"Maybe we should take our minds off of that, girls?" Velvet was probably right. Even though Ika had just learned a helpful amount about her past, it still was probably going to eat her up at night. Instead of walking with her usual stride, something utilitarian, she instead walked as if she was *tired*, truly exhausted - harms hanging low, legs only going so far as they needed to. "Ika, you alright?" "I'm *fine*. Let's just see what they have in their lab, right?" Ika didn't look over at Mako this time. "You sure you're fine?" "I just need to cool my head, Maks, I'll be alright. Just stress, that's all." This time she did look, giving a sigh. "Hey, hey, we do have some stuff to help cool you off! Just right through here!" Velvet procured a strange card from their robe, and swiped it through a reader. It turned green, and the window that was once in front of all of them gave way into a spiffy little tech lab - the left wall had some individualized testing chambers, with a couple of researchers, while to the right was the main floor of the lab, with a couple of large tubes of liquid in the corner, and some various items on display scattered about. More researchers, all with lab coats and in varying states of cyborg-ism, were dotted about the place, most of them taking notes or using their abilities to carve out parts for various items of interest. The blue haired one, Toby, came up and greeted our trio. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the platforming sisters?" Ika snorted a bit. "Yeah, right..." Mako looked around confused. "I don't get it." "You see, it's from a video game, Super Jumping Sisters, yeah?" "What's a video game?" Ika blinked. "Oh, sorry, must be another false memory, then..." Toby ignored the logical inconsistency. "Well, we do have a lot for you two, anyways! Welcome to the [[Delta]] division! Mako, should we start with you?" Mako was extremely giddy. "Yeah!" She ran up to Toby's side. "What'cha got, what'cha got, buddy??" "Hehe, they're just back here!" He guided everyone to the back wall, while Velvet quietly excused themselves for other duties. He eyes up the various items - weapons, gear, cool gadgets - it was unlike anything Ika or Mako had seen before. They were used to small town living, so to see *technology*, this strange way of making metals think, beyond just your typical television or fridge - it was intriguing. Toby grabbed something with a string off the wall. "This, Mako, is a crossbow. Good range, and a great benefit to someone who's more melee focused." Mako looked at it with awe, taking it into her hands. The string was perpendicular to the main chassis, which felt nice and weighted, but not too heavy. It was painted in pink, with a cyan lightning bolt going down the sides. Toby handed Mako a quiver of bolts, of varying designs. She slung it over her shoulder. "Here, step behind here and I'll get some targets ready for you." They crossed a yellow-black hazard line into a dedicated training area, and Toby pressed a button on the wall, causing a number of targets to appear, hanging from the ceiling. "You load a bolt into the divot, pull it back until it clicks, then pull back on the trigger to fire. Got that?" "Every letter!" Mako did as instructed, grabbing a bolt from her quiver, drawing it back, and hearing a click. She aimed as best as she could... ### Tchew! The bolt fired right out of the crossbow, piercing all the targets in a row, and lifelessly clattering onto the floor. "Woo! That was awesome! Can I keep this?" "Sure can! Ika, you like what you see?" Ika dodged eye contact with Toby. "It's... As long as she's happy with it, you know?" Mako frowned a bit. "Sweetie, you don't need to compensate. This is fun, honestly!" She got the attention of Toby. "Do you have something for Ika?" Toby once again approached the rack of items. He pulled down something down, it looked like a dagger, gold in coloration. "Here, Ika, try this!" She cautiously accepted it, turning it over in her hands. "You expect me to use this for self defense?" "No, no- here, step over the line like Mako did, and press the button on the side." As instructed, Ika walked over the line, holding Mako's hands for a brief moment, before taking a breath, and pressing a small button on the side, as requested. In her hands, the dagger extended out to be the size of a blade she'd typically be comfortable with, though maybe a little shorter, but this was soon compensated - some kind of pink electricity shot out, lining the edge of the blade like a chainsaw. "I- are we sure this is necessary, Toby?" "Sure it is! Here, let's get you something to practice on." Once again, Toby pressed another button on the wall panel, and a hole opened up in the floor - before a training dummy appeared. It was tan in color, somewhat resembling the head and torso of a human, without any other distinguishing features. Ika's eyes opened as wide as they could, her pupils becoming short, stiff, panicking. Mako looked concerned. "Uh, Toby, I don't think-" Toby gave a wink and put a finger over his mouth. "Shh! Ika needs the silence to focus, no?" "Hey! Don't 'Shh' my girlfriend! I'd cut you for that!" Ika turned to address Mako. "You were saying?" "Well, I don't think this would be good for you... Not to divulge too much, but, you know what we both saw in that [[File]]..." Mako was right. Ika appreciated a good weapon, and, while test-driving it did seem like a good idea, she feared that it would probably bring her further down the spiral than she needed to go in her life. "She's probably right, Tobs. You got anything that's... less weapon-y? No offense." Toby put his claw to his chin. He pressed a button to retract the dummy. "Have you tried the rope function? just flip it into the air and catch it." "Hmph!" As instructed, Ika retracted the blade into its dagger form. flipping it into the air. She tracked it, watching the blade retreat into the handle, being replaced by the same pink electricity that circled the sword, but with a couple of golden diamonds seemingly help it keep its shape. Without effort, she caught it right back in her hand. "It's like a whip, Ika, you 'throw' the nodes and they create a path outwards." "'Throw'?" "Just use it like a whip..." "Psh. Easy for you to say." Ika whipped it, causing some of the diamonds to come off, floating just above the ground, creating a snake of the aforementioned sparks. "Now, drop it onto the path." Ika did as directed, holding the whip above the trail, as if dropping a microphone after a good-natured roasting. Instead of hitting the ground, the dagger hovered along the electricity, unfolding the blade to be just long enough to stand on. "Do I... get on?" "It's like a personal wagon of sorts." Ika stepped onto the platform, balancing herself. She had to stick out her arms at first, wobbling a little like a child learning how to walk, but she eventually got here. Leaning forward, arms bent but stuck out behind her, the bar rode to the other end of the line with ease. Ike pivoted, doing the same thing a couple more times. "This is way better than a sword... I only have one problem." "And that would be...?" Ika looked over to Mako. "I promised you I'd put a lock on all my weapons..." She then faced Toby. "Can you put a lock on this, so that I can fulfill that promise?" "Love is always strange, aha... do you have the lock?" Mako tossed the lock over to Toby, hitting him in the head, dropping it into his claw. He thought nothing of it and gave it a look over. "Hm... Ika, this is just a regular combination lock." "So?" "It wasn't actually keeping your sword from being drawn." Ika and Mako could not have felt more "bruh" in their lives. "Can you make a lock, anyways?", questioned Mako. "It'd take a bit... How about you two get some [[Rest]] and we'll talk about it in the morning? There's some dorms just down the hallway, you guys can have 32B." Ika and Mako withdrew their respective weapons into their bags. They looked at each other just a tad longer than you'd think. "Mako, you alright?" "I'm fine, sweetie, honest!" "I'm just making sure." She paused. "You didn't have to come with me if you didn't want to, you know." Mako looked confused. "Of course I wanted to come with you. I feel like you'd be lonely without someone to accompany, you know?" Ika scratched the back of her head. "That's... fair enough, but if you want to, you can go home." Mako now took on a bit of a playfully angry demeanor. "Go home?! Ika, I've always wanted to visit Synth City, and now I can! You're my sweet, loving ticket into there. Plus, you know..." She looked to the side, blushing. "Home *is* where the heart is, isn't it? And you've seem to have stolen it." Ika smirked. "You make a convincing argument, love." Mako pleaded. "Can you smile for me, sweetie?" "Huh?" "Like, really, try your best to smile. I don't think I've seen you actually happy. I bet you look gorgeous with a smile on your face." "I... I could try." Ika took a deep breath, pushing her hands out, taking space. She tried to think of what had led up to this moment that would make her happy... Her loving partner, Mako, who has been by her side ever since she awoke in that forest - not that it was a given but it was an obvious pick. There was Toby, that mildly sideways fella that seemed to have overcame his concerns with his arm - he taught her how to talk to people without stuttering! And Edgie, the mage, who was in and out of the Evergreens' facility, but still was nice enough to be able to chat with her without judgement. Yolk, too, came up - Ika's only friend that wasn't just one of Mako's... And that little kid they saved from the- "There it is!!" Ika hadn't realized it, but she was, indeed, smiling. Unlike Mako, who beamed with her whole face, looking like she might devour you, Ika's smile was something more subtle, not really smiling with her eyes, but just with her mouth - it was simple, and yet... She couldn't help it. (End of [[Act]] 3.)