2.9

2.9

Ugh, forget robots. I hate ants. I finally figured out that killing the ant men was pointless. They have queens underground controlling them with Taylor's power. How to -get- to them is the real question. Now that I have Filter I can punch holes in the ground, but I instantly get swarmed. What's worse, the damn things are like zombies. I can light them on fire, but instead of stopping they tackle me anyway, then I'm being held down by -flaming- ant men... And Shard just pointed out they need rainbows. I'm not sure if she's making a joke or if she's just of the opinion that everything is better with rainbows.

I had left my rings on all night to make sure they didn't fade, and they didn't. But I was -very- surprised to find that they had 'followed' me to the dreamscape. I guess enchantments do that. Cool. That -did- give me another idea though. With my new talent to network other people's cores... I wonder if Shard can bring them into the dreamscape? Something to try later. There are -far- too many other things I have to do first. I want the enchantments working before I start on anything else. I sigh and decide that's enough procrastinating.

Once I finish up my morning rituals I realize I have to make a decision. Do I ride the bus or just fly to school?... Taylor needs to speak with me and probably punch me a few times. May as well get that over with. Oh and Sophia is going to think I got myself kidnapped on -purpose- just so I could punch Coil. I just need to attach some side cars to me and bring those two with me everywhere. One so she'll stop worrying and the other so she can join in on whatever fighting I end up doing. I shake my head, "Alright, stop procrastinating. Grab your stuff, and get to the bus." Shard, having been summoned after hygiene as per normal, nods agreement.

Several minutes later and I'm a little cold from the morning wind chill, but I'm landing at the bus stop. I'm fairly early but very surprised to see there are -eight- people at the stop waiting for the bus. And they're all staring at me. None of them are Taylor. I'm in the middle of deciding to just fly to school anyway when I hear Taylor, "Hey Will!". Damnit. She should have been five minutes later, then I could've just left.

I turn around with a fake smile, "Hey T, What's with all of these people?"

Shard flits over to give Taylor a hug in greeting, then starts to flit about the others 'talking' to them, much to their general confusion.

Taylor grins, knowing how uncomfortable I am with the attention, while she's also pretty sure I was planning to leave - and she just interrupted said escape. Stupid bugs giving her the ability to see -everything-. She answers, "Didn't you hear? Bakuda got Winslow in her little bombing spree, luckily it was at night so no one was there. The PRT got everything set up for all the students that wanted to attend moved over to Arcadia, into spare meeting rooms and spread among the other classes Tuesday. Yesterday was their first day at Arcadia. Some parents are holding their kids back though, something about it being an ABB plan to get all of them in one place." She shrugs, "Either way, it looks like our bus is going to be a little crowded for a while."

I glare at her, then say in a withering voice, "You -knew-."

She smiles brightly, "Of course I knew, -I'm- up to date on the news, unlike -some- people I happen to know."

I continue glaring... then I realize we're having the conversation in broad sight meaning I should pull -some- misdirection. "That's just evil. That's it, I'm going to sic the Backup Buddies on you. You're obviously an evil mastermind in disguise."

She nods sagely - both playing around and understanding what I'm doing, "Yes, the start of my evil plan is to pretend to be a high school girl. Step three is ruling the world. I'm still a little fuzzy on step two though."

I shrug, "Step two is probably something like turning off the sun unless the world's governments pay you one -beellion- dollahs!"

She nods once decidedly, "Yes, that. I'll do that." There's a bit of snickering behind us.

I thumb over my shoulder at the snickers, "So are these your evil minions? Do I need to sic Oblivimom on them?"

Taylor shakes her head, "No, Oblivimom should finish your new outfit. It's unprofessional to be running around in jeans and a t-shirt as a hero."

Shard shows up between the two of us and tosses in her agreement. And I'm pretty sure she wants me to get a recording device. Oh, that reminds me, I wanted a little camera I could fit on my glasses so I could record my cape shenanigans, that way I can re-live them later... I'll have to do that after getting the rings I want.

Someone behind me speaks up, a guy from the tone, "Yeah man, at -least- get a signature shirt or something, you're like 'super highschooler'."

I counter that perfectly as I turn to said voice, a guy my height, so fairly tall, "Then I'm advertising myself -just- as I am, seeing as how I'm about to get on a bus to go to highschool, and I have super powers."

Then a girl speaks up, "But it's just not -cool-, and you really need to do something about that creepy mask."

I deflate, "I -like- my creepy mask." I cast the spell to conjure it up and smile, then see about half the group shudder. I continue, "It's cool."

The same girl just raises an eyebrow, "It makes children cry." which elicits more chuckling from the group.

I pout behind my mask, which ends up with another creepy face, but I pull out my phone to call mom, "Mom, the kids at school are making fun of my clothes. Well get some coffee you bum, the sun's out you shouldn't-.... I did -not- need to know that. Tell dad to get to work. No you can -not- come out here and sew their mouths shut, that's just a band aid fix. Well, yeah you -can- but it's not -legal-. Apparently I need a new idea for a mask so I don't scare children and I need a 'real' costume. Where's the one you were working on? Well duh, I -know- it's in the house. Where in the house? 'The closet' doesn't tell me anything, there's like four closets. Alright, I'll grab it after school. Love you too mom, yeah, Shard says Hi. Bye mom." Everyone looks rather amused. Taylor looks like she's trying not to crack up because she -knows- mom.

I look at the guy and girl spokespeople of the group, "There, happy? After school I have to hunt down a closet that has an elusive costume."

Someone else in the back does a safari impression, "And out in the wild hallway, grazes the elusive costume..."

I turn to Taylor to whine, "Can I just put them on mute? They're being mean to me."

She just rolls her eyes, "Stop sulking and get used to the attention already. You're a hero, you're not going to get out of it."

I narrow my eyes, "I don't wanna. That's it, you're on mute too." and I activate my Sonic Shield, then 'sit' in the air and cross my arms and close my eyes. I can't talk to Taylor with the shield up so it's a good chance to work on a sonar spell based on the scanner I had built before. The downside is I can't just make a HUD or anything for it if I want to get the most out of it. I'll need to try to conform how I understand my senses so I can 'see' 360 degrees... Now that I think about it, why haven't I tried to do something like that with light? My sense field can detect light after all. Damn, just another thing for the list.

Crap, I got distracted, I need to be working on the mental reading construct for enchantments, and now's the perfect time since I have Taylor -right- there... When I open my eyes they're all gone. Those -jerks-! I cancel my Sonic Shield and float up into the air to look for the bus, I have a pretty good idea of its route. A bit of flying later and I'm floating at the back window of the bus and glaring at Taylor through the glass, who is busy laughing her ass off, along with several students.

Taylor slides down the window and calls out to me, "Hey Will, come on in."

I continue my withering glare - not that it's working, "T, I'm sorry but I haven't figured out how to bend -reality- yet."

She rolls her eyes and I barely hear her say to one of the others, "He said 'yet', meaning he's working on it." resulting in equal parts laughter and disbelief from the others.

I follow the bus for a while until it's next stop. Apparently the additional students have created more stops. At the stop I line up with the others and float onto the bus behind them and head back to sit next to Taylor - who saved the place for me.

I'm still glaring though, "Hate you, so much." to the amusement of everyone around.

The girl from before speaks up, "Hey, are you two dating?"

I sigh, I've had about as much 'social interaction' as I can stand for a while. "No." Then I hold up my hand like I'm holding a remote and use my thumb to press a 'button', "Beep." and I construct a thin, slightly glowing sense membrane over her mouth with a built-in solid surface as part of it so it can be easily dispelled. The membrane creates an inverse wave of any sounds that come in contact with it in one direction: out.

She tries to say something because she can't feel it, only to realize the sound was canceled out. Her throat, chest and head resonate properly so there's -some- sound, but definitely not words. She tries yelling to similar effect.

The guy spokesperson from before is laughing his ass off and points at her, "Hah!, You've been muted!"

The girl glares at him then looks at me and tilts her head toward the guy. I shrug and point the 'remote' at him, "Beep." Both of them are laughing their asses off - silently.

Taylor is shaking her head, but she's smiling. Someone yells "Do me!"... why would you -want- to be muted? Oh well, I get Shard's attention and share the spell with her... Taylor looks horrified when Shard creates a TV remote construct, then starts flying around hitting people with 'Mute'. It doesn't have much of a charge, but there isn't much energy translated to sound in talking. Shard's reign of terror results in blissful silence... then she hits me with it. I glare at her then hold up a finger and open my mouth to stretch the membrane, then I poke it. This results in the spell dissipating with a quiet *pop*, and a few seconds later I hear a series of *pops* then a lot of laughter as Shard continues using my mana to mute students.

Taylor taps my knee so she's not obvious, and I give a very slight nod and build up a reversed Sonic Shield around the two of us so what we say won't go beyond the field. Between the shield and Shard distracting them, the students shouldn't catch on to this being anything more than a private conversation.

Taylor asks quietly, almost a mumble, "Safe to talk?".

I nod, "Yep, they can see us but can't hear unless they get right next to us."

She sighs, "Alright, we're almost to Sophia's stop and I think she wants to hear this too. You'll want to extend this... privacy thing across to her seat once she scares that guy out of it. For now though, what's with the rings? You don't seem to be the kind of guy to go around with rings..." She tilts her head, "Are they -glowing-?"

I nod, "yeah, found a way to get some more universal enchantments going. Passive effects like my shields are easy, trying to figure out a way to make active effects work. I'll need some help with that though. Also, I made these out of scraps, I'll need to get us some higher density materials if I can find anything cheap enough."

Taylor furrows her eyebrows, "Wait, 'us'... you can enchant -us- now?".

I nod, "Yeah, figured it out yesterday evening when I was looking for my phone. So be thinking about what you'd like. Mom asked for flight and dad asked for variations on Mana Bolt."

She seems to have too much going through her head at once and is breaking it down when Sophia gets on the bus. Taylor says to me, "We'll talk about this after school. There's too much I need to know about what this is and why."

Sophia walks to the back and on her way gets hit with a mute without realizing it. She -looms- over the guy in her seat. The guy is looking at her with a 'yeah? what are you gonna do about it?' look. She growls. Turns out she growls deep in her throat which gets around the mute spell, I can hear the rumble of the growl from my seat... that and her knuckles cracking as she curls a hand into a fist. The guy seems thoroughly cowed as he gets out of the seat but tries to pass it off as 'I was gonna move anyway, losers'.

Sophia takes her seat then tries to say something... when nothing happens she gives me a mild glare then points at her mouth. I show her the technique for popping it. She quirks an eyebrow then pops the mute spell with a finger... then closes her lips on it and slowly draws the digit out.

I blink slowly. Did that just happen? I'm not sure if I should be turned on or absolutely -fucking- terrified. Apparently letting her fight Hookwolf alone was -really- good, or I did something I don't know about. I flick my eyes back to Taylor who I'm pretty sure is mirroring my expression. Sophia snorts with a small grin. I'm starting to think this is what it's like to look at something that is impossible to interpret, like an extradimensional embodiment of chaos. I decide this would be safer to file under 'didn't really happen, you're hallucinating' I mean, who knows? Maybe I really am.

I extend the Sonic Shield outwards so we can speak with Sophia privately then I cough, because that's what you do to let everyone know it's your turn to talk, "Alright, anything we say won't be heard by the others unless they come back here. I assume you guys have questions?"

Sophia speaks up excitedly with a feral grin before Taylor has a chance to say anything, "Did you really kill Bakuda and all of Coils men?"

I wince a little, "No to Bakuda... may have been my fault for the second one, not sure." Sophia frowns a little but Taylor breathes a sigh of relief.

Taylor speaks up, "Alright, with that cleared up, give us the story."

So I told them about everything. I left out detecting the world through Shard while unconscious and my dreamscape since, although I trust Taylor with all of that, I don't trust Sophia with it - not that she'd try to hurt me directly, but I don't trust the PRT and she may let something slip.

Taylor just holds her head in her hands, "I can't let you go -anywhere- alone. I let you out of my sight for an hour and you get in a fight with a murdering psychopath, kidnapped, then a day later you blow up an underground base, get in trouble with the PRT then save a case 53." She just sighs and sits up again, "Alright, first of all I'm going to have to have words with Hutchison. The guy's overstepping his authority and I do -not- appreciate that."

After the story Sophia is looking like I just told her Christmas is canceled. It started when I said I wasn't the one that killed Bakuda. Once I explained that blowing up the underground base was an accident she looked positively upset. Good, maybe she won't give my brain hamster any more heart attacks.

Suddenly Taylor stiffens a little, not much, but enough I notice. She's looking at the front of the bus. Oh. One of Sophia's old minions. I tilt my head, "Hey Sophia, your old pal is here."

She just scoffs and rolls her eyes, "They were just convenient. They won't be anything in Arcadia."

I smirk a little, "Oh, are -we- just convenient too?"

She nods immediately, "Yes."

I stick out my lower lip, "I'm hurt Sophs, you mean you're just -using- me?"

She's glaring now, "Yes."

I shrug, "Eh, I thought so, nice to be sure though. As long as you don't stab me I'll let you fight whoever you want."

She nods with a smirk... Apparently thinking on who she wants to fight with next. The minion just now notices her, but Sophia's in one of those 'one person' handicapped seats, so they can't-... really?... I almost laugh but manage to hold it together. She started to walk back toward us and is looking downright predatory at Taylor... Only when she tries to say something nothing comes out. She looks -very- confused and -everyone- in the back is laughing at her. Even Sophia has a smirk.

I just tilt my head since she's -obviously- not saying anything. I shrug and ignore her. "So, Sophia, what spell do you want to use?"

Sophia only has to think for a second, "The bomb you used on me."

I nod, that one should be easy. "If I can get this stuff figured out today I should be able to set you up with something this evening. Just give me an hour after school."

She nods, now the smirk is back to predatory. Eh, as long as she doesn't kill anyone it'll be fine.

Oh, the minion entered our privacy zone, well with it being useless now, and the important topics over, I cancel the Sonic Shield. The old minion grabs my shirt collar and is yelling silently at me. She looks pretty angry too. I raise a finger, but she's still trying to scream at me. So I put it in her mouth to pop the spell. "-ucker! uck! ptah, What the fuck!?" now she's shaking me. And here I was just trying to help. Once she continues cursing Shard glares at her and hits her with the Mute spell again. Convenient that. I do what I can with flight to keep her from breaking my neck via whiplash as she keeps -trying- to curse and shaking me.

I look at all the people just watching me and say, "You guys suck. Crazy girl is attacking me and -no one- helps me out."

SpokesGuy pops his mute bubble and speaks up, "Dude, you're the cape, just do one of your things and lock her up."

I nod and put a shell over her so she can't move, meaning I'm no longer being shaken. Actually this is a perfect opportunity for a bit of revenge. "Hey T, I'm giving... " I tilt my head... I can't remember her name, I stage whisper to Sophia, "What's her name again?"

Sophia just looks bored, "Emma." Wow, Sophia's talkative today with her one-word responses. I guess she really -is- upset that I'm not a murdering psychopath.

I turn back to Taylor, "I'm giving Emma my seat, just to be a gentleman." I use the shell to pry her fingers off my collar, and I flip into the air and seat myself on the ceiling over the aisle, upside-down. then I release Emma's shell.

Taylor is giving me a -withering- glare. I just give her a smirk.

Emma is still glaring at me, but she takes the seat. And it looks like she's figured out how to cancel the mute spell. She smiles in a way I -know- she's going to try to start shit. I roll my eyes, but I'll stay out of it until Taylor asks me to deal with it. Emma says, "Hey there -Taylor-, how have you been? You ran away from Winslow like the ugly little nothing you are, so we haven't seen you in a while. Did you cry when you had to leave?" I can't believe this. Taylor has a cape friend that is literally RIGHT NEXT TO YOU, and you're trying to start this? Is this a comfort zone thing, needing someone to pick on while in the eyes of Sophia, or is this just pure unadulterated idiocy at its peak? I notice I'm not the only one staring at her in shock.

Taylor looks at me for a moment, then starts cracking up. And from the expression I saw, I know exactly why. She just remembered what happened the last time she asked me for help. And she knows I don't -care- what time of day it is.

Now Emma is in shock. Apparently that didn't go as planned.

Sophia is just watching, almost acting like she's watching a box of dynamite with the fuse lit.

So, since basic introductions didn't work, Emma tries again, "Aww, Taylor, I kno- uckak" a fly flew in her mouth. Emma is coughing up a storm and Sophia is smirking. Taylor is holding back a grin, and Emma is glaring daggers at me. I attempt to look innocent, but by default I look guilty.

Around this time Emma looks like she realizes Sophia isn't helping to bring Taylor or me down. She suddenly looks like the world has fallen out from under her. Aaaand she's in shock. Wow, is it really -that- big a thing for her to not be 'accepted' by Sophia? She looks sick. I glance over to Taylor who looks torn between 'worry' and 'This is the girl that betrayed and tortured me for two years'.

Ugh... I don't want to deal with this, but I don't want to have to deal with the smell of barf on the bus either. I try to push some [calm] into her aura along with a touch of [happy] once I see a bit of soul shattering depression and loss of purpose on her face. Jeeze, this girl is a rollercoaster of emotions... I end up having to hold that for the rest of the bus trip. She's managed to calm down some but she still looks -incredibly- lost.

Once the bus stops at the school I boost Emma out of the seat and force her to stand and walk so Taylor can escape. The bus driver is partially amused and partially upset with me. Apparently a student sitting on the ceiling is a first. Apparently it -also- blocks his ability to see through the back window. This was also the first time his bus has been so quiet with so many kids on it. I just give him a wave as I follow Emma off the bus upside down with Taylor and Sophia behind me.

Apparently some of the students have convinced Shard to 'Mute' some friends, but I don't let her get too carried away. I turn to Taylor and wave, "See you later T, Sophs." Sophia glares but Taylor gives me a small smile before going back to being generally confused about how she should feel about Emma. Eh, Emma is done with her crisis and is at the numb stage, She doesn't need assistance from me to retain dignity... Shard grabs me and drags me back to Emma, then gives her a hug to her continued confusion. Then Shard glares at me. I roll my eyes. "Ugh. Fine." I don't offer much resistance. I pull out my notepad and write down my phone number and tear it off then try to hand it to Emma... but she's still numb to the world. I put it in her pocket. "Give me a call if you need to talk. Personally I think it would be better for you to get in touch with a therapist, but I'm not going to push." My 'good deed' done for the day I head to class.

Classes are pretty normal, History the teacher requests another costume for another important history figure, and I assist a little more by trying an idea for illusions. I infuse the air in a section of the class and use a Battery Orb linked with my mental reading construct to try to control it. It's... challenging. The infusion is already set as a 'light' spell, I'm trying to use the mental construct to control sections and wavelengths for other colors, all I really get are slight changes toward blue and green, sadly the mental construct isn't working -quite- right and I'm getting very blurry and distorted images so I dispel it and apologize to Mrs. Anthels. Then I listen with half my attention as I use the rest to make a miniature illusion within my aura and try to figure out what I'm doing wrong, much to the interest of Carlos.

Shard has become the Mrs. Anthels' aide. By that I mean she hands out papers, gathers papers, and when the teacher glares and points at someone she hits them with Mute. What a teacher's pet. This has also made my 'assigned' seat the one in the middle of the classroom so Shard can more easily hand out papers, etc.

After class I head out to the cafeteria for what I assume is going to be a bit of a trial. And I was right. Once I got my food I attempted to go to my normal place only to be dragged off the ceiling and to the 'Hero Table'. Once there Carlos is the first to speak up, "Will, what were you doing with the... light thing in history?"

I shrug, "goofing off."... and Shard tries to explain since I'm not doing a good job of it. I roll my eyes, fine. "I'm building a spell to measure brainwaves as a control feature." Everyone looks confused. I knew I'd have to expand on it if I said anything. Thanks Shard. I sigh, "Alright, let's say I make a Fairy Light," and I do, I hold up a brightly glowing orb. "now, I can control it," I take my hand off and mentally push it left and right before it centers again. "but if I want Carlos here to control it, how can I do that?"

The guy I don't know gets wide eyed and nods, "Yeah, you measure his brainwaves for a response from the device.. erm... light, and the mind gets used to it and can make use of it like a limb."

I nod, "Exactly."

Dean is staring at me, "So, what, you're trying to make it so other people could use your abilities with you?"

I shake my head, "Nope, not exactly. It's a personal project, don't worry about it." I then try to eat my fish... but the Filter Shield on my ring keeps that from succeeding by pushing against the bite. I grumble, "damnit." I drop the fish from my spork and press the spork against my arm for a good couple of minutes until I see the ring dim and stop glowing entirely, then I take the stupid thing off and toss it high in the air to get it out of my aura. There's a *crackle-pop* sound and the ring falls back down. When I catch it I realize the damn thing has a giant crack down it. "Damn. Oh well." I stick the ring in my pocket and -now- eat my fish.

Why is everyone staring at me? I finish my mouthful, "What?"

Victoria speaks up, "Did your ring just -explode-?"

I shake my head, "Nah, cracked. I discharged most of it so it -wouldn't- explode."

Everyone's eyes widen and Carlos speaks up, "Your rings -explode-!? and you brought them to -school-?"

I shrug, "They only explode if I throw them." I think for a moment, "Or if someone steals one and gets far enough away."

Dennis starts laughing, "Wow, talk about anti-theft."

Carlos is still flabbergasted, "You're wearing explosives on your fingers."

I shrug, "They're not explosive until I throw them or I -wouldn't- wear them on my fingers. I don't like pain and I hear explosions cause a lot of that." Dennis almost chokes on his food at that. I barely hear a comment about Bakuda from his direction.

Victoria speaks up, "So, change of topics! You're coming with us to dinner, so we'll meet you at the mall around five, alright? Just, float there, I'm sure we'll find you."

I narrow my eyes, "You invited Shard, why are you setting the time with me?" Shard agrees and looks cross. Well... as cross as Shard gets.

I see Dennis subtly motioning for me. Rather than going over there for anything obvious I make a small orb under the table that looks vaguely like a speaker, but I attach a Sonic Shield to the outside, and I link the sense surface to a surface I make in my ear that will replicate whatever the sense surface picks up. Like how the shield normally counters sound waves only the one in my ear duplicates. I float the construct over to bump his knee. Ah, it's nice to have over a nine foot reach. He smirks when he finds the 'device' and he speaks into it. I smirk a little hearing his idea, then quickly disperse the communication construct.

Over the next ten minutes while Victoria was trying to appease Shard and I was eating lunch, I was also building a new spell.

When lunch was over I stayed behind a bit to watch my work - So did Dennis. When Victoria stood up and started floating just a bit off the ground to deposit her tray, a small Fairy Light was trailing slowly behind her swaying over her left then right shoulder. The moment she put her tray down it said in a high pitched voice "Hey, Listen!" Victoria spun around but the thing was now over her other shoulder. Dennis started cracking up, then the thing said it again, causing Victoria to turn the other way... only for it to move back over her other shoulder. Now the -whole- table was laughing, including me. The little annoying ball of light called out again, "Hey, Listen!" Victoria looked at where it was, but again it moved, so being of the intelligent type, she looked the other way to stare wide-eyed at her own little ball of glowing light bobbing up and down, before it said, "Hey, List-" *pop* when she squeezed it. Hard. Dennis was -howling- in laughter by this point. I decided discretion was the better part of valor and used Boost and Flight to -rocket- down the hallway to get out of Victoria's line of fire... Leaving Dennis as the only valid target. Poor bastard.

The rest of the classes were pretty straightforward, so I sat patiently through them. Shard was bored since she had already introduced herself. Sometimes she tried to 'talk' to a student, but for the most part she just sort of lazed about in the air around me.

After school I met up Sophia in an empty class after the class filtered out. Taylor knew I had that dinner to go to and I had asked Sophia for an hour, so she had decided to take the bus and do some scouting tonight since we still needed a way to cripple E88.

I wave to Sophia, "Hey, how was school?"

She just growls, "Cut the small talk. What do you need me to do?"

I shrug, "Works for me, I don't like small talk anyway." I go to the center of the room and cut my flight spell, I want full concentration for this. "Alright, stand across from me and try to clear your mind. Focus on what you can feel, when you feel something new, invite it in. That should be me, and I'll need to be able to attach this to your core." I dig in my bag and hold up a small block of the alloy I had made yesterday. "Um. First hold out your hand." Sophia follows the instructions and I use a couple of spells and a controlled Filter to cause everything but the perfectly sized ring to fall off the block. Sophia raises an eyebrow. I shrug, "What, you want a symbol on it or something? This one's temporary, but don't take it off... Unless it's out of charge it'll explode the second it leaves your finger. When you take it off the enchantment will dissipate entirely, releasing any energy inside."

Sophia thinks for a moment then says, "I want a panther on it."

So I use Filter to take a little bit more off to make the shape of a stalking panther and I rough the surface that makes up the symbol so it appears slightly darker, "That work?"

Sophia nods then says, "Alright, let's get this over with." I toss her the ring and she slips it on her index finger.

***************************************

Somewhere not -that- far away Assault feels that he missed the perfect opportunity for a joke. He shrugs and figures he'll make up for it with Puppy later.

***************************************

I feel a slight shudder down my spine, but I shrug it off after a moment. "Alright, let me set this up then I'll need you to do some things so I can -tune- this. Sorry, but you're the trial run."

She scoffs, "You blow me up I'm stabbing you."

I nod, "Good incentive." I close my eyes and work on setting up the network. it's... more challenging than I expected. Her secondary core is actively trying to hold me out, but I set up an Astral Shield on top of the one I have on my ring. The ring one is mainly for casual use anyway, just so I don't get surprised. The Astral Shield helps me pierce through the 'shadow' that makes up her secondary aura. Eventually I punch through and manage to connect to her primary core. There I see it's not small and weak like Noelle's... it's got cavities of shadow, it's also red, not the 'evil chaos' red of Noelle's secondary, but a bright red. I wonder how badly the cavities been affecting her... maybe it's even the reasons for her murderous tendencies?... Nah, Noelle was fine and hers was much worse off. Oh well, something I can deal with later.

I create the construct infused into her skull to read her brainwaves and I hold it in place, then open my eyes, "Sophia, hold out your hand and try to make a Foxfire orb in it." I feel the pulses change a little, I move her hand some and ask her to do it again. Then I turn her hand sideways for the same, then upside down, then behind her back, etc. This goes on for a long while as I get reading after reading, how she determines power level of the orb, how she determines placement, etc. The sad thing is, this one is easy. There's no 'force direction' or 'make it anywhere around' or even 'additional options'.

After I finish testing the reader, I build a battery into her ring, and build the function into the battery to create a Foxfire orb at the varying levels based on input from the brainwave sensor. Once I finish up the design I place the end against her core and release the whole thing, including the network, and I feel the enchantment snap into place properly.

I let out an explosive breath "Ugh, that was a pain. Not looking forward to the more complex ones."

Sophia is glaring at her hand, then she gives me a vicious glare, "It's not working."

I roll my eyes, "Calm down Rage Beast. It has to charge... I'd guess ten minutes or so with this battery. If I can get something more dense we can go for a larger one. Just leave it be for ten minutes then give it a try."

She nods, and we both wait because -I- want to see what happens too.

... apparently Shard has been trying to figure out how to make the 'prank fairy' on Sophia. Thus far it's been unsuccessful, but Sophia unknowingly has six Fairy Lights trailing along behind her.

Ten minutes later the ring starts glowing dimly and I nod, "Should be a full charge now. Try a small one, you don't want to blow up the room."

She focuses and lo and behold; a small Foxfire orb appears in her hand... that happens to be getting bigger because she's being a bitch. I can tell she's doing it on purpose. She ends up putting half the charge into the thing. "Damnit Sophia, you're going to destroy the classroom."... and then she goes Shadow state... holy shit. The Foxfire orb has turned into a shadow with a red glowing core inside... This... could be more dangerous than I first thought... and I first thought it was incredibly dangerous.

Sophia tosses the orb -through- the wall to the outside. When she regains normal form from her breaker state there's a rather large explosion outside, though muffled as it apparently erupted from inside a chunk of -something-... Eeesh. The reason the concussive force of Foxfire orbs aren't that dangerous is normally the person/thing is only hit with one section of the force... if she can toss it -inside- things... ew. I'm hopeful it can't go inside people because their aura -should- destabilize the orb before it can get inside... but just to be safe, I turn to the madly grinning insane rage beast, "No exploding people from the inside. People aren't generally able to survive that."

Sophia shrugs but gives a slight nod. All I can really ask for. She's smiling at me with that terrifying smile, "This is the -best- present I've -ever- gotten!"

I blink slowly, "You're terrifying. I think I'm going to leave before you try to blow -me- up."

She grins and again I'm surprised when her teeth aren't razor sharp, "Oh, I -like- you too much for that. I'd use a -knife-..."

I nod, "You see? That is why you're terrifying. Now I'm leaving before you can't hold yourself back anymore." And I do. Fast.