Lemons

Amygdala Circuit

On her trip down the elevator, Quinnlash cried. How could she not?

How long ago had she told Dr. Follen that she never wanted to leave the Aerie? That it had really become her home? She wasn't exactly sure, but she knew that it wasn't very long ago at all. Up there, in that hanging station that she watched recede into the darkness of space above her, was the only real home that she'd ever had, and the only people she'd ever really loved.

And now she was leaving. Being made to leave. So how could she not cry?

But still...she was about to do something incredibly important. So, as the trip down dragged on and her final hug with Dahlia and Besca stayed fresh in her memory, she grit her teeth, wiped her eyes, and dried her tears. By the time she reached the surface of Casoban--for the third time, she realized, once she'd gotten on the Aerie she'd been to Casoban more than she'd been to Runa--all that remained of the tears that she cried was a faint, vague redness around her eye that could easily be excused as nerves or sleeplessness, or even dismissed entirely.

And it was a good thing too, as she was led through the unbelievably loud crowd by Toussaint, the only Casobani person that she recognized in person, to a small cadre of the Very Important People. Toussaint, commander of the CSC. Pilots, new and veteran. And...the Prime Minister of Casoban. As he reached forward to shake her small hand, a small part of her--not Quinnlash, but her--was suddenly filled for the barest moment with a searing rage that this man had taken her away from her family.

But it only lasted a fraction of a fraction of a second before fading into gray ashes as she shook his hand back.

“Olivier Moroux,” he said. “Casoban is delighted to have you, miss Loughvein. I want to extend my sincerest thanks for your heroism. I think we can all sleep a little more soundly knowing you’re protecting us.”

As the handshake stopped, Quinn found her voice locked again. Just like it had been at the end of Mona's--like somebody was throttling her throat closed, strangling the air from her body. She felt suddenly like she couldn't breathe as the first fragments of a blinding panic started to rise within her...

...before she shut them down. Hard.

This was the only chance she had. The only way she could make things right after the disastrous fallout of her first, and so far only, duel. She had to do it, and she had to do it right, because EVERYTHING was riding on it. So she punched the rising hysteria down within her mercilessly, and forced a smile that was almost genuine out to her face.

I know you hate me, but...

"Thank you, Prime Minister Moroux," Her voice was quiet, but at least reasonably steady and self-assured, enough that she was almost surprised, though if you listened carefully there was still a noticeable quaver she couldn't quite shut down. "And thank you for this opportunity." What else should she say? Should she say anything else? Having all these unfamiliar eyes was taxing already. What was she supposed to say in front of them?

"I hope I can live up to the standards of your amazing Savior Corps, and I look forward to working with all of you."

Shelter: A Zombie Survival Story

---

As the helmet's contents clattered to the desk behind her, Shin-ae jumped, and the violin case that she held in her hand bumped into the cabinet she was searching with a loud thud. She directed a cold glare back at Ethan, but ultimately, she didn't see the point of yelling at him. He'd apologized anyway, so he wasn't likely to do it again.

Speaking of the cabinet, there wasn't anything of much use in it. Well, there was a small bottle of hot sauce, the really spicy stuff, nestled back against the wall. They could drink it if they needed to, but she would really prefer not to. She didn't know the brand. Still, no point in not taking it, it wasn't like it weighed much. She frowned to herself, looking up at the ceiling. Did she bring her water bottle today? She couldn't remember. If she had, it would be in her locker now.

Shaking her head--heading out to search her locker sounded hazardous right about now--she turned, shutting the cabinet again behind her and moving on to the next. Again, nothing of much use. Stacks of paper, notebooks, a box of pencils...she was about to close the door--last one on that side of the room--when she realized she hadn't searched the bottom shelf. Bending down, she peered in, ran her hand along the inside walls...

Ooh, that felt promising.

Withdrawing her hand, she found herself looking at a roll of duct tape. Used, clearly; there wasn't much left on there. But it never hurt to have. Tossing the bottle a few times up and down in her hand, she walked quietly over and put it down on the desk next to the chocolate bars with a soft clink, then dropped the roll of tape beside it, only half listening to what Ethan was saying. What a dumb question.

"Just about the only things worthwhile on that side of the room."

Lem's Stash

_______________________________________________ // INFO D A T A Full Name - Saiba Aoi Hometown - Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, Japan Quirk Type - Transformation Gender - Femme - // PERSONALITY P E R S O N A L I T Y Hyperactive Aoi is fairly bursting with energy, all the time.. Often she needs to be reminded to slow down before she snowballs herself out of control, which is quite a common thing, all told. She is a chatterbox of the highest order; her mouth running like a faucet is second nature to her. Her attention span is questionable at best, and prone to wandering much of the time. All that being said, though, when it's time to go do hero things that energy becomes a tremendous asset, allowing her to keep pushing on and giving 110% for quite a long time. Mischievous But when she's not 'doing hero things,' that energy is still there, and it does still have to go somewhere. Aoi is an unrepentant prankster, often leveraging her Quirk to jump around into other students' devices and sticking around for a while to mess with them. She never really wants to cause any real problems with this; she has less than zero interest in blackmailing or coercing or any of that distinctly non-heroic stuff. But while she'd never intentionally hurt you, she can be exremely annoying. Positive Still, for all that irritation she can bring...she can still always be counted on to have a smile on her face. And while her having her grinning at you after she calls your mom through your cell phone without you knowing can be frustrating, having her stepping forward with a grin when things get bad and your backs are to the wall is another thing entirely. Even when playing her pranks, she is ever a font of limitless cheer, just as ready to laugh at herself as she is to laugh at you. She holds no grudges from pranks--turnabout is fair play, after all--and it really takes some doing to pull the smile off her face.

Physical Description Saiba Aoi is...not tall. Standing at a tiny 148cm (more or less 4'10"), she is head and shoulders below several of her classmates, and still significantly shorter than even the other 'short' students. Cornflower blue hair tied in twintails and bright blue eyes frame and sit atop a narrow, pale face that is nearly always sporting a big smile. Her frame is as small as the rest of her and as narrow as her face. Her legs are long (proportionately, at least) and as slender as the rest of her. She is fairly weak as far as appearances go, with relatively undeveloped musculature. Still, though she isn't strong by any means, she's much stronger than she looks. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the obvious appearance: her legs evaporate into pixels and electricity, and then nothingness, from her mid-shin down. She can't fly or anything, but it does mean she never needs to touch the ground. It must be noticed that with her Quirk fully active--that is to say, with her entire body digitized--she changes appearance slightly on whatever screen she manifests on. Her cornflower blue hair fades to glowing electric blue at the tips, and her blue eyes turn to a bright turquoise-cyan. She gains a few digitized lines on each cheek. Whatever she's wearing or carrying at the time comes with her when she jumps in. Excepting, of course, her phone if she uses it to jump in. While at school she wears her Ishin Academy uniform as per requirements, when she's got the choice to wear something else she is inordinately fond of a tracksuit jacket with hugely oversized sleeves into which her arms just about disappear. Personal History Aoi has always been a computer person. Even when she was a small child, she was endlessly fascinated by them, often spending hours poking at them (and accomplishing nothing, of course, she was a small child after all). Her mother Kimiko, a four-armed programmer, indulged her daughter, let her fiddle around to her heart's content as long as she didn't touch the work stuff. Still, as Aoi grew, she nursed a private worry. Quirks were inherited. But Aoi didn't have four arms like her, and her husband... ...Well, Saiba Ryoutarou was Quirkless. And as Aoi grew and grew, past six, seven, eight, it looked like she might be Quirkless too. And some of the kids at school were starting to notice. So both Kimiko and Aoi were delighted--though Kimiko was deeply confused--to find that Aoi's legs had flickered and faded into pixelated data. And when she proudly walked into the classroom, hand in her pocket with her phone, and fell due to her unfamiliar physiology...she vanished. The class was instantly freaked out, and the teacher, even more so, running over in fear. Until... "Whoaaaa!" Character Arc Perhaps it's not obvious at first glance what's up with Aoi, and where her character development will go. Well, I point you to the above backstory and ask you to consider it. For as cheerful and chipper as Aoi is all the time, she's also burdened down by feelings of inadequacy. Being treated as Quirkless until mid-elementary school, and then being told, however gently, that her Quirk just wasn't cut out of hero work... well, it's left some marks on her psyche. Quirk Description Aoi's Quirk is Cyber Jump. Full Description A transformation-type Quirk, it allows her to turn her body into computer data. Passively, as mentioned, her legs end mid-calf, and so instead of walking she floats a little ways off the ground. This gives her some advantages, like never needing to touch the ground when she needs to sneak around or if there's something hazardous on the ground, as well as giving her a certain level of controlled descent as long as she's falling feet first. However, it also has a major caveat attached: her legs either being immersed in or deluged with a sufficient amount of water, or being struck with a powerful enough electrical shock, can short her legs out and stop her from 'walking' for anywhere from a few seconds to a handful of minutes as they reboot. They've got a few other properties as well; while she accelerates slower than most, once she's up and running she also runs faster than most, and while she can't jump at all from a standstill, her jump height is dependent on how fast she's going. At her current maximum speed--roundabout sixteen mph--she can jump about four feet in the air. Actively, she can turn herself entirely into data, jumping into a device and working as a rogue computer program of sorts. She can either enter through a data stream that she has access to--i.e. disappearing into the camera network after being recorded by jumping after her recording--or perform a manual override by touching the object. Once she's inside, she can move around the settings and data of the machine as she wishes, pretty much setting the rules inside of whatever device she's in. Pretty much nothing happens that she can't control. She can also jump from device to device as long as there's a stream of data connecting the two that she can use as a pathway, whether that be hopping between computers on the same Wi-Fi network or calling someone from inside of a phone and then hopping along the cell data. That said, this power is certainly not limitless. First, in addition to the limitations of where she can enter a device, she can only leave at a terminal--she can't just jump out of a Wi-Fi signal in the middle of a house, only out of a computer, or phone, or router--and she can't leave instantly at any time. According to her, the dataspace of any given device has an 'exit door' that she needs to get back to before she can leave (although the same is true for riding on signals, it's MUCH faster for her, she can zip along one in less than a second as long as she's paying attention). And while she's immune to physical harm, there are a suite of other things that can spell disaster for her. While she can stop commands to shut a computer or phone down, there's nothing she can do to stop someone from unplugging it, or taking out the battery. If that happens, then as long as the device is off, so is she; in a state of unconsciousness for as long as it takes to turn back on. If access to a network is revoked while she's in a device, whether by unplugging an ethernet cable or having the signal itself shut off (she can turn off airplane mode if it's turned on, so that doesn't do much), she is trapped inside of that device and can't leave until it's either reconnected, or plugged in to a different device manually, after which she can jump up the cable. And finally, and most dangerous: if a device is destroyed and she can't jump out in time, either through not paying attention, or the device being switch off...then it's lights out for her, forever. Description in brief: Passively, Aoi has digitized legs that have different properties than normal people, cutting off some avenues and opening up others. Actively, she can transform into computer data, jumping inside of a terminal. She can travel at internet-fast speeds on Wi-Fi, data cables, or wire connections, but needs to open a channel through cell data by making a call at the moment, and can only travel between devices; she can't jump out midway. If the device she's in is disconnected from all data, she can't exit it. If it's turned off, she goes unconscious until it goes back on. If it's destroyed, she dies.

Arknights: 5S

Side note, my internet had an seizure so I double posted by mistake, my bad.

Arknights: 5S

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Arknights: 5S

Ah whoops, my bad, will fix.

Victorians wheeeeee

Arknights: 5S

Victorians.

Almost on instinct, Aoife felt her neck tense up.

Victorians.

As yet, she hadn't told any member of Rhodes Island any piece of her past more than they were required to know. She didn't have any kind of Dublinn iconography left on her, nothing that would indicate any kind of allegiance. The only thing to hint at her origin was the unshakeable accent that clung to her every word, something that she could stop no more than breathing. And in Rhodes Island, it seemed that nobody particularly cared. She thought she'd heard someone else talking in a similar accent, but every time, she'd turned and walked the other way. She didn't want to deal with any of it anymore. In all likelihood there was no link to Dublinn; but there could be, and that was enough.

The crystals embedded in her left shoulder twinged, and she winced as she rolled the joint. It never did anything for the pain, but she couldn't help but do it anyway.

That being said...as little as Rhodes Island seemed to care about the few hints of her past that she gave off...Rhodes Island weren't Victorians. She had a bit of a paranoia attached to them ever since she could remember; and the County Hillock incident had only made it so much worse. Being around any number of them now was enough to make her skin start to itch, and certainly enough to stay well and truly silent. Ideally, to never see or interact with them at all.

But this wasn't exactly an ideal situation.

So Aoife turned to Seven, wiping the fringe of her hair away from her face, where it had already begun to take on sweat. "Think being Rhodes Island could give us some pull on customs?" A pause as she inhaled a long breath--"You know better than me."

Heiseina: Memories Long Forgotten

---

For a brief moment after Mio stopped her from falling and helped her up, the two of them just stared at each other, and Haruhi became keenly aware of how much taller than her Mio was.

Then Mio jerked away with a "sorry," and, stare-off broken, Haruhi jerked, then blinked in confusion. Sorry? Sorry for what? She'd saved Haruhi from bonking her head on the floor, if anything Haruhi should be apologizing to her. So...what? But before she could ask, Mio poked her head out into the forge, observed what was going on. Haruhi would normally want to be there looking out as well--her curiosity was a powerful force indeed--but more powerful was that feeling of apprehension and fear she'd felt, enough to make her sick. So instead she slumped up against the wall, still breathing heavily, and trying to calm herself down. She lifted her hands up in front of her, staring at them as they trembled. She'd never felt anything like that before.

"One moment."

Haruhi's head jerked up to find Mio stepping out of the smithy where they stood, and out into the open air. A moment later and she was lost to view. A part of Haruhi wanted to go out and see what she was doing, but just the thought of going towards the man--what was it, Katsuro?--sent another bolt of lightning through her. So no, she would be in here until he left, she decided. She didn't know what he was carrying, what it did. The voices she heard--Keiko and Fumiko, it seemed--didn't seem nearly as spooked as she was, so maybe it wasn't that big a deal; but Haruhi trusted her instincts, and whatever it was, if it elicited that level of fear from her, it was probably best to keep away from both him and it.

---

Interactions: Mio @McMolly Fumiko @Queen Arya Keiko @Asura

Amygdala Circuit

Quinn took a long, deep breath, staring up at the perfect night sky that hovered above them. The faraway Hovvi moved with a dreamy blur, and her heart squeezed with what in the waking world might be pain, as vague, scattered memories of a sunny day months back passed behind her eye. But the memories were quiet, and the pain was eclipsed; not only by the deadening effect of the dream, but by her own pride alongside Quinnlash's. And her each word rang true: Quinn nodded and stretched, taking another deep breath.

"Yeah.. Her voice was quiet and warm, and she looked down on the little her with a smile that was gentle, but no less happy. "Yeah, we did it." They'd done it. They really had. They had lived up to what it meant to be Ablaze. Screw all the people telling her that she'd done something wrong by crediting someone with saving her life. The same people had told her to either kill Roaki outright, or leave her for dead. Sure, Axan Dane was a Euseran, and from what she'd seen, the Euseran Reputation was well-earned. But as far as Quinn could tell, Axan had dropped into danger, saved her life, and asked for nothing in return.

Plus, she also didn't like dueling, it seemed, and in Quinn's book? That was a win right there.

She stood from her seat, ambling over to the cooler and pulling out a pouch of melonberry juice. Popping the straw in, she took a long drink, and the nostalgia and memory of that day that felt so long ago--the good parts--filled her up like nothing else. Looking up at the stars again, she smiled softly.

"It's so beautiful."

Amygdala Circuit

With the laundry situation over and done with and Dahlia calm, Quinn sank down further into her chair, throwing the crook of her elbow over her face as she tamped down the entire nightmarish half an hour she'd just had. Really, it would be so much better to completely forget everything that had happened after she'd hugged her sister in the hangar. All the complicated junk that everyone (her included, of course) had to deal with now. At least for a while.

All the while, she pondered what Dahlia had asked. What did she want to eat? At that exact moment, she was pretty sure that she couldn't stomach much, but she knew as well as anyone that she'd need to eat eventually. She heaved a long sigh, trying to think back to things that she'd seen made, or seen in cookbooks and coming up with very little. She sighed again, then dragged her arm away from her face and hauled herself to her feet, making a beeline towards the kitchen. If she couldn't remember any of the recipes she'd seen or anything she really wanted to eat, then she'd just need to scan the cookbooks until she found something.

Plucking a book from the small shelf on a whim, she found herself looking at a book of Lombardi recipes. Plunking it down on the kitchen table, she popped it open to a random page, but found nothing interesting. She let her cheek rest on her hand, turning the pages as she tried to find something she wanted to eat.

Oh, hey, that looked good!

She perked up, instantly paying more attention to the picture, then the name, then glancing over the list of ingredients. Without looking up, she called out,

"Hey, Deelie...? Have you ever heard of something called 'fettucine alfredo' before?"