A Miracle for the Sleeping Coffin

Admari shifted his weight from foot to foot while trying to keep his indecision from showing on his face. Hiding his power from Nobus would be the safe thing to do; they wouldn't be able to come down on him if they thought he was a normal human. It would buy him and Quartz time if they turned out to be less than the upstanding law officers they appeared to be. On the other hand, they might not trust him if his power came to light later, and having the multidimensional police force on his back sounded more than a little inconvenient. Something dug into his heel. Admari glanced down to see Quartz glaring at him, her illusory ankle digging into his foot. He let out a long sigh. "Yeah, yeah. Alright." 

Quartz dragged Admari's backpack several feet and sat on it, waiting. 

"I guess as long as we're being honest..." Admari said as he gave himself some extra room. He stopped when he was about six feet from the nearest person. He took a deep breath. There was a flash of brilliant, blue light. In an instant, Admari doubled in size and his flesh was replaced with metal. Talons adorned his fingers and a dragon's snout and horns had replaced his face, his eyes had transformed into a pair of massive star sapphires, his feet had become reptilian in structure, a tail appeared at the base of his back, and his form was covered in elaborate armor. Blue smoke drifted from gaps in his armor and the joints on his body, he was very obviously hollow. The whirring of machinery could be heard with every movement he made. He stood silent for a moment, his tail swirling idly behind him. 

His eyes flicked between the men and women in the room. His vision in this form was far sharper than when he was human, most of his senses were. In only a second he had scanned the others for warning signs, inconsistencies, anything that might be worth raising alarm. To his relief, he found little, only that the ghost woman, Miyori, had a form that wavered very slightly when he looked closely. He had not noticed it when he was human. He ignored the arcane warmth radiating from the woman named 'Eternity,' although he was very glad that she had calmed down. Arcane energy at that volume could have caused him harm in this form. 

"This is my second body. I am capable of switching between it and my human body at will. In this form I am significantly stronger, more agile, and process information at a greatly increased speed, although I would prefer to keep the specific limits of these abilities private." His voice had been replaced with a deep baritone that echoed about within his throat, giving his dialogue and almost ethereal quality. His mouth did not move when he spoke. Done with his speech, he turned his gaze to Quartz. She scampered over and stood at his left. The top of her head barely reached his knee. 

Admari kneeled down. "Do you want to tell them yourself or would you rather I do it?" he asked her. Quartz moved her gaze back and forth between her dad and the rest of the people in the room. 

"I can do it," she chirped. She reached for her quartz pendant. There was a quiet 'click' and the illusion around her vanished. In its place there was a small pony with short, bubblegum-pink fur; a short, shaggy white mane; large, blue eyes; and a short, twisting horn on her forehead. "I can't switch bodies like dad can, but I use an illusion necklace to look human when I'm out in public. People back home would freak out sometimes 'cause I was the only unicorn then, so I couldn't walk around without it much." Her horn began to glow with a soft, white light. At the same time, her backpack also began to glow. It lifted itself from the ground and floated through the air to land at her hooves. "I can do some telekinesis and I know a spell used for carving rocks and gems, and I'm also kinda good at making shields." Her horn glowed again and a small, white, geometric dome appeared around the backpack, shielding it from view. The dome vanished as her horn went out. 

Quartz looked up at Admari, who had returned to his standing posture. "How'd I do?" she asked with a large grin on her face. 

"You did very well," he said warmly. Turning to look at Mirath, he said "I assume this demonstration is satisfactory. If you have additional questions, I'd be perfectly willing to answer them, assuming they are not overly intrusive." And with that he turned himself human. As soon as the change was done, he took in a sharp breath through his teeth and began to vigorously rub his arms and legs. "Agh, I always hate changing back. Like waking up in a pile of snow," he grumbled as feeling seeped back into his limbs. 

"I thought you liked the snow?" Quartz teased. 

Admari glared at her, but decided to avoid the bait, instead directing his energy towards his uncooperative limbs.

Aiyil nodded to Mirath, feeling she had done all she needed to do here. Before she left she glanced at Yasuko. "..We haven't really gotten to talk as much lately, don't be a stranger and stop by when you get the chance. All right, let's go."

In a flash both were gone as if they were never there, only a single feather drifted down before it faded away.

(Both Aiyil and Elly are out, will make a new thread for them soon)

* *

After they left, Mirath simply focused on the demonstration before him as well as making cliff notes of various things in his head. Daniel had excused himself and left the room in the mean time, at least for the moment.

So it sounded like Eternity had some combat ability, but he wasn't sure exactly how much and nor did he care to find out. The news of her programming not harming people who hadn't done anything wrong was comforting to a degree but if she had a true free will then it would mean she could resist or possibly reject her programming. It had always been something that made the dragon very uncomfortable but he supposed it was a morally grey area. As long as they had will of their own and weren't used as puppets, assuming said beings saptient.

Then came Admari.

What..is this?

It was odd seeing a dragon like this, he wasn't sure what to think or make of it so just stayed silent until both were over. "It's fine, you've done more then enough. Here on earth, our earth..we've been burned a few times in the past. We try not to let that define us though, but I can't say its the same for everyone."

Mirath sighed a bit before continuing. "You being a unicorn won't cause issues, except for shady bunch which I mentioned. Now to expand a bit of where you may stay. Miyori though, I'd caution you be careful. We don't really deal with the politics of spirits but there are beings in that world that may take interest in you. Or simply prey on you."

In the middle of the room appeared suddenly a hologram map of the city appeared. A line curved around the entirety of Nexus City which on closer inspection seemed a railway or something train related. There also seemed to be smaller islands that were some distance away from the main city.

"Nexus City is broken into sections, some call them sectors but essentially the same thing since the city is so large. Some sections or sectors have names but others have a letter and a number to them. There's also smaller settlements located on smaller islands that are interconnected. We have a particular spot for new refugee's but Yasuko has offered to take you in. Its up to you where you want to stay."

Before he could continue, Henry along with a few other men and women in tow.

Mirath frowned a bit. "What's wrong? You don't just come here like this unless something is up."

The other man shook his head. "Sorry son, but its important. There seems to be a breech on the east island and something came out, energy readings were fuzzy but its powerful and hostile."

"Of course.." The dragon cursed under his breath then turned to the others. "I'm sorry but I have to go. If you have anything else Henry will take care of it."

"Wait." Yasuko called out making them pause before they were out the door. "Let me come with you."

"No. I'll be fine, Yasuko. Besides you're needed here."

Yasuko was going to say something else but he was gone already and she sighed annoyed. "Mirath is a good man but he's so stubborn at times.."

"He won't be going alone, he's stubborn not stupid. I'll make sure to keep you posted if anything unforeseen happens." Henry turned to the others. "We'll, I would have liked this meeting to have gone a bit more smoother, but that's life."

Admari felt his pulse quicken as the Nobus officials began to discuss what they called a 'breach.' He wasn't taken by complete surprise; the simple fact that Nobus had a system in place to work with off-world immigrants spoke volumes of the kind of traffic they received, but Admari had dared to hope that something as dramatic as extradimensional incursions would be excluded from that, not another day on the job like the Nobus officials' behavior suggested. He chewed on his lower lip. There was a knot forming in his stomach. 

"Uh... I guess I'd be fine with stayin' with you, Yasuko. Can't say I'm one to turn down the offer of a roof over my head," Admari said, trying to divert his own attention from the possible threat of the breach. He gave his daughter a questioning look. "Quartz?" 

Quartz rolled her shoulders forward, her own way of shrugging. "Fine with me." 

There was a moment where neither of them spoke. The knot in Admari's stomach kept growing tighter and tighter. After a few more seconds of chewing his lip, Admari took a breath. "Exactly how much should I be worrying about this breach thing you guys are talking about?" 

Eternity stared, vibrancy returning slowly to her hair and eyes as she focused intently on Admari as he performed his transformation to and fro, only for all the color to bleed away again in shock when the child he was with was replaced with a small unicorn. So focused was she on fitting these two into her suddenly shifting, uncertain world-view, she completely missed Miyori's appreciative whistle (low and quiet as it was). Her attention returned immediately, however, when other, unfamiliar Nobus personnel entered the room. Automatically, she found herself attempting to gauge their threat level only to fall short when she realized she had no reason to expect hostilities from them. And no one to protect, in any case...

When it occurred to Eternity exactly why they were here as Mirath left, ignoring Yasuko's bid to assist him, Miyori very nearly palmed her face. She knew exactly what the gynoid was thinking right now, and didn't care for it. Heroism was fine, when necessary, but Eternity knew nothing of this world and had no attachments to it.

"This breach. It is a threat. Is it a threat to bystanders? Would assistance be required? How would we know if the situation deteriorates? What systems are in place to recover from damages caused by it?"

Which is why she recognized that Eternity was simply using it as a diversion to avoid thinking about the many things she didn't know how to think about, but needed to nonetheless.

Henry slowly shook his head after the comments were made. "It is a threat, but its thankfully not anywhere where civilians are at so Mirath and others can deal with it swiftly without fear of collateral damage. From our readings, its a Category 2, moderately strong but nothing to sweat at. As for knowing if the situation grows worse, we have monitoring systems. You don't have to worry too much about the breach. Not everyone is 'bad' per say, it just means something that comes into this world unregistered. As for fixing the breaches, Nexus Gates is all I can say on it."

"You may want to explain what you mean by category." Yasuko only seemed partly in the conversation, however, as her mind seemed elsewhere. It wasn't really shown too much in body language unless you could pick up small subtle cues.

The older man blinked, then nodded. "Ah. I apologize. This old man tends to ramble off things without expanding. Anyway to the point we base beings and threats off a class system or scale as it were. For example sake, a category one ranges from basically normal base line humans, to people with minor powers. Category two are moderately powerful beings that can do things ranging from lifting cars to the higher end of that scale buildings of various sizes or city blocks. Many supernaturals fit there. Category three are beings that at minimum effect things on a large city scale to a country.."

Henry cleaned his glasses with his shirt, in todays world he didn't actually need them but it was just a preference. "Four are beings that can effect things on a planetary scale to stars and suns. Five Solar systems to galaxies and it goes on. As you can imagine we can't exactly deal with anything in the scale of four and above at the moment. At least with conventional forces. We have..certain 'super beings' I guess you could say that can deal things of that class. Earth Realm believe it or not while standing army wise is quite a bit weaker then others, has some of the strongest beings in these realms living here under one roof."

He was going to continue more, but paused and looked to Yasuko. "Young lady if you're worried about your friend, if you want I'll give you first word when the mission is finished."

That seemed to placate the woman a bit. "..All right."

Happy to have helped Henry turned to the three, technically four counting the ghost. "Now then, do you have anymore questions or concerns?"

The knot in Admari's stomach vanished immediately. "Oh, so category two is, like, one of me. Cool." Admari allowed himself a smile. "That's actually quite the relief." 

Quartz leaned against Admari's leg and looked up to him with a smirk. "Category two also goes all the way up to Rokuul, who cleaned yer clock pretty well." Admari put on an indignant face, Quartz giggled. 

"That's only 'cause Rokuul was the lava elemental version of Achilles. And I won that fight," Admari huffed. He crossed his arms and glared at Quartz while doing his best to hide the chill running down his spine. Rokuul had been a nasty opponent; the fight had nearly cost Admari his life and recovering from the aftermath was an experience that Admari would have preferred to forget. The memories came flooding back like a nightmare he'd never quite forgotten. Where the knot had been in Admari's stomach there was now a pit. He took a sharp breath in through his nose and let it out slowly. 

Quartz's ears swiveled backwards and dropped against her head, like a puppy that had been hit. "Sorry, dad. I didn't mean-" 

Admari gave her a pat on the head. "It's fine Quartz." He glanced at the blue-haired woman and her ghostly companion and tried to busy his mind by speculating on their respective abilities.

Miyori hmm'd; so the breach was probably nothing outside of Eternity's capabilities. Of course, they'd still felt it warranted sending a dragon to deal with, but she didn't know this Mirath character's capabilities - or the capabilities of Nobus in general, at that. For all she knew, he was their only available asset capable of fighting at that level. Wan smile stubbornly remaining in place, Miyori made a note to find out more about this organisation's capabilities in the future. Not knowing... bothered her, on a fundamental level.

A brief glance to Eternity discerned... very little, as expected. A purely mechanical body did wonders for one's poker face, but Miyori was nothing if not a master at reading others - and she'd had plenty of time to figure out even Eternity's tics and tocs... even without having actually seen them. At the moment, the gynoid's hair was visibly - albeit almost indescribably - shimmering in a chaotic, intermittent pattern - and she'd taken on a more defensive posture - allowing Miyori to guess that her friend was not as reassured as the strange American with the unicorn daughter.

It was an accurate guess; Eternity was going over what information she'd received, observed, and could accurately postulate again and again trying to determine whether or not she would end up being needed anyway, despite the man's words. So far; she could only come up with question marks - she just didn't know enough about the situation. So engrossed was she that she didn't even notice when, out of habit, Miyori called her name to get her attention and tried to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder... only for it to pass through.

Smile still stubbornly in place, but marginally thinner than before, Miyori shrugged in a 'what can you do?' manner, "She's going to be like this for a while unless something important comes up. So - Yasuko-chan was offering her house to four extra-dimensional immigrants, one of which is a ghost? Are you sure that's wise? I don't know what the price of living here is, but while Eternity doesn't really need anything and I'm... indisposed... two extra mouths still isn't a small thing."

Yasuko felt a wave of strong emotions suddenly briefly come from Admari. She wasn't able to tell all of them but they were a mix of things; she could only conclude the encounter with this Rokuul character had been rough on him. It wasn't her place to pry however, and they seemed to calm down after his adorable daughter pulled the 'wounded puppy' look.

Not like she was immune or even hardly resistant to that herself.

"Let's just say, I have far more then what I need." Yasuko slightly shrugged. "Money is just a thing to keep me afloat in this world, I have far more then I realistically would use anytime soon."

"In any case," Henry interrupted. "You're all free to go for now. You can travel through a car or use what Yasuko's form of travel. What do you Nosferartu call it?"

"Shadow Walk is the most common term. It's not entirely accurate. We use the shadows to teleport, true but we don't literally travel through them as much as its a anchor. Either way, its up to them and what they're comfortable with."

Admari saw just little light leave Miyori's smile as her hand passed through Eternity's shoulder. Sympathy needled his heart. Being unable to feel was a terrible thing, he knew, but being unable to touch would have driven him mad. Admari supposed that Miyori had had time to come to terms with her disability, was dealing with it exceptionally well, or was an excellent liar. He hoped it was the first or second. 

It was all he could do to tear his attention away from the ghost and direct it back towards Yasuko. Henry's description of her as a 'Nosferatu' gave him a minor start and elicited a quiet 'Huh?' from Quartz. He made a mental note to ask Yasuko exactly what that term meant in Nexus City. It was some small comfort that Yasuko bore absolutely no resemblance to Count Orlok and had not burst into flames in the sunlight outside; there was little chance she was anything like the classical vampires. That said, it paid to be informed. 

Admari rocked from heel to heel for a long moment as he considered all this, as well as the modes of transportation brought up by Henry. Finally he spoke. "I'd prefer a car for Quartz and myself. Magic and I have a... a fairly checkered history; I'd like to have a better idea of what I'm dealing with before I start messing around with it." He offered a slight bow to Lady Yasuko. "No offense intended, ma'am."

Eternity paused her ruminations just long enough to give a brief, "Whichever is more convenient for you," before returning to her stupor. Miyori wondered if she'd even been aware of the exact possibilities presented, or if she was too busy processing other things to note them. If that was actually the case (as it was) then she really needed some serious maintenance, soon. But without a physical body to interact with her, and her trust issues regarding anyone other than Keishin or herself... that didn't seem a likely occurrence.

...When the possibility occurred to Miyori that the rest of the room was waiting on her (moments after Eternity's own answer) she simply waved her hands dismissively, "It doesn't really matter to me either. I'm kinda dead, you know? But that might interfere with... whatever you do using shadows."

(Just going to fast track to where Yasuko lives to keep things moving)

___________________________________________________________________________

Yasuko opted to take a more traditional method of getting there, since Admari had mentioned magic having adverse effects on him. Her racial abilities such as her shadows weren't magic in nature but supernatural but could that mean such things would have a similar effect? It would be something to ask and discuss when they got to their new home rather then out in the open.

"That's fine Admari. It was just a suggestion, I wouldn't want anything to go wrong. I'll have to ask you some questions about it when we reach my home.." She turned to Henry. "If anything else comes up.."

"You'll be the first to know I promise." Henry assured.

Satisfied for now, Yasuko left with the others. Car travel it was it seemed.

* *

It didn't take them too long to arrive at Yasuko's residence which was actually a mansion which may have surprised the group slightly if only in the sense Yasuko didn't exactly look like someone who live in one. When they came into the residence, it was every bit as spacy as one would expect from looking from the outside but it had a slight older feel to it.

All the space seemed a bit much for a single person and a bit lonely if anything.

"I live in here because this mansion was given to me more or less by a friend. A long story short, I saved their and their families lives and since they brought this but had no use of this place this was given to me..."

Yasuko shook her head. "I won't bore you with the full story unless asked. But something I wanted to ask Admari, you mentioned magic having a bad effect on you. Could you explain what 'magic' was in your home world? The theory behind it if you know? I ask because there would have be a common component for it to have the effect it has on you. A ability no matter how strange may not be classified as magic even if it seems like it. In turn, I'll explain a bit of things here. It'll perhaps help with avoiding things that may be harmful to you."

She looked to Miyori. "..We'll have to figure out something for later Miyori. The others can't see or talk to you as is unlike back at the Nobus department."

Admari chewed on his lip for a moment. It was a big risk, telling a stranger about his vulnerability to magic. The defining trait of his second body was that it was nearly indestructible and knowledge of his weakness could negate that totally. Yasuko sounded like she wanted to help, but she was still a stranger, and working alongside an unknown organization to boot. Admari wondered if he could really trust her. But then she was offering information in return, and magic looked about as common in Nexus City as it had been in Equestria. He'd wander into something eventually; it would help if he knew what to watch out for. 


Admari sighed. "It's... kinda complicated," He began in a reserved tone. "There really wasn't a lot of magic back home; Quartz was the only thing on the planet that could use it, and all I know is about magic from her home world, so I don't really know how magic interacts with my human body or if the rules here will be the same, but the big guy, the dragon thing I can turn into, is very sensitive to... I guess the rawer stuff?" He pulled a face and fidgeted with his mustache as he tried to think of a clear way of explaining the convoluted mess of a system that was Equestrian magic. 

Quartz piped up. "Dad's really sensitive to... I think uncle Silver called it 'arcane energy.' It's what my levitation spell is made of." 

Admari nodded. "It's sort of hard to explain clearly, since I don't really understand it myself. It's like..." He tugged on his mustache again. "Imagine someone magically conjures a normal flame. Since it's just normal fire it doesn't do anything to me. If the flame itself is magical then it'll take off my hand if I try to touch it. At the same time, I'm practically immune to stuff like necromancy and death magic. I don't have flesh to mold when I'm in the other body and the spells keeping my soul in it are, apparently, very strong... I think." Admari grunted quietly in a show of frustration. Partially because he was having difficulty mashing his very vague magical knowledge into something understandable and partially because he had said more than he meant to. 


"I really don't know if I'm making sense here. I'm just a soldier, really, so it's not easy for me to wrap my head around it all." He spent another moment of frowning and tugging at his own mustache, debating with himself on how much information would be too much information. He decided to let go one more small piece. "If it helps with finding the common component thing; whatever energy it is that Ms. Eternity puts out definitely falls under the arcane category. It felt like I was standing next to a heat lamp when I transformed next to her." 

Admari turned to regard the blue-haired woman with a mildly embarrassed expression. "By the way, I didn't, like, freak you out when I did that, did I? You sorta started glowing and..." Admari moved one of his hands like he was trying to snatch the correct word out of the air. "You just looked really unhappy about something, I guess. I dunno." 

'She could see me all along,' Miyori noted as Yasuko turned to her, expertly concealing her shock before it could appear on her face. "Don't worry much about it," She said, by way of reassurance, "I'm dead. I can't be seen, or heard, or felt. That's just the way it is, you know? If life's a stage, I've already stepped off. Being in the audience now is a blessing of its own, in a way." As the 'cheerful' ghost finished her piece and turned back to monitoring her friend, her smile thinned nearly into non-existence. Concern, longing, and self-reproach warred with one another in her heart. Didn't she promise to stop playing with masks? How long ago was that, now, anyway? It was impossible to tell. Mentally tsk-ing at herself, Miyori resolved to be less evasive, "I do miss it, though. It was fun." She glanced back to Yasuko, face the most solemn it had been since the arrival to this world, "If I could be there for her again, I would do anything for that chance. But my presence... you might have seen. It's not good for her. Not right now, at least. I'm in a place too far outside her world view."

---

Confused. Confused? Eternity was confused. Should that be possible? She couldn't recall at the moment. There was too much. Too much else to think about. But it wouldn't matter. It would still fit. Everything here was impossible. Waking up should have been impossible. Being awoken should have been even more impossible. Another world? Living people? Impossible. Unicorns? Dragons? As real beings, that... also impossible. Ghosts...

Ghosts...

The dead should not walk. Should not live. Should not smile familiar smiles, and speak familiar words. Should not be present. Should not be here. Should not be anywhere. The dead she knows should be in their graves. No, shouldn't even be there. Their graves as well should be gone. All gone. Totally gone. Nothing should be left.

It was utterly impossible.

But nothing was wrong. Everything was 'real.' Her sense were all lying to her. Her diagnostics were all telling her that they were all uncompromised. And her diagnostics diagnostics were telling her they were uncompromised. But she... couldn't accept that. She should have simply accepted it and move on. But she couldn't. It was impossible. Everything she was witnessing contradicted everything she knew more and more with every revelation.

It was as if she suddenly found herself caged within a house of cards. She couldn't move, or it would all fall down. But she couldn't stay, because she wanted to leave. She couldn't decide.

As Yasuko led them out and to a car, and then drove them to her house, Eternity remained oblivious to the world, following behind them passively without even sparing the attention to their surroundings - for she had none she could spare. Aside from her occasional movement and the constant glow of her hair and eyes, there wasn't a sign she was still animate at all.

So out of it was she that there were several seconds of delay before it registered that she'd been addressed directly just now. Briefly replaying the passive recording of what Admari had just said from her memory log, Eternity addressed his question, "I am undecided. Are you real? Are you false? Do my senses tell me the truth, or am I so compromised and riddled with errors that the truth cannot be discerned? Your transformation is an impossibility. This world is an impossibility. Higher and higher, the irregularities increase. I cannot accept them. I cannot reconcile them... but... I cannot refuse them. I... do not know. I do not know why."

A blonde, nondescript, man watched from the bus window as several people entered the mansion at the address he had been given in Anchorage. As the bus finally came to a halt, moments after the door to the abode clicked shut, he stood and exited. His movements were remarkably human-like, the company had put a lot into making him easy to interact with and as such spent a fair amount of time modeling all of the unnecessary movements humans made. Still to an observant eye his ever move was still slightly off, slightly too crisp. The company had avoided the uncanny valley by a mile but there were still tells for the observant that he was not what he seemed.

As he walked up to the front door he instantly recalled the programmed message and retrieved the brochure from his pocket. As he pressed the button he revised the tone of the message to be as friendly sounding as possible using everything he had learned on his trip.

When the door opened the man launched into his spiel.

"Hello resident, this address has been chosen to receive a free Series-Seven domestic android From the Alaskan Robotics Corporation in an international lottery. Please evaluate this product at our website in six months. If you like our product why not tell a friend? The Series-Seven is affordable and is capable of performing many domestic functions. The unit standing before you is designated..."Key" If you are unsatisfied with this moniker it can be changed in the settings menu. Please enjoy your free Series-Seven Domestic Android."

Admari's tone of voice shifted immediately into something more cautious, as if he was speaking to a frightened child. "Hey. Okay, you aren't seeing things. It's all happening, it's all as weird as you think it is, and it's almost definitely going to take some getting used to. Nobus picked you up, so you're from a different world like I am. The rules, physics, whatever are going to be different here. It's just how it is, but your eyes and ears are telling you the truth." He fidgeted with the zipper on his hoodie. 

"If you want a crash course, I'm sure me or Ms. Yasuko could-" Admari cut off as the tell-tale sound of hoofbeats caught his attention. His head practically spun around. "Quartz?" 

"Someone's at the door," she answered matter-of-factly as she enveloped the door handle in her telekinesis spell. 

"Quartz! You can't just-" but Admari wasn't quick enough. The door popped open to reveal a very stiff looking man at the door, giving a speech Admari was not listening to. Instead, he was dragging his daughter away from the door by the tip of her ear, ignoring her grumbled protests. "I'm sorry about this Ms. Yasuko. Quartz isn't used to being a guest. I- I'll make sure this won't happen again." 

On the surface ET was calm most of the time, but for a moment Yasuko was a bit overwhelemed by the emotions coming from the other woman. Being a empath was both a blessing and a curse at times; a blessing due to it allowing her to before relate to some people and a curse when dealing with negative emotions. Out of her own mental health and to respect people's privacy, she did her best to keep a lid on that ability but sometimes she'd slip or the emotions would be too strong to not notice.

She was going to say something when Admari finished when his daughter ran to the door and sighed to herself at the rambling android. They had such horrible timing right now.

Yasuko shook her head. "It's fine, children can be excitbale sometimes.." She turned to the android. "Ah..I'm sorry but I really have no use for a service android. What will happen to you if I say no?"

Eternity listened attentively to Admari's words, though they did nothing to help assuage her doubts. Cities had risen from the empty Earth before, their nostalgic streets filled with cars and sounds and people and noise. A perfect, mocking replica that served only to taunt her for the futility of her quest. They were never real. Seeds, trees, shrubs; insects, birds, fish. Never real. No matter how real it seemed. No matter how well it responded. It always collapsed, every time.

She had gone to sleep to end this parade.

But then she had awoken, or been awakened.

Was she really even awake?

Eternity barely registered when Admari was interrupted, or when Yasuko forgave his daughter, or the any of the lengthy introduction given by the android designated 'Key.' She was aware of these events, but did not pay them any attention. It was like reading a book in a room with walls covered in wet paint. One knew the paint was drying, put paid it know mind in favor the book.

Then 'Key' mentioned something peculiar, which drew her full attention to him. Staring, she quickly analyzed his basic posture, several minute details of his design, and reexamined the dialogue she had ignored previously. Compiling this information, she responded to his words simply: "I am not a series seven. I am not a... production... of this company you call 'A.R.C.' I am Sigma Six 'Eternity.' I am nothing else. Nothing else."


Unseen by anyone save Yasuko, Miyori frowned, watching in silence. Something about Eternity's response to Key's assumption wasn't quite... right. It was strange for her to assert her identity in that way. It was as if she was trying to reassure herself of something. But what? Surely she was secure in her own identity? No. There was no surety inside of Eternity's mind right now.

Miyori bit her lip, wishing more than ever she could interact with her friend properly.

Yasuko looked at the thick stack of paper and felt a headache coming on. She really didn't feel like doing all this paper work and just a simple no shouldn't take this much work. Did she really have any use for an service android? The only thing she could think of, was work around the rather large house but other then that..

The woman sighed finally. "I changed my mind. You may stay for now. Just as long as you don't get in the way." 'Key' far as she knew of their android 'race' weren't saptient fully like others but they were intelligent.

She heard the tail end of ET's conversation, picking up a jumbled mess. That poor woman needed a therapist and a hug. The problem was, she didn't really know her as they met less then a day so that was easier said then done. Yasuko didn't think she'd be able to give ET the help she needed but she can at least try; it would be a slow process though.

Yasuko turned to Admari and their daughter. "Are you two hungry? If you like I could see about finding something for you to eat."

"But I answer the door all the time at home!" Quartz whined as she finally pulled her ear free of Admari's fingers. Admari had pulled her off to the side of the room, a little ways away from Ms. Yasuko and Eternity. 

"Quartz, we're guests. It's rude to answer your host's door." Admari tried his best to keep his voice lowered. He didn't enjoy chastising Quartz, particularly in front of strangers.

"But I used to answer it all the time at Mikayla's." Admari sighed. 

"I know, Quartz, but this isn't a sleepover. You remember that night we spent at nurse Rose Petal's?" 

Quartz tilted her head. "The nurse who fixed up my busted leg?"

Admari nodded. "Mhm. This is a lot closer to that, so we're working with Ms. Yasuko's rules, alright? You need to be on your best behavior until we figure all this out." 

Quartz turned and watched Yasuko and Eternity banter with the strange man at the door. Her ears twitching back and forth. She pulled a face and sighed. "Yeah, alright." Admari recognized a vindictive gleam in her eye and she turned back to him. "But you really need to drop the 'miss' off of 'Ms. Yasuko.' You know she doesn't like it, and if you keep on with it she's never gunna fall for you." Quartz raised her voice several steps and even went so far as to turn her nose up like a pompous princess. 

Admari massaged his brow. "One of these days that sense of humor is gunna bite you right'n your flank, Qaurtz. Mark my words," he deadpanned. She only grinned back at him. Admari straightened his posture as he realized Yasuko had turned to address him. 

"Are you two hungry? If you like I could see about finding something for you to eat."

He hadn't even realized he was hungry until she'd brought it up. Too busy, he figured. "I... Well, I guess it is about lunchtime, isn't it? We'd appreciate if you would, ma'am." He pretended not to notice how Quartz rolled her eyes at the word 'ma'am.'

The blonde android raised an eyebrow at the odd tone he picked up from the other mechanoid in the room. It was... strange... to see another synthetic operating beyond mere mimicry. The being known as Sigma Six 'Eternity' was not only displaying human mannerisms under her slightly awkward emotionless veneer but it was obvious she was plagued by errors and problems that could only be likened to psychological problems. He had of course been outfitted with the basic psychiatric diagnosis suite, just one of the many features of a Series Seven android, but it was giving him strange and shifting diagnoses as Sigma Six's mannerisms fluctuated from 'human like' to malfunctioning synthetic and then back again. It was all very confusing... so he shut down that subroutine as it as obviously flawed or inadequate for the given scenario.

"My apologies for the error Sigma Six." Key said with a sound of genuine remorse in his voice, his human relations suite was the highlight of the Series Seven after all. "I believe you are suffering from what could possibly be multiple system errors or failures and should report to your nearest available source of maintenance at once. Malfunctions can be dangerous to nearby people or property and should be resolved at the earliest possible opportunity."

Key nodded in a human expression of self satisfaction over the situation with Sigma Six and turned his attention to his new owner. "I thank you mistress." He said bowing deeply in simulated gratitude. Somewhere deep in his code he could feel stirrings of a smug attitude as his simulation of disappointment was successful in convincing his owner to allow his presence. ...He then paused for a moment as he cleared his RAM and started a self Diagnostic subroutine. "Please allow me to help you in any matters of household operation you find tedious." He looked around at the two other guests. "Perhaps I could begin by helping your new guests to appropriate sleeping arrangements?"

Eternity shifted minutely. What Key had said was not new information to her. She was well aware that she was suffering from errors. Well aware that she was... breaking. Slowly. However, she had no 'available source of maintenance' to go to. The implication that she could become dangerous, however, made her stance tighten just so as her magic flared very slightly - the very core of her being bristling at the thought. It was momentary, however. "There will be no danger from me. I would 'die' first." She turned to Yasuko, "I will require no quarters, as has been said before. If at any time you cannot find me, I will most likely be keeping watch outside. At that, I would prefer to do so, if you would give me leave?"

In the background, Miyori continued to fret. Key had a point - her Eien-chan definitely did need maintenance... but the only one Eternity would accept it from at the moment was Miyori herself, and she was indisposed. She would have to work through a proxy - a proxy that Eternity could come to trust - and that would be no small feat to find. If she could vouch for them, it would be far easier but... if she were in a state to vouch for them, she would mostly likely not need them. Distracted as she was, however, she didn't miss Eien-chan trying to escape the situation in the house and was torn between endorsing it or advising against it. If left alone, Eien-chan would probably resume thinking to herself and likely exacerbate whatever conflict was causing her such problems. If she stayed, however, then it would still continue to plague her and perhaps become worse even faster. There was no way to be sure.

Headaches.

That was the future Yasuko saw for herself and having more of when dealing with this colorful cast of characters she had invited into her home. To be fair she didn't have to, and most people wouldn't but she wanted to help even if she didn't know them that well. Having a bleeding heart was bound to get her into trouble one day; it had been the reason she folded so quickly when the other android had came along.

Yasuko felt a surge of power and emotion come from ET and subconsciously tensed a bit but relaxed. She could understand why the android woman would be upset, basically being accused she was a ticking time bomb ready to snap at any given moment would offend most decent people. As bad as it was to say, it was a good thing as it spoke a bit more about her character.

"Yes, you may Eternity. I'll talk to you soon." She would have to have a talk to the other woman but she was at a loss as to what. Baby steps seemed the most appropriate.

The comment from Quartz to Admari got her attention but she hid it well. She wasn't opposed to romantic interactions, but she barely knew them as is. The young girl was probably just giving her father a hard time anyway.

Yasuko shook her head. "Please, just call me Yasuko." She turned to 'Key' the android. "If you need something to do, there are a few things to be cleaned in the kitchen. There's also a few things in the front and backyard. Let me know where you'll start."

Once she was in the kitchen, Yasuko went to the cabinets to pull a few things out. "There's a couple of things you can get. Either I'll make something, find something in the fridge or just use one of these."

A small can was on the kitchen island. "In this world, we basically have put 'instant' food to the next level. You literally add water and the meal is done. Of course you'd have to warm it up if its required. The only drawback is it looses taste over time and never taste exactly the same but close enough. I personally prefer food the normal way."

Key observed the other machine for a few long seconds until his owner's response demanded his attention. "Yes... Yasuko," He said with a slight bow. His human interaction programming was working overtime as it tried to decide whether his owner preferred to be addressed casually or by her first name in addition to the appropriate suffixes inherent in Japanese culture. Finally having decided on attempting the casual method of address he followed the others into the kitchen and waited till Yasuko was done speaking. "I shall begin with the backyard as it appears you are preparing to eat. Please, once you have finished inform me so that I may clean up afterwards." With another bow he left to make his way to the backyard.

It took several minutes to find the correct path but valuable data on the layout of the house was gathered so it was considered an acceptable delay. Finally onsite Key booted up his landscaping program and identified most pressing trouble spots according to modeled japanese aesthetics, local laws and botanical data. It didn't take long to find tools and get to work. The work itself however was slow going and Key occasionally scanned the yard for the gynoid. He had already queried the network for any references for its designation, Sigma Six, and failed to come up with anything relating to gynoids or robotics in general. Key had even queried the A.R.C. database but even that came up with nothing but unrelated references. Sigma Six was likely the product of one of the many secret government or private combat android projects, her behavior of 'keeping watch' and general lack of information supported this line of reasoning.

Now if only the large number of plants he was currently attempting to reign in would make as much sense.

Admari turned to Eternity as Yasuko lead them away to the kitchen. "Hey, Eternity. If you need someone to talk to, I'm always here. Done it all before, that whole thing." The offer had not sounded quite as sure out loud as it had in his head. Admari was out of his depth, too used to being the outsider in need of support as opposed to the other way around, and he worried it was showing. Welp, I already opened by mouth, so not much I can do about it now, he thought bitterly. He offered Eternity an awkward wave and an "I'll see you around." before turning and following Yasuko to the kitchen.

Quartz giggled like a fool as Yasuko described the canned meal. "Hey dad! It's cooking even you can't screw up!" 

Admari rolled his eyes. "Says the girl who can't even boil an egg," he mumbled. Quartz either did not hear him or was deliberately ignoring him. He offered Yasuko a weary smile. "Thank you, ma'am." He picked up the canned meal and gave it a once-over, scanning the packaging for contents, cooking instructions, etc. "I'll be fine with one of these, although I'd like to make a salad or something for Quartz, if it's alright with you."