scour through the bad reviews, and Isaac shakes his head, closing up the folder. With a weak, dismissive pitch, he drops the collection off to the side upon the bed. Pulling himself to the edge of the mattress, he rests his feet on the ground and scratches his head with both hands, groaning out his building frustration.

From the other side of the desk, an alert chirp sounds out from a battered, old laptop. Blinking back to awareness, Isaac stands up, carefully stretching himself upright, and walks curiously towards the desk chair. He sits down, swipes his finger on the screen, and the device's display lights up to a plain desktop filled with heaps of cluttered icons. With quick familiarity, he taps through a number of menus and a program opens up. Scrolling through lists of messages, he selects the latest unread, and a hopeful smile appears on his face, reading the source address. A moment later, the system decodes the encrypted message and spills forth a plain text version. Isaac narrows his gaze up on the text with growing intrigue showing in his idle nodding. Halting his study, Isaac glances around the room, stretches over towards the bed nearby, and snags the notepad and pencil. He readies the writing tools and pores his attention over the information within the message and jots down a number of key terms, mumbling to himself between major points. "Beckerin recommended... Lady Rhian's Artifacts and Magics... Talk to Lady Rhian first... Get directed to Mavian..."

Isaac straightens his back against the simple wooden chair back, stretches his shoulders out to the sides, and releases a long sigh of relief. Glancing over the new lead with a hopeful smile, he starts to nod with refreshed accomplishment. He halts. Blinking blankly, he pauses in thought, contorts his face between concern and worry. He spots his new Perimeter Road Map next to the laptop. Gritting his teeth, he unfolds the first set of folds of the compact map, delving into the ever expanding document. He awkwardly finds a suitable enough stopping point against the paper chaos and taps open an aethernet browser. Typing the name of the location into a search site, he balances the sprawling map upon his lap and grumbles out hints of embarrassment. "Okay... So now... Where the hell IS this place?"


Across the dining table from Bach, Aristespha examines a number of materials upon a clean, white mat in front of her with glowing violet eyes. With both hands, she carefully picks up a luminous sheet of woven stabilized magical energy and rotates it studiously around in front of her by the edges, narrowing her analytical stare upon it. Seconds later, she cracks a satisfied smile and nods approvingly, further inspecting the flow fabric. "Nicely done. A very close approximation to what the normal spells and processes can manufacture."

Rubbing his blue eyes into a pinch of the bridge of his nose, Bach blinks hard and rocks his head side to side, stretching out of his neck. "Cool. I mean, to be honest, it was getting little mind numbing doing all those little details over and over again. Yeah..."

He shudders briefly and exhales. "I think next time I really need to figure out some magical automation on those parts."

Studying the last few details of the material in her hands, Aristespha lays it gently back down upon the large surface in front of her and thoughtfully rests her chin on her hand. Searching her mind with her violet glowing eyes, she lifts an inquisitive eyebrow at Bach and tilts her head slightly. "Would you like to try something a bit more challenging?"

Bach cocks his head, pondering briefly, and shrugs his shoulders. "Sure. I guess? I mean, what exactly is the more challenging thing you have in mind?"

With an interested grin, Aristespha draws a long breath in, deliberates to herself about the right phrasing, and explains. "The magical medical materials you have been making are the more..."

She pauses a moment and furrows her brow. "Common variety. Very useful for first aid and initial treatment of trauma. Their effectiveness tends to be limited for more significant and involved injuries. While they still are quite needed, they are not designed for specific situations."

Furrowing his brow, Bach nods to a general understanding and wrestles a grimace, narrows his gaze curiously. "Yeah... Yeah, I can see that. Okay. So, what's the cutoff point for the types of injuries that stuff can handle? What's the upper limit?"

Aristespha tosses her long, silvery blue hair back, mulls over a thought, and pantomimes out the concept with her hands, indicating the divisions of a range. "For example, the materials we have here are great for mild lacerations, scrapes, covering burns, closing open wounds, and..."

She smirks with a playful snort. "Well... Generally preventing anything important from leaving your body."

Reflexively cringes at the forming mental imagery, Bach wrestles a grit of the teeth into an awkward smile. Nodding at the sentiment, Aristespha changes up her pantomime, shifting her focus upon the other side of the proposed spectrum. "These more advanced materials are used to address and remedy other types of injuries and conditions. They are extremely useful in the right circumstances. Often, they can mean the difference between having a chance at life or very certain death."

She turns in her chair at the dining table, leans over off to the side, and reaches into a large medical kit upon the floor. Swiftly, she unconsciously navigates her hand to a small, bright neon orange metal box, grasps it carefully, and lifts it onto the table. She gingerly releases the latches, pivots the box towards Bach, and presents the contents inside. "This is my stock of those types of materials. All these were purchased."

Bach leans over the table and narrows a studious gaze upon the sealed wrappers. Aristespha motions her finger down and along the neatly arranged and specifically ordered items. "The processes to create them require dedicated magical machinery manually flowed by specialized trained medical mages with very specific spells. Now... THAT does NOT mean they cannot be made without such equipment. BUT, you can NOT get the volume needed quickly enough otherwise."

Sorting through the sterile packages with detailed information printed on the wrappers, she finds a sealed transparent packet containing a dimly glowing, translucent sheet, and pulls it out of the row. "This one is about to expire soon. It shall be a safe example for us to examine."

She carefully closes the neon orange box and deftly returns the container back to its proper home in the larger medical kit. Aristespha slides the pack of medical fabric over to Bach, smirking expectantly. Curiously, Bach gently takes the packet, lifts it closer to his blue eyes, and angles the package against the overhead lighting, squinting at it. "So, uh, what is this, exactly?"

Straightening her posture, Aristespha smiles confidently and points towards the material. "That is a tissue bonding sheet. Very versatile magical material specifically designed for medical use. You can wrap it around a damaged artery. Put it between separated tissues. And even, with quite a bit of effort, you can use it to reconnect ligaments."

With a violet pulse of her eyes and spark of flow in her hand, she cracks a calm grin, hints of excitement coloring her voice. "Then, with the right application of magical flow, you can activate the material to thread out around the very cells of target tissues to form a powerful bond that stabilizes the damage and temporarily mends tissues until other magical or natural healing processes happen."

Bach in honest surprise, glancing over at the eager smile upon Aristespha. Studying the package closer, Bach closes his eyes and reopens them to a glowing blue. He narrows his illuminated stare upon the package. "Okay... Huh. Now THAT is actually really impressive... Wow... That is some seriously detailed construction in that... Sheet? Wait..."

Drawing the packet closer to his eyes, he squints tightly, his examination delving deeper into the material. "No... Wait... That's a... That's actually a mesh. A really, REALLY fine mesh. Damn. That is some fine detail work happening there."

Aristespha nods knowingly at Bach's discovery and sighs with a roll of her eyes, twisting her mouth with a sarcastic curl. "If you think THAT is impressive, you should look at the price on the back."

Fluttering his eyes away from the focus, Bach flips the material pack over. He scans over the information printed on the back and halts. His eyes spring wide open, and he reflexively shudders with a wince. "UH... OH... Wow... Yeah, uh, THAT is REALLY expensive."

He shrugs his shoulders and chuckles lightly. "But, I mean, I guess that makes sense for buying a box of a dozen or-"

Flashing a devilish grin, Aristespha lifts her eyebrow with a humored laugh. "They are INDIVIDUALLY priced."

With his mouth hanging open mid sentence, Bach awkwardly slides his wide eyed stare back upon the packet and glances over at Aristespha. With both hands cradling the wrapped magical material, he presents the precious item back to Aristespha. "OKAY. I think this is much safer in your hands."

Snorting into a snicker, she snags hold of the package, holding it up in her fingers, and smiles with a mischievous tint. "OH, is it?"

With a defiant grin, she neatly tears the top off the packet. Tensing up at the sight of the expensive seal broken, Bach unconscious squeezes out a faint grunt. Shaking her head, Aristespha smiles reassuringly and expertly removes the tissue bonding sheet out onto the clean, explaining calmly. "Do not worry. Truthfully, it was too close to the expiration date for my comfort anyway. As much as I do not like to waste materials, I am NOT going to keep any questionable materials around and risk anyone's health needlessly."

Rolling her violet eyes, she grimaces briefly and sighs. "It is best to accept the cost and replace it, rather than take the chance you will be in a situation where you will have to use such in a critical moment."

She frowns sharply and draws in a stiff breath through her nose. "Then, you have to constantly worry if the material will be able to hold out long enough or just catastrophically fail at any given reason."

Working out the surge of unease with a few shoulder shrugs, Bach pauses and furrows his brow with an idea rising to the front of his mind. "Yeah. That makes sense. But... I mean, THAT is some really amazing magical material. But? Don't medical mages have a whole set of spells to handle really bad injuries that they would use that stuff on?"

Aristespha ponders, nodding with some reservation, and tugs at her mouth, approaching the subject. "Yes. And. No. A significant portion of the spells medical mages use focus on enhancing the body's natural mechanisms to heal. Those spells unfortunately require time, energy, and preparation that is not always available."

Bach gradually forms an understanding and presents a summation. "Oh... Okay. So, great spells for when things are more ideal than not?"

With a confirming smile, Aristespha shrugs her shoulders and relates with an amused tone. "For the most part. While I know spells to do intricate, near perfect repairs on your arteries and veins, you will certainly have long since bled out before those spells can work on a sliced open femoral."

Excitement sneaks out into the grin on her ivory face, and she works the tissue bonding sheet in her fingers. "Hence, this is why we have materials such as this."

Perking her brow, she smirks mischievously and gazes at Bach. "Would you like a demonstration?"

Bach gradually shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly and glances over with an agreeable tone. "Sure. I mean, wouldn't mind seeing this in action-"

Aristespha quickly applies a medical glove, deftly retrieves a metal scalpel from a disinfectant bath nearby on the tabletop, and hunts around the vicinity. Bach awkwardly resumes his statement. "Uh- Without personally needing its services."

Narrowing a brief incredulous glare at Bach, Aristespha shakes her head, rolling her eyes dismissively, and gestures out an incantation with her free hand. She directs a concentrated flow of energy upon the entirety of the medical instrument with faint crackling sounding out and sweeps waves of similar magic upon the area of the mat. Resting the scalpel upon the sterilized surface, Aristespha stands up from her chair, tapping her ungloved fingers upon the wooden dining table top and hums in thought. Her violet eyes widen briefly. A clever smirk appears from the blue and gray hinted corner of her face. Stepping around the dining table, she walks into the kitchen area and opens the fridge. Seconds later, her searching gaze locks onto a target, and she reaches inside. With a modest cut of steak in her gloved hand, she returns to her seat at the table and readies the meat for surgery.

Aristespha confidently picks up the scalpel, prepares herself, and summons Bach's attention. "Now. Depending on the type of cut, you have a number of factors to consider when using the tissue bonding sheet. For example, if the injury goes parallel with the muscle fibers..."

Aristespha precisely cuts into the steak with Bach observing. The kitchen door leading to the garage opens up. With an eager smile, Dretphi steps through the doorway, walks up to the refrigerator, and opens the door. Searching the contents inside, she pulls out plates of mixed vegetables, potatoes, and bread, and arranges them out strategically on the nearby counter top. Furrowing her brow, she leans away from the fridge, stares through the door into the garage, and twists her mouth contemplatively, eyeing the large charcoal grill smoking in the driveway. She internally sorts the sequence of events with mumbles of grath slipping out, and returns her attention back to the fridge. She grabs hold of a large plate of steaks and examines the cuts of meat with a rush of eagerness and pride. She freezes in place. Studying the four cuts on the plate, she cocks her head to the side, shifting a few platinum blonde braids, and frowns confused. Staring into the fridge, she places the plate of steaks down and searches the inside of the refrigerator thoroughly, brief grumbles of perplexed grath slipping out.

Finishing placing a strip of the tissue bonding sheet inside the incision in the cut of steak, Aristespha pinches the meat together on both sides of the cut with her gloved hand. She gestures with her free hand and recites a complex incantation. Flows of magical energy condense around her gloved hand and sink precisely into the closed divide. A faint, thin glow of prismatic energy fades, and she releases her pinch. The incision remains securely closed. Bach squints his glowing blue gaze at closure and leans closer. "Okay. THAT is pretty damned cool. So... How well does that hold against being pulled apart? Like if you are moving around? Or putting some kind of stress on it?"

Smiling proudly, Aristespha presses two fingers of her gloved hand upon either side of the sealed cut and attempts to pry it back open. "That all depends on the design of the material and its lifespan. But, most of the time, you will likely cause another separate injury before you will ever be able to pull apart the bonded tissue."

Bach nods, his glowing vision narrowing, and curls his mouth uncertainly. "Amazing... Man... Really wish I could get a better view of what

’ s going down at the microscopic level."

Aristespha's very long, pointed ears perk up, and she tilts her head curiously at Bach. Moments of thought later, she blinks to a realization and signals Bach towards her eyes. "Oh... That's right! You have probably never been shown how to use medical types of magical visualization. Have you?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Bach shakes his head. "Uh, yeah, don't think so. I mean, I can do some very small scale sight magics. But, most of the time I'm just feeling out the flows after a certain point. So..."

He tugs at the corner of his mouth. "I guess I'm not really SEEING what I'm... flowing around? Just feeling that there

’ s something the flows are going around? Something like that, um."

Lifting her head up, Aristespha rests an examining gaze upon Bach and faintly nods. She points to her violet illuminated eyes. "I think I can show you one process that I am using. It is a combination of spells you can overlay upon your typical mage sight. YOU might be able to pick up what I am doing and duplicate it."

Bach nods and concentrates his stare fully upon Aristespha's face. Blinking her violet eyes back to normal, she holds up a finger, signaling the start of the process to Bach. Her eyes flicker back to a strong glow. With slow, exacting precision, she recites through each stage of a long chain of incantations and gestures. Pausing after each major phase, she waits for Bach's confirmation and demonstrates the next steps. With a faint warping of magical flows around her eyes, she finishes the last step and summons prismatic magical energies in her hand, placing her fingers down upon an empty section on the white mat. Bach grants an understanding nod. Aristespha flutters her eyes back to normal, dismissing the excess energies with a few hand waves. "That particular set of spells will enable you to do microscopic visualization of a volume under the influence of the flowed energies."

Working through a strained grimace, she narrows her concerned gaze at Bach. "Please, though... Start with a very, very small area. It is extremely easy to get completely overwhelmed. That is why most practitioners start out with the least amount of magnification power on the most narrow of scopes."

She leans back against the chair and rolls her shoulders. "It all can easily become an unwieldy spell combination, because of all the various factors in each individual spell in the layers."

Mentally reviewing the last minutes in his mind, Bach's distant stare narrows. He draws in an apprehensive breath, furrows his brow, and concentrates. His eyes pulse a brighter blue and threads of magical flow emerge down his arm into his hand. "Okay... I think I got the basic idea of what you did. I know a few of those spells already, but I'll have to improvise a lot. Let's see how far I get with this..."

The energies stabilizing in his hand, Bach places his fingers down upon a similar spot on the clean, white mat. The magical conduits pulse with different flows of prismatic color. Bach grits his teeth and visibly cringes with a distant, disconnected stare. Moments of facial twitches and hard winces later, he closes his eyes hard, shaking his head vigorously, and waves off the energies. "OH GODS! Fuck me! Damn..."

He flutters his eyes and alternates between winks. "Yeah... I don't think I got that right... At all..."

Barely quelling a humored snort, Aristespha shakes her head with a commiserating smile and assures Bach. "No. That probably means you did it just fine. That is the same reaction EVERYONE who first attempts those spells gets. How are you feeling?"

Bach blinks, rubs his eyes with both hands, and shudders out the remaining discomfort. "Fine, I guess? I mean, probably would have gotten a headache if I kept it up much longer than that. It started to feel like it was projecting straight into my brain."

Releasing a sigh of relief, Aristespha smirks amused and laughs lightly. "Oh, good. That is about the correct feeling. I still remember five people in my class getting really bad nausea and dizziness. One poor man vomited into the garbage can. So, you did just fine for your first attempt."

She lifts a curious brow and narrows an inquisitive stare at Bach, querying. "Were you able to see anything?"

Reviewing recent memory, Bach rocks his head side to side with tinges of uncertainty. "Yeah... I think so. Brief glimpses of... Stuff? It was just a lot to sort through all at once. Felt really... Disconnected? Disjointed, maybe? It was really weird."

Aristespha smirks in complete agreement with Bach, shaking her head reminiscently. "Oh. Yes. THAT sounds familiar. It is a hard feeling to accurately describe. But, it gets better when you are more familiar with the spells."

A large, faint shadow countering the light from the kitchen casts itself up on the tabletop. A light shiver up Bach's spine pushes his posture straight in the dining chair, and he eyes either side of him searching for SOMETHING. Aristespha lifts her gaze upward and meets the sternly stoic expression upon Dretphi's tan face. The imposing grath woman standing behind Bach narrows a glare at Aristespha and points to the cut of steak on the white mat. "Still edible?"

Maintaining a calm collected smile, Aristespha nods confidently and motions her hand towards the meat. "Perfectly. Sterilized the surface and instruments. I needed an appropriate demonstration medium for Bach's education."

The edges around the stern stare upon Dretphi's face dulls, and she focuses her firm tone upon Aristespha. "Are you done... Preparing... YOUR steak?"

Aristespha presses a gloved finger onto the closed incision. With a pulse of violet light in her eyes, a translucent dispelling pulse bursts out into the cut of steak. The incision opens back up on its own, and she deftly sweeps up the degraded tissue bonding sheet, setting on one side of the white mat. "I am now."

She picks up the cut of meat with her gloved hand, and Dretphi presents a small plate near it. With a calm smile, Aristespha rests the steak upon the dish. Hoisting the platter away, Dretphi takes the piece of meat away and walks out into the garage towards the grill and cooking food, a few grumbles of grath slipping out. Bach eases out an awkward breath, the looming emotional pressure system around him deflating.


In the living room of the ranch style house, Sotalia sits on one side of the couch and flips the pages of a graphic novel, her golden eyes sifting through the imagery and dialog. Turning the last page of the book, she bites her lower lip with an excited smirk on her light tan face and places the book on the pile next to her. Leaning slightly over, she grins and whispers to Dretphi on the other side of the couch, pointing to the cover of the graphic novel. "So... Who do you think HE ends up with?"

Dretphi pauses from her reading and notices the particular book cover, fighting back hints of embarrassment upon her face. She glances to either side of her, leans close to Sotalia, and quietly replies in grath. Sotalia eases away from Dretphi and narrows a curious stare at her. Donning a devilish grin, she tosses her fiery orange, wavy hair back over her shoulders. "Oh... Really? I..."

She lifts up an intrigued eyebrow and curls a smirk. "I actually hadn't thought of it like THAT. INTERESTING."

Working the pink flush out of her tan face, Dretphi shrugs her shoulders and stretches her faintly gray striped arms out. "My theory."

Sotalia furrows her brow, snorting with amusement. Brushing stray hairs over her swept back, black horns, she catches a glimpse of the muted television and reaches over to the coffee table for the remote. "Gods. Finally. They're getting around to showing the weather report again. Takes them FOREVER to cycle back to it."

Pressing a button on the remote, she stares at the display of an evuukian man in front of a digital map.

"Local authorities have put out a heat advisory for Amaranth Valley and the surrounding areas. Presently the jet stream is pushing away storm systems from the southwest, along with any possible maelstrom activity that may manifest. Unfortunately, we will be in the valley heat bubble with very little wind for the next few days. With the shifting of the front, we should get some relief by Monday night. Until then, exercise caution with the heat. Take breaks from outdoor activities, retreat into cooler areas, and drink water."

Sotalia taps the mute button on the remote, shaking her head, and picks up another book, smirking. "Oh... Well. Good enough excuse for me to catch up on this series."

Sitting at the dining table, Cideeda's long fluffy tail wags side to side, and she slowly rotates a miniature between her claw tips. She narrows her emerald green eyes, tugging her mouth to either corner, and deliberates, hovering an ultra fine paint brush near the tiny details of the figure's armor. She pulls the brush away and mulls over a thought, indecisively squinting. Seconds later, she puts the figurine down and softly huffs. Spotting the contemplation on Cideeda's light brown face, Bach tilts his head of longer brown hair to the side. "Something wrong?"

Cideeda raps her claw tips on the table top, briefly grimacing, and rocks her head to either side. "Nothing wrong... Just... Just trying to figure out what type of Perimeter Defense Force unit would be better to have with my army."

Narrowing her stare at the unit, she flicks her furry ears with her debate. "I think I got enough heavy armor units to be the front line... So..."

Waving out her hand, she grimaces indecisively. "Maybe having a few Deep Zone Rangers would be good?"

Bach sets a large mech miniature in the middle of the table and magically tweaks its pose, pondering out loud. "Yeah. I mean, you can't go wrong having a few units with high evasion, first strike, and THAT cover bonus."

He points to the mechanical unit and curiously asks. "So, is this the look you were going for?"

Cideeda turns her head, springs her emerald green eyes wide open, and grins toothily at the mech figure, her tail wagging faster. "Yes! That's perfect! Now, if I can just get the paint mix right to capture that balance between ancient and rusty..."

Stepping through the archway from the hallway, Aristespha stretches her neck out to either side, extending her arms over her head. She puts her hands on her lower back, curls backwards, and grunts softly. "Gods... Sebastian, next time I try to write for that long... Please remind me to take a break to walk around."

Sebastian's ethereal form drifts into view next to Aristespha, and he playfully rolls his translucent blue eyes. He reflexively adjusts the loose pompadour of brown hair on his head and smirks at Aristespha. "Of course, dear. You could also try writing in a chair with proper posture..."

He glances off to the side and spouts from the side of his mouth. "Instead of curled upon a pile of pillows and blankets."

Aristespha rests her hands on her hips, straightens her athletic figure, and twists her mouth against the truth. "I... Guess... Though, it is just hard to get in the right mood otherwise."

Sebastian crosses his arms, leans his ghostly form close to Aristespha, and quirks his brow, whispering ethereally. "As if it's hard for you to get into the right mood for what you write."

Shaking out her long silvery blue hair, Aristespha smirks confidently and giggles quietly to Sebastian. "Oh. But, it takes a SPECIAL state of mind for my BEST work to come forth."

Aristespha walks into the center of the living area between the dining table and couch. Sebastian shrugs his shoulders and snorts, drifting behind Aristespha. "If what I've proofread so far is any indicator, I truly fear what might be lurking in your mind."

An evil smile briefly emerges from the gray and blue hints on Aristespha ivory face. Surveying the army of figurines upon the dining table, Aristespha crosses her arms and studies the miniatures closer. She directs her genuinely curious tone towards Cideeda. "Next time you head out to the game shop for a tournament, please let me know. It has been quite awhile since I have seen a high point count match."

Cideeda's furry ears perk up, and she nods with an eager smirk. "Will do."

An evil spark lights in her emerald green eyes, and she draws out a toothy grin. "Going to finally take the plunge? Commit to the cause?"

Playfully waving off the notion, Aristespha sighs, fighting off an embarrassed grimace. "NO. Not quite yet. Unfortunately, I deal with balancing enough numbers and figures professionally as it is. Do not really need a hobby that involves that, too."

Accepting the explanation, Cideeda smiles sinisterly and rocks a figure temptingly towards Aristespha. "Fair enough. We all will be WAITING for you..."

Suddenly an ambient drone in the room drops out into silence. The team quickly settles their collective attention upon the inert air conditioning unit on the wall. Blinking a few times, Cideeda's furry ears search the soundscape, and she frowns uncertainly. "The other units are off, too... And, I didn't hear the thermostat turn off."

Pointing towards the far end of the house, Sebastian hovers that direction. "Okay... Weird... I'm going to go check that big unit outside just to see what it's doing."

Rolling her violet eyes, Aristespha shakes her head with a groan and walks back into the hallway. "Gods. Allow me to get the number for the leasing company, we will probably need it soon.


Chad walks into the living room of the two story house, carrying in a small decorated wooden chest. Standing in the middle of the area in front of the coffee table, he addresses the Flames of the Phoenix team seated around upon the section couch. "Okay, everybody. Time to cast your votes."

He glances down at the sturdy prop in his hand. Noticing the attention from the surrounding team, he shrugs his shoulders in his collared shirt and rolls his brown eyes casually dismissive. "If you'll excuse how it looks, THIS is what the show provided to store the ballots."

He taps his fingers on the wooden exterior, smirking in slight amusement, and rests it down on the coffee table top. "Surprisingly, it's actually really well made. And, the lock even still works. Samantha said they found it in a local game shop of all places."

He turns the key in the lock, lifts the lid open, and retrieves a collection of paper ballots and pencils. "Everyone gets a ballot, rank your three..."

Checking around the room at Deedri, Modoran, Tassilda, Trakenthin, and Veevi, Chad snorts at the group's ill-humored expressions and shakes his head. "Well... Two real REAL choices from first and second. And we all know what the third pick is. Then, just fold them and slip them through the slot."

He travels around the room, handing out ballots and pencils to each member of the team. Veevi promptly stands up with a bright, saleswoman smile, and poses confidently. "Now before everyone makes their choices, I'd really like to point out that while we have a tough choice to make..."

A sly grins accompanies a persuasive glint to her dark pink pupil eyes, and she gestures her opinion with a dramatic flair, waving her hand out and wagging her tail. "We should really think about our futures and our team's future. While some jobs can serve as paltry resume builders, very few can grant you the unique opportunity to get your foot in the door of a rewarding industry."

Resting her hands on her hips, she furrows an examining brow towards the rest of the team, shifting her stance. "You all certainly understand the value of doing small jobs to build towards a greater goal. I BELIEVE in THAT. BUT, I also don't want to be doing small jobs forever, along with you. SO... Why not make the choice to pick a seemingly small part for a chance for something greater in the future?"

Chad steps up to Veevi, presents her ballot and pencil, and tilts his head to the side. "So, I guess you are really pushing for the movie set job, huh?"

Veevi tosses her long pink hair back, sways her tan, brown striped hips, and widens her hungry smile at Chad, giggling out loud. "Oh my! Am I being THAT blatant?"

Shaking his head, Chad turns around, closes up the chest, and locks it. He finds a seat in a couch chair nearby and works on his vote. With obvious deliberation on his face, he taps his pencil on the ballot and suspiciously eyes Veevi's wandering gaze in his direction. Trakenthin examines the ballot in his hands, quickly marks off three check boxes in the array, and folds the paper up. He stands up, inserts the ballot into the chest slot, and nods towards Chad, pausing along his route out of the room. "Sparring practice for cameras in an hour?"

With a muted smile, Chad nods and a sigh with a hint of annoyance. "Yeah. They want some last minute filler footage, for some reason."

Shrugging a similar sentiment, Trakenthin exits up the stairwell. Modoran glances around casually and nonchalantly folds the ballot up with one hand. He hops up off the couch and drops his vote off into the chest. Tassilda and Deedri exchange glances, check their own ballots once more, and get up. Folding their votes up, they deposit the papers and head off to the dining area. Veevi springs up from her seat, steps towards the table, and slowly slides the ballot in the slot with a seductive smile at Chad. She struts past Chad, playfully brushes her tail along his chest in passing, and chuckles quietly to herself with an evil grin. Chad grants her nod from the attention and waits. Veevi leaves the room up the stairwell.

Chad slowly rises up from the couch chair and approaches the voting chest, holding his ballot in hand. He stands pondering with a distant stare upon the locked chest. He scans the room, a spark of paranoia driving his attention to points around the living room. Taking the key, he unlocks the box and slowly parts the lid. Staring down at the folded pieces of paper inside, he contorts his face between an array of uncomfortable, contemplative grimaces. A minute passes. An odd calm washes over Chad. He slowly exhales. Shaking his head with a defiant curl of his upper lip, Chad unfolds his ballot, erases two check marks, and fills the opposite back. He closes the small chest back up, locks it securely, and slips his ballot through the slot.


In the living area of the ranch style house, the blades of the overhead fan spin around quickly, the chassis swaying in short repetition. Within the strong draft below, Dretphi and Sotalia lounge miserably, sprawled upon the couch. Dretphi wipes sweat droplets off her soaked brow with her hand and tugs her undershirt away from her chest. Fanning some air through the damp garment, she sighs out her weakened frustration, trying to distract herself with the television. Sotalia groans out her disgust. Her boredom wanders, gazing upon her frizzing fiery orange, wet hair. She tightly grips a towel nearby with her long, thick, black nailed fingers and wipes the sweat off her face, grumbling. Dragging the cloth down her body, she blots off the surface moisture around her shoulders, bikini top, and stomach. Aristespha droops her long, pointed ears lower, eyeing the end of call message on her aetherphone in defeat, and tosses her head of damp darkened silvery blue hair back. "Bad news or good news, first?"

Surveying the fading group morale upon the couch, Sebastian smiles encouragingly at Aristespha with a hopeful tone. "Let's go with good news, first?"

Aristespha rubs her eyes into a pinch of the bridge of her nose, draws in a long breath, and sighs. "Good news. The leasing agent was able to book a repair technician, despite the overwhelming demand right now."

Faint signs of relief and hope swell in both Dretphi and Sotalia. Raising her fist up, Sotalia weakly celebrates. "Woo..."

Lowering her eyelids half mast over her violet eyes, Aristespha colors her tone with tinges of anger, deflating upon the dining room table. "Bad news... The appointment is tomorrow afternoon."

Dretphi sinks into the couch deeply and drops her head back, cursing in grath. Sotalia buries her face in the palm of her hand and grips one of her horns in frustration. "Gods... Dammit..."

Gritting his teeth briefly, Sebastian hovers towards the other side of the house, pointing a thumb over his shoulder, and reassures the team present. "It'll be okay. I'm going to go check on Bach and Cideeda. I'm certain those two will be able to figure something out."

He drifts through the wall away from the miserable crew.

Outside on the other side of the ranch style house, Bach kneels down next to Cideeda and grabs hold of another side of a panel to a large air conditioning unit. Panting against the stagnant heat and the overhead sun, he assists Cideeda in lifting off the metal shell. Both Cideeda and Bach turn their attention towards the inside maze of wiring and metal tubing, years upon years of debris, funk, and filth filling in the gaps between and coating everything else. Cideeda sneers her upper lip, laying her furry ears back, and growls. "OH. There's NO FUCKING WAY this has seen a yearly service this decade."

Cringing at the sight, Bach glances down, catching the buildup of dirt and sediment crumble out from the bottom of the machine. "Shit... They probably just dropped it in and haven't touched it since. To this thing's credit, it was actually doing pretty awesome until now."

Nodding in agreement, Cideeda picks off chunks of torn insulation around the copper lines with her claws, squints her emerald green eyes at the network of wiring and machinery, and wrestles a contemplative grimace. "Honestly, I'm going to have to clean this thing up first before I can really diagnose what even happened to it. What a mess..."

Bach peers into the crevices between major components, slowly shaking his head, and sighs out his waning confidence. "Yeah... Uh. Kind of hard to spot the soot of the blown out part... Against all the other dust and grime."

Sebastian's ghostly form phases out from the nearby brick wall, and he pivots towards Bach and Cideeda. With a hopeful smile, he pleads for good news. "So... Any idea what we're dealing with? Progress of any kind? Anything good to say?"

Cideeda lowers her furry ears and shakes her head with defeated grumbles. Bach turns his head, facing his brother, and draws a long breath in, explaining uncertainly. "Well... We're probably the first people to open this damn thing up in forever. It's filled with grit and grime. And, fuck us, if we have any clue what this damned thing's problem is."

Pointing a clawed finger to Bach, Cideeda nods her head in sympathetic agreement, inspecting the air conditioner. Sebastian sags his shoulders, frowning slightly, and gives an appreciative thumbs up. "Okay. Well, you two do what you can. There's a tech scheduled for tomorrow, so you don't need to overhaul it. Just see if you can get it to last us through the night."

Bach and Cideeda return the thumbs up and start sorting through the mess within the machine. Sebastian phases through the brick wall and drifts through other architecture back to the living area. Upon the living room couch, Dretphi sighs deeply, her annoyance contorting her face. "Would shower. Does not help. Not cold anymore."

Sotalia glances down at herself, growling lowly at the situation, and cringes. "Gods... Even stripping this bikini off wouldn't help at this point."

Slouching in the dining room chair, Aristespha narrows her stare to the temperature on the thermostat, rolls her violet eyes, and wilts further into her chair at the dining table. Hovering into the area, Sebastian apologetically smiles and attempts to imbue confidence in the team. "Bach and Cideeda are getting started on diagnosing the thing. It hasn't seen service for a while. So... Hopefully, it might be a simple routine fix. But... They don't know right now."

Sotalia nods appreciatively against her doubts, reaches out, gripping the edges of the couch, and sighs. "At least they're on the case. I'm going to... Try the whole cold shower thing..."

Grasping tightly, she gradually peels herself off the couch, easing herself upright, and fights a squirming fit of uncomfortable disgust. She visibly cringes, awkwardly flexing her body, and glances down, widening her golden eyed glare at the wet outline herself on the cushions. Suppressing a reflexive gag, a surge of determination forces her arms defiantly up in the air, and she stomps over towards the sliding glass door. "FUCK. THIS. I'm fixing THIS. RIGHT NOW!"

Sotalia grabs hold of the door handle, powerfully throws the slider wide open, and stands over the threshold. "I'll pay for the deposit we don't get back. Clear the blast!"

Glancing around out of her heat stupor, Dretphi spots Sotalia gesturing out incantations and springs up from the couch, rushing into the hallway. Aristespha blinks quickly, follows behind Dretphi, and calls out. "Fuck the deposit. Do it!"

Summoning forth a mass of magical flows in her hands, Sotalia pushes her arms out to her sides, one hand inside the house and one outside in the heat. Prismatic energies traveling along her arms illuminate brightly, and air swirls out in a projected vortexes from each hand. A cone of cold wind bursts forth into the living room and spills out into the open spaces. Light refracting waves of heat erupt out from her other hand, blasting forth into the yard and up into the air. Many seconds of waning intensity later, Sotalia halts the energy flows. Stepping in through the foggy mist of frigid cold air meeting outside heat, she closes the sliding glass door slowly, struts into the middle of the room, and exhales a visible, relieved breath. "Much. Better."

Aristespha and Dretphi peek out from the hallway archway and swiftly enter the room, enjoying the significantly lower temperature. Checking out the faintly frosted room, Sebastian nods at the impressive display. "Not bad. I'll go see if Bach and Cideeda want to take a break."


Standing in the middle of the living room of the two-story house, Chad presents the small voting chest to the gathered Flames of the Phoenix team and the surrounding camera crews at the edges of the room. He sets the wooden container upon the coffee table and announces. "It's time to reveal and tally the votes."

Unlocking the chest slowly for the cameras, Deedri, Modoran, Tassilda, and Trakenthin watch on with hints of apprehension and highlights of suspicion. Veevi grins confidently and poses for the recording crews. Chad draws out the ballots, unfolds each of them, and counts them. A genuinely proud smile graces his face, and he gazes out over the team, addressing them. "Well, to be honest, I safely assumed the Chances of Slimes mission was not even in the running. So, the remaining choices are between the Movie Set Escort and Remote Drone Recovery quests."

Eyeing over the votes fanned in his hands, Chad presents his bright white grin, draws in a dramatic breath, and calls out. "The winner is... The Remote Drone Recovery. Five to one."

A wave of surprise splashes over most of the team. Deedri, Modoran, Tassilda, and Trakenthin exchange glances and collectively puzzle at Chad. Veevi's expression abruptly drops hard into a blank stare. Over the seconds, she simmers towards an accusatory, indignant glare, mumbling near incoherently. "...but... ...he was supposed to..."

Gritting her teeth, she digs her sharp nails into the cushions of the sectional couch and directs an insulted, muted growl towards Chad. "Don't YOU mean TWO to four..."

Chad calmly pivots his head towards Veevi, narrows his resolute stare upon her, and repeats plainly. "Five. To. One."

Veevi balls up her fists, shoots up from the couch, and hisses at Chad, her short-hair tail fluffing out. Narrowing a mean glare upon the rest of the team, she petulantly yells out. "WHAT THE FUCK is wrong with you people!? A perfect opportunity to further yourselves, and you turn it down to go wander around in the woods looking for JUNK?! Am I the ONLY ONE with any kind of AMBITION here?!"

Tossing her pink hair back, she turns in place and flicks up her long tail disgustedly. She storms up the nearby stairwell, and a small camera crew detachment scurries up the stairs behind her. Moments of awkward silence later, Tassilda lifts an intrigued brow at Chad, crossing her arms, and smirks. "So... Five to one? INTERESTING."

Chad respectfully nods. Between the assembled members, a quiet acceptance grows into a mix of appreciation and approval.