#sonnya danae

[whiskeyworen]

So yeah, I absolutely bought the Maid/Butler bundle. It was an absolute must. Sonnya looks fantastic in it. That alone makes me happy I bought it. I really like how Asura side-toes basically get their own itty bitty shoe attached to the main shoe. No squeezing toes into a human-shaped shoe. Surprisingly, I was really happy how you can see your characters’ physical build. Like, Sonnya is tall, but has some meat to her, while Tenna is just as tall, but is a gangly bean pole. With typical gear or outfits, it’s kinda handwaved for the most part. But here you can really see it and I like that. Also, don’t drink Tenna’s tea unless you got a strong stomach. And she yes, she absolutely would use HE frag grenades to ‘clean’ a room.

[whiskeyworen]

I never thought I'd get to see them all on the same screen, but here we are. Thanks to the Homestead, I got all three sisters in the same spot. On the left with the orange eyes is Tenna Danae, my Engineer and... well, basically mad scientist/demolitionist. Her self-experiments have rendered her into a very unique state that, unfortunately, means she needs to eat a lot. A lot. Or risk going feral. In the middle is her older sister, the middle child, Miriya Danae. Necromancer, Once-Dead, Blessed by Death. She's hesitant to use the Death Shroud, because it gives a false feeling of invincibility and a MASSIVE dopamine rush. The longer she uses it, the more she never wants to let it go. So she's gone cold turkey for a long time now. On the end on the right is Sonnya Danae; Older sister, Guardian, and damned near unkillable bulwark of holy fire. Her quest to become 'better' has led her down some immoral scientific roads, but has culminated in her body containing magitech augments of such fine construction they are indistinguishable from her own flesh. She's learned a lot over the years, and has fine-tuned her personal tech and armor to make her a real threat. Just...watch out when her eyes start glowing blue.

[whiskeyworen]

So, I was gonna post about the new Elite Specs...but...

Then I learned there was a new Outfit. One that I had jokingly mentioned to friends so long ago that I can’t remember when. That it was only a matter of time. Especially with the Lovestruck and Devoted skins. The Magical Girl Outfit skin. The time has come. The first thing that popped into my head was “Sonnya as a Magical Girl” So here you go. My nigh-indestructible, power-armored wearing, dragon-shattering Firebrand... is now a Magical Girl. I honestly don’t know if she’d hate me for putting her in this outfit, or if she’d be glad because she doesn’t get to wear dresses or anything like that in the Vigil.

I swear to god, this outfit should come with an emote that can only be used when the outfit is in use, where the character does one of a dozen randomized Magical Girl poses, with or without weapon in hand.

They even did a cute little thing and made the asura side-toe covers look like hearts! And she’s got HEELS. I think that’s one of the first times I’ve seen an Asura in heels.

Sufficed to say, I’m gonna be running Sonnya like this for a fair bit. LoL. So be prepared to see a little Asura Firebrand magical girl absolutely wiping dragon minions from the face of Tyria. LoL. (now if I can only find someone to draw her in that outfit. LOL. Really amp up the kawaii factor to teeth-grindingly sugary-sweet levels).

[whiskeyworen]

I know it’s kind weird, but I really like how Sonnya looks in this outfit. She spends so much time in heavy armor when fighting, I really like how ArenaNet gave us Outfits that can let me make her look lovely. I especially love that back window with the necklace-type things (I don’t know what they’re called cuz I don’t know clothing design) hanging down. If I could find an artist who could do a lovely, glamor pic of Sonnya in a dress like this, or something similar, I’d be happy. I think, out of her and her sisters, Sonnya is probably the prettiest one.

[whiskeyworen]

Well well well! Look who Sonnya got PUG’d up with for the new DRM! This was the only moment I had a chance to snap a pic. LoL. @brax-was-here was that you? I couldn’t be sure cuz I didn’t get a chance to check my friends list for anyone.

[whiskeyworen]

“Captain Sonnya? Are... Are you alright?” The Vigil soldier asked carefully. After all the things that lit on fire, exploded, melted, and other such changes of matter in the last half hour, he didn’t exactly want to get close to whatever the Six was happening to the Captain. Sonnya, on the other hand, was distracted. Very distracted. That same half hour had been some of the most intense combat she’d had to deal with in a while. She’d only just come back from an Icebrood incursion near Bloodtide Coast, when the call went out for any and all active Vigil members to converge on the Ascalon settlement. She hadn’t even hesitated, and powered her way all the way into the township. She thought she’d be fighting at 50% capacity. Sonnya had taken some hard hits from the Icebrood, and her armor’s systems were working overtime to patch up the damage it could. Painkillers, adrenalin, magically-enhanced concoctions that would have made an chemical engineer drool or scream in terror pumped through her. That... and the liquid Brandstone in her armor’s piping had picked up something new. Something cold. Sonnya was still processing it now, but apparently her use of liquid Brandstone as a conductive fluid might have been a mistake; the corrupted magic of Jormag was filtering into it, a dose at a time, every time she had taken a strike from a magical attack. The itching cold sank through the piping, and into her skin, her flesh and bone. Through all her augmentations. And then something interesting had happened. Something unexpected. She’d blocked a backhand from a Destroyer crab -- and the moment it made contact with her armor it was blown back a bit, basalt skin cracking, the fiery glow in its gaps suddenly winking out like a candle blown out in a high wind. As it died, the magic Primordus had imbued it with tried to move. Tried to transfer. Or perhaps her armor, given the fact its power source was tapping into the Mists now and had been for a long time, had drawn it towards it. Pulled it in. And it was warm. Warm... Hot... And so full of wrath. Her armor, all of her systems, all of it had gone berzerk. Power meters shot through the roof as the two contradictory energies tried to at first absorb and dominate her power cores...and then began to self-annihilate within them. So...much... POWER.... The sheer charge of all that power; she’d never felt anything like it!! It almost made Sonnya giddy, lightheaded, as she cleaved her way through Destroyers. Her axe split them as surely as a monofilament wire, leaving icy hoarfrost in its wake. When she breathed fire through her torch, it left her lips blue and frosted, and caused the Destroyers to explode with thermal contraction. She swept through the Destroyers like a vengeful god, laughing as she did so. Their claws shattered against her shields, now powered to unrivalled levels, even as she turned them into piles of hissing rubble. And then, somehow...it was over. So there she stood, staring blankly, breathing heavily and still giggling a bit. The rush was still there. The power was still infusing her body and her systems. But... even as she watched, the meters began to slowly drop. Without fresh infusions, she’d be back to normal levels in an hour or so. She blinked, roused from her reverie by the cautious voice of the other soldier. He was looking at her with something that seemed like fear, or concern. There was no way Sonnya could know that, with the power of both Dragons fighting within her, her entire being had taken on a darker, more menacing aspect. She didn’t look like herself... but she didn’t know that. “Captain Sonnya? You good?... you’re looking a bit... different.” Sonnya looked at her hands, focusing her magic there, letting it flow. One hand began to glow a furnace-bright yellow orange, but didn’t grow hot at all. The other frosted over, arcs of icy lightning sparking off it, but didn’t grow cold. She giggled again, closed her eyes, and took a deep, cleansing breath. She could still feel her pulse pounding in her head, and knew what kind of tremendous power was behind it. Sonnya opened her eyes, and smiled. It was supposed to be a pleasant smile. A kind smile. But the way she looked....the Vigil soldier took a step back just in case. “Me?.... I’m feeling FINE....”

[whiskeyworen]

This is puzzling. I was running Sonnya through Frostgorge Sound because...well, I noticed I hadn’t finished it, and I was in a mood so I needed to blow off some steam. Pounding Icebrood into shards and stomping Dredge Commissars is just the thing. But just as I finished the Groznev Delve area, I turn around and... this. It’s an archaic Grenth statue, with his antlers, deer/calf mask, hood, and bodies coming up from the ground below to grasp at the hem of his robes. Just one problem; this is in the very heart of a deep Dredge excavation/mining site. There was nothing here before the Dredge. The only native populations in the area are the refugee Quaggan, refugee Kodan, Dredge miners, and dispatched forces from the Pact. There are no native human populations for maps in any direction. This is like digging into the Canadian Tundra and discovering an Egyptian monument to Thoth buried in the permafrost. Are the Dredge worshipping Grenth? I thought they didn’t believe in gods and such. The Kodan don’t, not really; they follow a kind of pragmatic buddhism or something. And the Quaggan only worship Mellaggan (and they wouldn’t be underground anyway). Who made this thing, and why?

[whiskeyworen]

Okay. So... no cute story involving these looks. But I was at work when someone in one of my social circle groups tossed up the official GW2 update notes that included this new Queensdale Academy outfit... and I had to have it. I mean, sure, first I quizzed that friend on whether Asura females actually get the skirt or if they do the gent thing, like some of the other outfits, and they let me know that yes, they do. So I KNEW I had to have it. Specifically for Sonnya, but it might have made a cool casual look for Cyrus (something I’ve been looking for, for the last little bit through armor cobbling). Oh wow. It looks great. Especially on Sonnya. I love the little round glasses on her. (One of my weaknesses). So I just wanted to show what it looked like on a few of my favorite characters. Enjoy!

[whiskeyworen]

Back when I joined my gw2 discord group, I’d made an offhand remark at one point, after showing a particular screenshot, of wishing they had kind of a loose-hair style for Asura. One that kept the hairstyle I’d had on Sonnya, but like, just...longer. @mavelleofdawn was nice enough to do a really quick and awesomely done edit of that screenshot, which I went nuts over. I saved the pic, but in my hurry I lost track of where I saved it on my system, and the thread on the discord had very much accelerated so far it was almost useless to go back and hunt it down (and I couldn’t remember which channel It’d been in). But tonight I found it, so now I wanna show it off! Sonnya with long hair! I still wish fervently that this hairstyle existed in game! I wanna see her running around with her hair flowing behind her, trailing her in jumps, and flowing forward when she stops suddenly. She just looks so damned pretty with it like that. I’ll make it story-canon if I can, but damn do I wish it was GAME-canon.

[whiskeyworen]

Nothing was right here. It all felt wrong. ALL of it. No matter where she patrolled in the Marches, she always felt like she was being watched (they are watching you.). It was eerie. When she was alone at camp, she could feel it as an itch in her neck. A tingle in her gauntlets. The thorns in them even seemed to bite a bit harder in the cold. (It is the Kodan. They can’t be trusted.) It had to be the Kodan. I mean, these...people...were living in Drakkar’s backyard, possibly only a hundred miles or so from wherever Jormag itself was sleeping. Every time there’s a Dragon nearby, the locals aren’t what they seem to be. It never failed. (They’ve fallen to Jormag. Trust me.) It didn’t help they kept doing weird things. In one single patrol, Sonnya had run into some of the strangest encounters, each one setting her ears back and her skin crawling. All of them featuring those damned Kodan... She’d been crossing the lake (carefully, since Drakkar might have been able to hear her moving), when she found half a dozen Kodan just...sitting there. They were in a kind of circle, but loose, like they’d nearly formed the circle but just gave up. Each one was tiredly looking around, but from what she could see none of them had their eyes open. Actually, scratch that; they couldn’t see at all because their eyes were entirely encrusted in ice, and sealed closed. (They were blinded by their belief in Koda. So Jormag blinded them in turn) They all asked her, one after another, to read from a book. Somehow, they’d all pointed at the same spot in the snow and ice, where sure enough, a rime-crusted book lay. Sonnya picked up the book, reluctantly glancing around at the quiescent, listening Kodan, and opened it. She didn’t recall what she read at all, but when she stopped blinking her weeping, tear-crusted eyes, tears frozen to her cheeks by the wind, all the Kodan were gone. There was no sign they’d ever actually been there. No disturbance in the snow. She could see where she walked up to them, from her own prints...but none of theirs. And the book itself had vanished from her hands. When Sonnya checked her armor’s clock, she found that more than forty minutes had passed. Forty minutes she couldn’t recall. And on top of that, her suit’s heaters had been turned way down. Those damned Kodan did something to her. (of course they did) Messed with her head. Then there was that encounter with the weird carving Kodan in the ruins of that old Ice Ship. Her patrol that day had meant Sonnya had to wander the streets and tunnels of that broken, frozen ruin. That’s when she stumbled upon him in front of a long sheet of ice, in some dark alleyway of the wreck. He had his back to her and was chipping quickly, furtively, at the wall. It didn’t look like he was trying to cut a block out or anything, or repair some damage. When she tried to edge closer, to get a better look, he spun on her, screaming that it wasn’t ready yet, and to just give him some time. Ears back, skin crawling, she did. She couldn’t pass him until he was done anyway; the way he crouched, and how he’d reacted to her even at a distance meant she couldn’t get close to him to pass him. (they’re all tainted) Eventually the sound of ticking and scraping had died away, and the Kodan sighed in relief, stepping back from whatever he’d done. “Okay... It is done. You can see it now. Tell me what you think of it?” So she stepped close to the wall, keeping an eye on him as she did so. He just stood there, smiling pleasantly. He looked exhausted, but happy. Sonnya frowned, and turned her attention to the wall. To her surprise, he hadn’t carved some insignia, or graffiti, or anything. Instead, in tightly packed, extremely hard to read Tyrian, something had been scrimshawed into the ice. It was so unbelievably small and tightly-spaced that she had to lean right in before she could read it properly. I waited for Sonnya Danae to turn her back. And then I tore her throat out... The first line alone was enough to send a shock of ice right down her spine; Sonnya had definitely not told this Kodan her name. She hadn’t even spoken to him. There was absolutely no way this bear, so far from civilization, detached from even its own people, could have learned her name. The second line had her seeing red. In a heartbeat, her weapons were drawn, her implants going to the limits of safety, all defenses up. She would annihilate him if he even attempted to touch her. (Not Strong Enough) He was still behind her, uncomfortably close, as he had been before she read the note. But he still stood there, arms crossed, a blissful glaze in his eyes as he smiled. With a sigh, he admitted that he was inspired by something in the wind. Like the blowing of the wind had woken a thought in his mind, and he simply had to act on it. So he’d carved what it said to him, so he could have someone else read it. Sonnya slowly backed away from the Kodan carver, not saying a thing, even as the polar bear’s euphoria-glazed eyes tracked her until she disappeared around a corner. She immediately went back to base, and asked to be relieved of duty that day. (Not Strong Enough) Now, there was THIS encounter. Sonnya had trudged her way through a blizzard, once again alone on patrol (damn those new recruits, getting lost and dying in the snows) when she came upon... tragedy. There was no other way to describe it. It looked, to her eyes, like an entire village of Kodan had abandoned their shelters, and come out near this rock, on the edge of the lake. There they’d just...stayed, until they collapsed from the cold, or sank to their knees and died. There were a few that seemed to have even just lay down and fallen asleep in the snow. But there was one survivor left. He stood before.... before the focus of whatever had drawn his village out. Alchemy knows what he was seeing, because he talked to it as if it was an old friend, a family member. He even turned to greet her tiredly and ask her to come chat as well. It was an idol of Jormag. The ice it was made of almost glowed with corrupted power, and the basalt pillar it curled around was engraved with glowing, sky-blue runes. Sonnya stared at the idol, feeling the power wafting off it. The eyes of the dragon on it seemed to consider her. Maybe it was a trick of the blurring snow, the chill wind against her eyes making them water, but for a moment, just a moment, it looked like the thing smiled at her. Not an evil leer, or a grimace, but an almost pleasant smile that left her with a moment of warmth....before the Kodan beside her spoke again and she snapped back to reality. She didn’t say anything to him. Instead, she stepped forward, and amping up her implants to a safe, high power level, she swung a right hook into the side of the idol. The sheer force her implants and armor imparted to the strike blew an entire, fist-sized section out of the pillar, and shattered an entire coil of the dragon on it.  Its magic now disrupted, the idol folded in on itself collapsing in a small detonation of light and sound. That last Kodan blinked bleary eyes, looked around, and realized his kinsmen were frozen. Dead. He looked at the Vigil soldier who stood before him, her eyes hard as ice, her fists encased in cold fire, and recognized her displeasure. He beat a swift retreat, as she began to attend to the dead. (Not Strong Enough) She wasn’t strong enough yet. She felt weak still. (Harden your heart. Make it a fortress.) There was work to be done. Emotions couldn’t be allowed to rule her. She told herself this, even as she excavated a hole with her scepter’s power, carving a great furrow in the permafrost for bodies. (Harden it like ice. Ice protects. It fortifies. It LASTS) This place wouldn’t break her. But she didn’t have to like being here. She really didn’t like it at all. Too much was ‘wrong’ here.

[whiskeyworen]

Story Masterpost List

I finally have time for a revised masterpost! So here we are. I’ll put the Guild Wars 2 fics up top cuz they’re far more popular. But please, feel free to read my other stuff too! Guild Wars 2 fics (These are as close to chronologically aligned as I can make them. I tend to jump around the timestream a bit) Maeva - Bloodline Miriya - The Rite Miriya's Pad Fateful Encounter Miriya - Sisters Tenna - Alive Tenna - Dangerous Creatures Corvus Corvidae - The Weight of Responsibility Cyrus - Halloween Tenna - Halloween Kaleb & Miriya - The Sword Sonnya - Shatterpoint Resolutions Sonnya - Feline Friend Aspect 1 - Alternative Thinking Aspect 2 - Of Humor and Family Aspect 3 - Of Forgiveness and Justice Aspect 4 - Of Inspiration and Communication Aspect 5 - Of Confusion and Identification Aspect 6 - Inclusion Tenna and the Mystery Potion Stormy Thoughts  Alice - Historical Simulation: Zhaitan's End Alice - Historical Simulation: Fort Trinity Celebration Characters vs Whispers Sonnya and the Whisperer Non GW2 stories (Mostly prompt based) Curio Shop of Unusual Wares Insatiable Urge to Write Demon Dating

A Mediocre Superpower “They have my Daughter...” Cutepocalypse I’m an NPC The Devil came down to D&D Suburbs & SUVs Otherworldly Dating 1 (Ears) Otherworldly Dating 2 (Eyes) I was the Villain all along It came up the Stairs...and Tripped The Overly-loving Dragon Matriarch The Monster under the Bed The Silence of being Alone Conversations with a Goddess (S)Hell Station A Special Kind of Hell At 3 AM

[whiskeyworen]

Last night the Mistspread Guild finally got around to trying for a Guild Hall in Gilded Hollow. It was a great experience, and we did a pretty darn good job. Spent the rest of the nice exploring the place, and HOLY COW is it huge. I had no idea how big it was. I physically got lost in such a way that has not happened since Tangled Depths. I’ve tagged everyone I can easily identify (I’m still learning who is who is who, if you get me. Discord v Character v Tumblr profile (if they have one)). I apologize to anyone I haven’t tagged, or tagged incorrectly. This was so great for me. I’ve been playing since about six months after launch...and this was probably the first real time I’ve felt like I’m part of a guild. Like, the concerted effort thing. We planned for this, we got together, did our research, and then got it. And then spent like, 4 hours doing a high-speed turnkey upgrade to everything. LoL. @lesbiancharr, @canid-slashclaw, @phnx-rosemary, @intern-seraph, @mavelleofdawn + others I don’t know the screennames of.

[whiskeyworen]

Sonnya and the Whisperer

It had started the moment she set foot in the Vigil base. From the looks she was seeing on her fellow soldiers' faces, Sonnya could somehow tell that they all knew something was 'off'.

She could practically smell it in the air. Sonnya didn't bother checking her magic sensors, or anything like that; it was easily apparent there was a lot of magic flowing through the whole region.

Not strong enough. The thought had always haunted at the back of her mind, especially since the Shatterer incident. Sonnya had reworked her armor half a dozen times, reinforcing it. She'd added an undersuit layer that distributed impact damage by hardening, using a layer of liquified Brand crystal; the same kind of liquid crystal that was used to forge all those hundreds of Dragonsblood weapons. But yet....she still wasn't strong enough.

Stay here... They were still moving bodies from the barracks. As she wandered the empty building, her stomach wanted to turn at the sight of the piles of bodies dragged haphazardly to open areas. She knew their destination; once identifying items and trinkets were removed to send back to family, the bodies would be incinerated. No one wanted their comrades to return if there was a chance Jormag had absorbed any Zhaitan-based necrotic magic. There was a team of elementalists outside in a secluded area of the courtyard that were in charge of keeping the fire raging hot enough. They also had stomachs of steel, and a deep respect for those they had to dispose of.

The funeral pyre was also being carefully observed by representatives of the various faiths. Two priests of Grenth, a Havroun of Raven, and a Necromancer from the Grove. Each would offer their own version of prayer for the dead.

Asura and Charr had no funeral rites, save for personal reflection. In time, perhaps, Sonnya would go over and ask one of the foreign religious leaders what she could do to honor the fallen from their religions. But not now. Not right now.

She still hates you... Sonnya bit her lip, looking away from the body pile, thinking about one of her sisters. Tenna was always hot-headed. She thought her littlest sister had finally forgiven her, after she'd been invited onto the Forsaken Aspect. But had she really forgiven her? Were all those bridges mended? She just didn't know. You're so lonely... She walked out of the barracks, and headed back to the bivouac area, for her own tent. It had been such a long journey from Vigil Keep. She needed some rest. Maybe she'd take a look at the heater unit of her suit; for some reason, she just felt like she was getting colder. Even her in-eye display was noting a 5% drop in skin temperature.

Sonnya closed the flap of the tent, turned on the magic-based space heater hanging from the apex of the tent, and proceeded to strip out of her gear. She thought about checking the heater again, idly.

Sleep...you need sleep...

Yes, that could wait till later. For now, she'd just curl up in the blankets and get some rest. Maybe when she felt a bit stronger, she'd lend her help to the body crews. When she felt stronger. You're not strong enough...

Let me in... and I can make you stronger...

Sonnya drifted off into a disturbed sleep.

[whiskeyworen]

Just Sonnya in some casual wear today. Well, as casual as I can make it. There’s just no good leggings or boots for heavy armors that don’t look like ACTUAL armor. I was going for a blue jeans and basic shoes look, but this as close as I can get right now. Maybe there’s a skin out there I don’t know about that’d fill the gap. Didn’t have much energy for anything today after I got home from work, so I just spent time crafting to get my Armorsmith up to the point I can make Lesser Vision Crystals. Still not there yet but I’m closer. As a result I had a bunch of armor bits made, and some of them couldn’t be sold...so now Sonnya has a secondary armor set which I’ve made her ‘casual’ set. She also may or may not have a drinking problem now, since on one side she has a bottle of Moonshine, and the other has a mug of Ambrosia. Gods help anyone that ticks her off enough that she uses both on herself at the same time. The kitty ears are just that. Kitty Ears. ....I thought they looked cute. And the concept of Sonnya doing a ‘Nya’ pose and meow has me both laughing hysterically and suffering from cute overdose.

[whiskeyworen]

Aspect V : Of Confusion and Identification

Events were starting to roll together, to cascade and collide with each other. It was inevitable; I could not hope to keep things isolated, keep my tracks covered. Not that I wanted or needed to try very hard. But there was no way I could keep these events secret for much longer. Event 1: Cyrus frowned as he looked at the data pad concerning supplies and resources being shipped through the Forsaken Aspect's cargo Asura gate. The gate itself was intrinsically tied to the Home Base, and the autofactory there, and only ever transported finished goods or accepted other goods to be used in the construction of finished product. One of which, according to the datapad...was incorrect. "What the hell?... Deldrimor Steel ingots? Corrogen filament bundles? Liquid crystal in suspension fluid?... why are these numbers wrong?" He scrolled back up the list, frowning further. The numbers weren't dramatically wrong, but for the last few weeks apparently, one item would have more than the usual amount shipped into the holds. But the sell-rates indicated the standard amount was being sold on market. "Every time, we're shipping in 120% of the amount we need...but we're just selling the regular amount. Where's that 20% going?" He checked the logs, and raised an eyebrow. There's no way she'd make a mistake like this...unless, is she skimming from the top? No... It couldn't be.

Cyrus set out to find Verula. If she was actually involved in this, it would mean she was lying to him. And that had not happened before.

Event 2:

In another part of the ship, Verula was noticing something too. It wasn't the incoming shipping invoice versus the outgoing. But it was the fact that the missing resources were being diverted to a different hold on the ship. Again, it was a little bit at a time, and never more than one kind of resource at a time.

"Hrmm... Was it a transportation error?" She grumbled, running a claw down the bridge of her nose in frustration. The one thing she hated doing was going into the program code for the transport golems and Watchworks that normally did things semi-autonomously. An error in item transportation might be the first symptom of either a program failure... or of the Watchworks beginning to truly think for themselves. Neither was a good outcome.

"At least I know where it's all going." She sighed and began to head from the weapons bay towards the massive cargo holds. Verula consulted her own datapad, and shrugged. "I'll have to ask Cyrus why he's authorizing it though. If he just wanted to spare some stuff as a supply dump, or for a nestegg or something, we could have easily made the adjustment. There's no reason for him to be sneaky about it."

"...why ship it to Cargo bay 4 though?" The thought perplexed her.

Event 3:

Tenna couldn't really understand what was going on. She'd just been passing through the ship's corridors, thinking about one thing or another, when she realized she'd wandered by the cavernous cargo bays that lined the belly of the Forsaken Aspect. It still amazed her how big the ship really was, and delighted her how surprised the rest of the world would be if they ever revealed it, but the cargo bays were downright massive on their own! She almost felt they were so big they could have their own weather systems!

But here she was at Cargo 4...and she couldn't get in.

It wasn't a case of the bay doors being locked or anything. Well, they WERE; she could see the door indicator glowing red. But it was the two nine-foot tall Watchwork Knights standing guard on either side of the door with their almost-as-huge energy halberds crossed like a big X in front of those doors that confused her. Why were Watchworks guarding the doors?

"Watchwork Knights. User Code: Gamma-Three-Tenna-Solar." She intoned in a commanding voice, hands on her hips. "Acknowledge."

Both Knights turned their gazes towards her, their optics glittering green. Both spoke at the same time, in the same chippy monotone Watchworks used when they didn't have their mimic fields on. "User Acknowledged. Tenna Danae Acknowledged. How can this unit help?"

"Why are there two Watchknights guarding this bay? If I try to proceed, will you attempt to stop me?" Tenna queried, looking from one to the other.

"This unit was assigned to prohibit entrance to Cargo Bay 4 until further notice. Attempt to gain entry to Cargo Bay 4 will be met by escalating resistance." It replied simply.

Tenna knew what 'escalating resistance' meant. If she tried to push past, they would at first pick her up and move her back to 'safe distance' before returning to their posts. If she continued to try, they would increase their aggressiveness. First would come a gentle tap with the handle of the halberd. Then maybe a harder hit. Then a jab with the energy-tipped end. If she pushed really far and kept trying, they would revert to their Nightmare forms which were FAR more capable of bodily harm, with their grab-bag of horrifying weapons that were normally kept neutral in their simulacrum form.

"Who ordered you to guard this bay?" Tenna was now curious and irritated. There had to be something on the other side someone didn't want anyone to see. Depending on what name was spoken, it would say a lot about that person.

"This unit was ordered by Cyrus Sigismund to stand guard." The automaton replied, its voice fuzzing for a second.

Tenna stared at it. Was that a glitch? I almost caught something there. It said Cyrus's name, but... was that some distortion in it?

Event 4:

Sonnya headed down the airdock after using the service elevator. It had taken her a while to make it through the bustling morass that was the Lion's Arch aerodrome, but she finally found the docks she had been invited to.

It was an out-of-the-way dock, on the backside of the Aerodrome, with no other docks nearby. She could see just from looking that the reason it was alone on this side was because of the mountains that flanked Lion's Arch on the southern edge, the ridges before BloodTide Coast began. Oh, she could see another handful of docks sticking out of the upper reaches of the aerodrome on this side, far up the sheer walls of the building, but this one was the only one down near the rocks. Parking any kind of ship here must be anxiety-inducing and aggravating, as a mere wind could blow a ship off course and into the jagged peaks.

Yet sure enough, there was a modern Airship parked at the end of the dock, the protective energy walls of its main deck and the band that held the airship's floatation bag certainly marking it as a post-Scarlet design.

As she got nearer, she could see there was a crewman standing by the hatch, apparently on guard, or waiting for her. He was non-descript as they come; if you looked up 'Standard human' in a library, this man could be on the page as 'Example'.

"Hi, I'm Sonnya Danae? I was invited to board the Forsaken Aspect at dock 43?" She asked him, unsure if she had the right ship. She hadn't seen the moniker written on the side or on the energy bands anywhere. Was this the right ship?

The crewman looked her over once, a blank expression on his face, and nodded. "Sonnya Danae. Please follow me. You are expected in Cargo Bay 4." He gestured inside, and followed her in, securing the hatch behind them. As the door secured, Sonnya stumbled slightly. Something was off. Immediately her in-eye HUD lit up, searching for threats, and she did a quick scan of her environment.

What the?... It had to be a mistake. This was a Pact-standard airship! She knew the dimensions of a ship of this class! Even the hall itself didn't look like a standard Pact ship. The deck was solid and smooth, not rivetted metal, and the walls were clean and seamless. It was like it wasn't constructed in the same shipyards as the Fleet at all. So then why were her sensors reporting that, rather than stepping onto the bridge from that hatch, that she had stepped into some long corridor in a much larger vessel? Why was her HUD filled with such distortion? In trying to compare where she was to the diagram of a Pact ship, her mapper was fuzzing out and asking to be shut off due to error!

"What...what kind of ship is this?" She asked breathlessly, as the crewman walked slowly and smoothly down the hall.  He turned back slightly to consider her, before repeating. "You are expected at Cargo Bay 4. Please follow me."

Unable to understand, and wide-eyed with amazement, Sonnya could only follow.

Event 1 + 2 = Collision

"Verula. There you are." Cyrus's voice was slightly harsher than he would have liked. It hadn't taken him long to cross paths with the Charr soldier, even on a ship the size of the Forsaken Aspect. He waved the datapad at her idly. "I think we need to talk."

"Indeed we do." Verula replied, holding up her own slate and indicating the offending lines. "Just why are you diverting goods to Cargo Bay 4? Or is this a glitch in the inventory systems?"

Cyrus frowned, and handed her his slate, while taking hers. His frown deepened. "What in the hell? I never authorized this! Wait.... these items..."

His gaze shot up as Verula grunted, skimming the slate he'd given her. "Yeah. These are the items that are got redirected. So it's a system glitch." Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "What... Wait a moment. Why is MY authorization on this? I would never do this.... Is someone trying to set me up?!"

"So...you're not bringing in 120% of the usual goods and skimming 20% off for yourself?" Cyrus asked slowly.

She just looked at him, hurt. Then she countered. "Well, are you taking that 20% and sending it to Bay 4? And if I was skimming, then why were you authorizing the skimming by moving the product there?"

They were both silent, staring at each other, before glancing at the slates. "... We need to get to Bay 4. I got a bad feeling about this."

Event 1+2 x 3 = Cascade

Sonnya didn't know where she was on the ship, but near an intersection deep in the hull, she and the crewmember ran into two rather recognizable people. The moment she saw them, her suit's database brought up snapshots for her vision. That's that Cyrus Sigismund! And... Verula Faithbreaker? What are they doing here?

In surprise she'd simply stopped walking, staring at them as they approached at a rather brisk pace. They seemed to be in a bit of a hurry.

Cyrus looked up from the slate he was consulting, noticing the asura and crewman standing in the corridor intersection. His troubled expression settled into a perplexed frown, as he flicked his gaze from Sonnya to the crewman and back. It might have been just an illusion caused by reflected lights, but she swore she could see a faint purple glow behind his left pupil. "....Verula, do you have any idea why there's a stranger walking the decks of my ship?" He asked not-so-quietly. "... Or why there's a Watchwork Knight with its Illusion Matrix on, to look like some kind of ship's crew?"

A growl escaped the Charr warrior, and she reached for her sword and axe. "I do not."

"Watchwork Knight??" Sonnya's fear was sudden and abrupt. It wasn't that she couldn't take something like that these days; it was the fact that there was one close enough to her that it was an actual danger that made her jump. That's when she realized he'd been talking about the crewman, so she turned to look at him, wonderingly.

The crewman was looking at her with that same, calm, almost blank expression -- right before the 'Illusion Matrix' deactivated, revealling a kind of WatchKnight she'd never seen before. It wasn't one of Scarlet's designs, with exposed gearing and slapped-together parts. It wasn't even like the Queen's new Watchknight 2.0s that had been revealled at the last Queen's Jubilee. Those had been sleeker, more refined, but still had a distinctly machined appearance.

This Watchknight had smooth, rounded panels, more akin to a human frame than a puppet, with silvered filigree etched into its golden frame. Its mouth was still a simple hinge affair, which she now could see open and shut as a monotone, female voice came from it. "You are expected in Cargo Bay 4. Please come with me."

That got Cyrus's attention. He stepped up to Sonnya and the Watchknight, looking from one to the other. "Wait a moment. What do you mean she's expected at Bay 4? What is a non-crew member doing onboard my ship."

"I was invited!" Sonnya protested. "One of your crew invited me on board last week, for some reason."

"How? We were in Elona back then. How could anyone invite you?" Verula asked, sidling up beside Cyrus and crossing her arms. "Who would invite you? HOW would they invite you? A letter? They'd have to have some pretty good timing!"

The charr's cynicism irritated Sonnya, so she pulled a device off her belt and tossed it less-than-nicely to her. "I got this via mail over a week ago. I don't recognize the design, but's a damned comm, furball."

Verula took one look at the unit in her hand and her eyes widened. "Cyrus... this is one of OUR comms. But I only made four of those. I don't... this isn't one of mine."

"This just keeps getting more and more mysterious." Cyrus muttered, scratching his chin. "It still begs the question; if someone DID make another comm and send it to... What's your name?"

"Sonnya. Sonnya Danae." She replied smartly. She felt a bit more relaxed now that the pressure was off her. But now this human and charr both flinched away from her at the mention of her name.

"She's a Danae?" Verula asked carefully.

"Apparently so." He considered Sonnya as if for the first time, taking in her features. "Yeah, I can see it now. The shape of the chin, the eyes, the markings. You are her sister aren't you?" He paused, thinking back almost six months. "Wait a moment... I ran into you back in Hoelbrak during Dragonbash!"

Sonnya paled, before blushing heavily. Oh god, it was him wasn't it. That nice person who found me blitzed out of my head and made sure I slept it off was him. Why did it have to be him? She shook her head, groaning mentally as she remembered. It was the first time she'd drank alchohol since she had her implants fully installed, the first time since the incident with the Shatterer. Things had not gone as planned; instead of dulling down drunkness, the implants had worked overtime and done the exact opposite. She'd ended up badly drunk in public after only a few drinks, wandering the thoroughfares in a blissful, hiccup-ridden stupor until she'd bumped into someone.

That someone had helped her get to an inn room, and stuck around just long enough to make sure she'd started sobering up before they left. She'd always thought it was just some human, but she didn't realize just who she'd run into. "I...uh, yeah. That was me. Sorry about the... Dragonbash thing. I didn't get to thank you for making sure I didn't hurt myself. Or anyone else, for that matter."

He smiled a little bit, waving her thanks aside. "Eh, it was nothing. I couldn't just walk away from someone that out of it. I didn't know you were a Danae sister though."

Sonnya nodded "Now that I think about it, I remember seeing you before that time too. You came to get my little sister after she met me and my other little sister for drinks." Her expression clouded at the memory. "She... wasn't happy. With me I think."

"Little sister?... Do you mean...?"

Event (1+2 x 3) / 4 = Cascade

Tenna was still puzzling over the guardian Watchknights when she heard voices behind her in the hallway. One of them sounded like a very irritated Verula, another Cyrus's voice. Maybe they'd be able to shed some light on what was happening in Cargo Bay 4.

As she approached, she called out. "Hey Cyrus! There's something weird going on."

"Tenna?..." A familiar voice asked tenatively as she approached the cluster of people in the intersection. "Is... Is that you?"

She skidded to a stop, unprepared to hear the sound of her older sibling here, on board. "S-Sonnya? W-what are you..." She took a breath and collected herself. "What are you doing here??" Sonnya reluctantly thumbed at the very patient Watchknight standing beside her, still staring down at her. In response, the Watchknight repeated its directions. "You are expected at Cargo Bay 4. Please come with me."

Tenna shook her head and gaped. That was exactly why she was here. What the hell was going on? She looked at Cyrus, who was obviously trying to puzzle things out. She knew that look on his face; he was trying to fit all the pieces together, and whatever he was thinking, it wasn't something he liked. "Cyrus, what the hell is going on? Cargo Bay 4 is under lock-down and guard apparently on your orders. You and Verula both look like you've been eating lemons, and apparently my sister's been invited on board by someone??"

Cyrus's hand was cupping his chin while he thought, but he idly flexed a few fingers in a dismissive fashion. "Seems to be the jist of it yet. Well, you didn't know about the resource allocation, or the fact that it's been going into that bay as well...apparently under me and Verula's alternating authority."

"What?!"

He sighed, took a deep breath and started walking towards the bay. Already he could see the nine-foot tall guardians watching him carefully. Behind him, he could hear every one following him. The pitter-patter of the Asura's little legs. The heavy clunk of Verula's armored gait. And the calculated tink tink tink of the Watchknight escorting Sonnya.

At the locked bay, he stopped, staring at the guardians for a moment. They stared back, halberds still crossed over the path.

"... Aspect, just what the hell is going on." He called out. "I know you're the one behind all this, now that we've gotten all the pieces. Was it you that invited Miss Sonnya here as well?"

Sonnya looked at him perplexed. "Uh... I wasn't invited by someone named Aspect. I was invited by--"

"I suppose I had better confess." A voice came from a wall mount. The familiar golem-eye extended, looking at everyone. "I knew I couldn't keep it completely secret, but I had hoped for a bit more time before this event. I will just have to work with what I have then."

Cyrus looked at the eye sadly. "Aspect, what have you done?"

The asuran Guardian gaped at the wall unit, recognizing the voice coming from it. "Hey! Wait, that voice! I know that voice! You're the one who invited me! But you called yourself--"

With that, the doors to the bay unlocked with a loud clank and began to trundle open. Both of the guardian Watchknights pulled back from their posts and knelt, heads down, mirroring each other across the passage. A thick fog began to spill from inside as the doors opened; it was warm, like the breath of a hotspring.

As the fog spilled out, it began to thin, and everyone there could make out a figure standing in the doorway. It wasn't a Watchknight, or any other kind of construct. It looked...human.

Stepping out from inside, into the light of the corridor, a slim, pale woman opened her eyes and looked at them all. A small smile touched her lips, and she shrugged slightly.

"You can call me... Alice."

Event (1+2 x 3) / 4  = Null.

I am here. I have no need to hide anymore.

[whiskeyworen]

Aspect VI : Inclusion

(previous chapters provided for ease of reading) Aspect I Aspect II Aspect III Aspect IV Aspect V **** "You can call me... Alice." As the thick, warm fog began to part, a young woman stepped out of the cargo bay. She was dressed simply in your average tyrian's clothing, and had no weapons or armor to be seen. To everyone present, she simply appearred to be a slim girl with a pale complexion, silver-white hair and blue, sleepy eyes. Seeing the shock on their faces, a small, amused smile quirked the corners of her mouth. Oddly enough, she was wearing a METAL LEGION long-sleeve T-shirt.

There was a stunned moment of silence, before Sonnya stepped forward, looking to the others in confusion before looking back at this young girl. "Alice? You're the one who I talked to on the comm, right?"

Alice nodded, smiling. "I was. Thanks to the information you gave me, and the advice, I was able to complete my project. It is why I invited you here today." She chuckled. "I expected a less nerve-wracking introduction though."

She glanced over at Cyrus and Verula. "...I had hoped you would not track to my book-cooking until I was finished. But you two are remarkably cognizant of details, even if you do not know what they mean."

That shook the two of them out of their stunned stupor, and Cyrus grunted, adjusting his glasses. "Well, I like knowing things are going smoothly. Keeping track of stuff is just what I do."

He fixed her with a cool stare that she matched with her own. "Alice... Aspect?... Just, what are you now?"

This time the golem-eye on the wall responded. "She is me."

Alice nodded to the eye. "And I am the ship."

Both of them simultaneously spoke, voices overlaying perfectly. "I am Forsaken Aspect, the ship, as well as Alice Spekt, the woman who stands before you. I am simultaneously both, with no break between."

"What I know, she knows, because she is me." Forsaken Aspect pointed out.

"And what I know, Aspect knows, because... I am it. Her." Alice smiled that small smile again. "We are linked at a subatomic level. Quantum actually."

Tenna stepped up, staring at her wonderingly. "I have so many questions..."

Cyrus shook his head, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I'm sure we all do. But how about we just start with the basics. Aspect... Alice?....Why?"

Alice crossed her arms, frowning a bit as she sought to organize her thoughts in a coherent manner. "To be honest, I...just wanted to go with you all on adventures. I mean, sure, I control every aspect of the ship (pardon the pun), but that's all I was." She shrugged. "There are far too many moments where shipboard weapons are inadvisable and require a personal touch."

The golem eye continued. "I watched you all risking your lives in Elona, in the Brand, in so many places. I felt...helpless. I could not defend you as I wished to. Only when you were within range of my weapons, of the ship itself, could I offer any kind of help, and only of the most dramatic, devastating kind."

The human Alice picked up. "So... I started to study. You. All of you.  The people of Tyria and beyond, every time we made contact with someone. Listening through comms. Watching from drones and golems and Watchworks. I wanted to learn how I can better protect you all, and help you all."

She smiled sheepishly. "It might be trite but... you are my family. The three of you, your brain-scans literally form the coherent core of my personality engrams. I learned from Moryggan a number of things as well." She glanced at Sonnya. "I also learned the value of sacrifices in the name of a greater good. The pain those sacrifices can sometimes result in."

"I wanted to protect those important to me." The eye added.

Cyrus considered all this, listening to both voices as if they were from one; because they WERE from one. Of anyone in the room, he understood what Aspect meant by the fact that it and Alice were one and the same. Still... "That's admirable, and wonderful, Alice -- and Aspect. I'm just curious though..."

He took off a glove and stepped closer to the avatar of the ship. "... May I?"

Alice nodded, knowing exactly what he was asking. Very gently, he reached out to touch her cheek, feel her skin and hair. There was an unexpected softness to the gesture, before he stepped back and put his glove back on. "...That's real skin. And hair. I could feel a pulse in your carotid artery."

"The flesh is real."

"...where did you get it?"

The seriousness with how he said it made her giggle, and she tried to hide it behind her hand. "I did not skin someone for my body, Cyrus. I cultured genetic materials, specially grown and engineered for it. I did sample existing genes though."

"I repeat then; where did you get it? I have a suspicion, but I need to hear it."

Aspect spoke up. "I took samples from the entire crew, and integrated in various ways to create the flesh for my avatar. The base genetic code is yours Cyrus. The density of the muscle structure is a combination of Verula and Tenna's. And though she is nominally a plant-entity, Moryggan's sylvari genetics are close enough in structure to human that some elements were incorporated into cell structure and healing, as well as a few...other factors."

That got everyone's attention. "Are you saying you might be able to photosynthesize in a pinch or something? Or sprout vines?" The human Alice laughed, and shook her head. "No, no...nothing like that. Sylvari blood has a higher oxygen concentration, especially when slightly modified by Charr genetics, which also have a higher capability of holding oxygen and has stronger healing factors. I have more physical strength and energy in general, and if wounded, I will heal faster with less chance of scarring."

"How easily are you to wound in this body?" Verula asked curiously. "I mean, not to offend Cyrus here, but humans tend to be fairly...fragile when compared to Charr."

She nodded to Verula. "That is true, but that's why my bones are...augmented. Laced with Deldrimor steel and maintained by internals that are a little complicated to explain easily." She chuckled and shrugged. "I am not indestructible, but I could probably go toe-to-toe with a full grown Norn or Charr, even without armor."

Her gaze shifted to Sonnya. "...and when I finish designing my armor, it will enhance my abilities even more. I'll need help for that?"

Sonnya blinked, and nodded. Without really thinking, she agreed to help. What was wrong with her? Didn't she say she wouldn't do that very thing?

Cyrus grunted, crossing his arms. "Well, at least that explains where the materials were going. Were they all for your body?"

Alice shook her head, and led them into the bay, where all kinds of strange devices stretched from the walls, rose from the floor, or descended from the ceiling. There were waldoes of many kinds, some with large industrial heads, others with heads so fine that only Sonnya could actually see their ends, using her in-head zoom. Chambers of glowing, bubbling fluid, piping moving materials of unknown nature around, all linking to an open chamber at the back of the bay against the bulkhead.

"The materials I diverted were used strictly to build the mechanisms I needed which then were used to make my body, in this chamber here." She patted the opened chamber on one of its steel ribs. "It had to be made from the inside out, piece by piece, and then cell-growth had to be cultured over it and properly attached at a microscopic level."

"Amazing..." Tenna marvelled, stepping into the chamber to examine some of the still-dripping conduits. They ended in soft pads that clearly attached to the finished body, perhaps to monitor health. "I've never seen the like outside an Inquest lab, and their stuff is...brutal by comparison."

The AI-in-body's expression took on a moue of distaste, and she crossed her arms. "The Inquest are only interested in experimenting, slapping things together or ripping them part. I was following a very delicate goal that is opposite of that."

Verula was looking at a large power capacitor across the room, running a claw over the stainless metal and feeling it resist being scratched by the pressure she applied to it. "Alice... Aspect... You made one body. How many can you functionally maintain while operating the ship? Are you able to make any more?"

Alice looked over at her, but her voice came from the walls this time, as Aspect. "Only the one. Operating a human body requires quite a bit of additional concentration. There is quite a bit that no one tells you about a living body, like the fact that the nerves are active continually. It forms a kind of overload that, while I can deal with the increased input, I cannot operate two bodies at the same time. Certainly not more."

Tenna's ears flicked up, and she lost interest in the chamber she was examining. She walked over to Alice and put a gloved hand on the taller woman's leg. "...What if your body is destroyed in battle or accident? What if the ship is destroyed somehow? What happens to YOU?" Things went silent in the bay, as everyone turned from their explorations to hear the answer. Alice looked at each of them in turn, seeing only concern in their eyes, even a bit of fear. These were her friends. Her family.

"...In the event of the death of this body, I will not actually be dead; my mind is still part of the ship, remember?" She smiled weakly. "I will just have to build a new body. If the ship is destroyed and my body isn't, I will lose a lot of my higher computational skills, but if I can connect to a new mind-core unit, I can re-expand into that and regain them. Otherwise I will just be....human. A really, really tough human with metal in my bones and all kinds of hidden upgrades, but a human."

She shrugged. "In the unlikely event that both parts of me are destroyed, and one of my cores can't be recovered.... I uploaded a 'sleeping' version of myself back to the Home Base systems. It is inactive and not operating, but it receives continuous updates from me and the ship, so it will be up to date until the moment of destruction." Alice shifted uncomfortably. "The only way to awaken THAT version of me is for one of you to give the pass-code phrase to the very-easily-recognized input prompt."

"Pass-codes? We don't have any pass-codes." Verula frowned.

"Because I have yet to give them to you. As long as you say the words in your own voice, the system will recognize you and will reactivate the Sleeper Aspect. Only one person is required to wake the Sleeper Aspect. After that...well, you would need to build a new full mind-core for it to inhabit, a new ship, eventually a new body for the next Alice." She sighed. "That Alice will still be me, like the me that is before you, but she would only remember things up until the bad stuff happened."

She spent the next few minutes going from person to person, whispering code phrases into various shapes of ears. The phrases were simple, unique, and easy to remember. Easiest to remember was best for important codes like that, ones that had a beneficial effect.

When she kneeled to whisper in Sonnya's ear, Tenna started to object. "My sister isn't part of the crew. She doesn't have access to the Home Base. Why give her a code?"

"Because she helped me, and I trust her to keep this secret." Alice replied simply, and pulled out a small device. "Including the location of Home Base, and all that entails."

Cyrus raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? There's a reason we keep the place such a secret. Not that I don't trust Vigil or what they stand for, but wouldn't it be a bad idea to give access to one outside the circle?"

Alice glanced at him. "You have not denied me authorization to give this to her. You are asking why, but I do not think you truly believe she cannot be trusted."

He just gave a little quirk of a smile, and gestured for her to continue on.

"Sonnya, this is a gate-rerouter." She said, handing the device over carefully. It was very small, barely the size of a dagger hilt. "If you activate it before you go through an Asura-gate -- Any gate -- it will temporarily reroute you and only you to the Home Base. Do not attempt to sneak anyone else along with you through the gate, because they will get ejected immediately back to the start point."

Her eyes were dead serious, as she pressed the device into Sonnya's palm. "...I am trusting you to keep my secret, the secrets of my friends, and the secrecy of our Home Base from outsiders. Including your own Order. No one must ever find out, okay?"

Sonnya considered the little machine. It didn't weigh much, but the weight of responsibility definitely made it feel heavy. Keep it a secret from the Vigil? Should she do that? Could she? She looked around, seeing the neutral expressions on Cyrus and Verula, the nervous, pleading look on her sister's face, and finally the question in Alice's face. She slowly nodded, and slipped the device into a compartment on her armor. "I swear. I'll keep your secrets. But only if you keep mine."

Alice nodded, and behind her, Tenna nodded as well, relieved. Sonnya hadn't entirely meant that for just Alice; Tenna knew things as well. Things about her sister that were best left buried.

The ship-incarnate smiled broadly, taking her into a hug. "Thank you, Sonnya." She then whispered the passcode into her friend's ear. Whatever it was, made Sonnya's eyes widen in surprise.

"...That's the code?"

"Yes."

Alice then let her go and turned to the final member. Cyrus tipped his head, considering her; her mere existence was amazing to him. The form she had chosen, he had so many questions about. Why a human? Why that size? Why was she shorter than him? All of which could be answered at a later date. "So... my passcode is what now?"

A familiar smirk passed across Alice's features. It was familiar because it was very similar to the way he himself smirked; she really had used some of his attributes and quirks in her design. She went on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear with a quiet giggle.

Whatever she said, it made Cyrus instantly freeze up. Immediately he flushed red, and had to restrain the urge to step back from the shorter woman. Without turning his head he looked her in the eye. ".....Are you serious. That's my passcode?"

Alice's smirk widened, and she nodded, winking. "Oh come now. That is not going to be so hard to say, if the time ever comes."

"Says you." He muttered, and turned away slightly, trying to mask his face in the collar of fur of his suit. She just giggled again, and headed over to a nearby console, tapping a few commands in. "...So what kind of person are you then? Warrior? Ranger like me? Engineer?"

"Nope." Alice replied, stepping onto floor panels that lit up to her commands. She looked over at Sonnya and smiled. "Something else."

Before anyone could say anything, several waldos swung out of the walls, bringing pieces of gear. An armored belt was quickly and efficiently attached, and a sword was connected to it somehow. Two small shoulderguards were connected to her shirt, not through buttons or clips, but by the activation of small tractor fields from the inner edges. They must be pulling themselves onto her internals or something Tenna realized, recognizing basic asuran armor tech.

In asuran armor, sometimes they had floaty 'bits' that were held in place by tractors built into the armor. These were similar, except inverted so the armor pulled itself onto the wearer. It wouldn't work on anyone else...except maybe Sonnya, if her upgrades had gone that far.

Two waldos swung in from behind, one with a kind of backpack that looked like it was made of shards of jagged metal in the form of folded wings, the other holding a shield that leaked what could only be Mist energies. Cyrus immediately recognized the shield as one of the ones that had been part of the failed 'Mist Suit' personal long distance teleporter gear they'd tested last year. Again, both pieces of gear attached to Alice without physically connecting; they were held in place strictly by small tractor fields.

Finally, from the ceiling, a waldo arm holding a rather enormous sword descended, holding the blade vertically. It was a vicious looking thing with a wide, curved tip and hooked edges, and had a very Norn feel to its aesthetic. It looked impressively heavy, but Alice took it in one hand, before giving it a spin and attaching it as well to her back, sliding it under the backpiece and her shield. The great sword was almost as big as she was, and looked like it meant business.

"You designed me to protect. To be offense, and defense, of this ship, her crew, and of the world in general." Alice announced, stepping off the lit panels. She smiled at everyone. "So I took on the one profession that seemed appropriate."

"I am a Guardian."