1233/G-cans - Hydrophobia

G-cans - Hydrophobia
Date of Scene:	20 March 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Central Harbor
Synopsis:	Nicola wakes up one night to find Bryony gone. The adventure that follows shatters their fragile sense of peace.
Cast of Characters:	Bryony Elan, 158

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Bryony Elan has posed:
    For a few months, life had been blissfully boring for Nicola Esprit. The pain of what she lost lingered, but in the midst of that, a routine began to form around her. Even if she rarely went far, she had been given a chance to get to know her tiny slice of the world. Day by day, this planet began to seem a tiny bit less foreign. And Jessamine started to seem like someone familiar, if nothing else.

    Then it all changed. She started going to school, to once again be around people her age: something rare even back home. Bryony also came back into her life. Then Nanoha. But these new friends didn't come without complication. Nanoha was not entirely what she seemed. Maybe their magic potential drew them together subconsciously, or maybe it was pure coincidence. Whatever the case, she had stumbled upon one of the very few people in this world who had some, albeit limited, insight into her past. And Bryony? Bryony was herself, for better or ill. But it's hard to forget warnings like the one Lindy gave her. Watch out for her, she said, for her own good. Was she really supposed to spy on her friend? Or was there more to what Lindy said? One thing which Nicola /could/, sadly, rely on was not being told the entire truth. Something about Bryony does seem different, after all. Back home, in the few instances where Nicola was around her, she was quieter, withdrawn, maybe a little sad. Here, she seems to be the exact opposite. Is it just the environment? Or has she changed?

    It's Friday night, a few minutes past 10:30 PM; it has been just over a week since school started. Tonight is quiet. School was what it was; it's a predictable routine in itself, even if the rest of this world is strange. With the backdrop of a finally returning sense of calm, the residents of Jessamine's apartment sleep. Nicola is dreaming.

    She has been here before, though she can't quite remember where it is. It's a town like any other on al-Furat. Most of them are this size, with only a few thousand residents at most. There are only a handful of cities bigger than that. Water is a scarcity on the desert planet, and the people there rely on the numerous underground lakes and rivers to sustain themselves. It's rare for the water supply in those caverns to be large enough to sustain a big city.

    She lived in one of the big cities, though. Where is she now? It's hard to make out. It's night, and there are no street lights in this city; a purple-tinged full moon above provides only moderate illumination. She's standing in a street, though most of the windows of the homes around her are dark. Everyone is either sleeping, or maybe they're away somewhere . . . Then she can hear singing in the distance. It's a traditional song in her language. She knows this one. Looking down the street, there are lights at the end of the block. It's the town square. There's a gathering there. That's right. The people on her world have gatherings like this all the time. It's a hard life, and festivals like these are one of the few ways to relieve the stress and boredom. What does she do now?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola is confused, at first. She doesn't know this place, but still... it feels familiar in a way that she hasn't encountered in a long way, and she doesn't quite recall that she was supposed to have been on a different world. Dreams just work that way, after all.

As such, she does that which only seems natural. She heads towards the source of light, of music. Towards the very people themselves. She smiles, despite her confusion, because festivals are fun, and she would like to have fun.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    The singing grows steadily louder as she approaches. As she passes through the dark street, heading toward the light, she's able to discern the music more clearly. There are many dozens of voices, all singing in unison, with surprising clarity. They're perhaps not talented--some of the voices are definitely better than others--but they're practiced in the way that people who grow up with a tradition of song are. For the most part, they're all on key and in unison. Closer now, Nicola can even make out the music. A small band plays off to the square's side; they're not audible from afar without any amplification equipment, but they're the ones setting the pace for the singing.

    And then the square opens up before her. In its center, people are dancing, dozens of them moving in lines and circles, going through a routine they all know well. It's not a very complicated dance, but it's not meant to be. This is more communal; in that moving crowd, there are people of all ages and walks of life. At the edges of the square, some vendors are selling food. Others are doing business. There's one table covered in luminous red crystals; somebody is buying, and the people of this town are selling, haggling over the price. It's ruby, this planet's sole exportable commodity, its prosperity and misery. It's an extremely volatile, and valuable, magical substance that has to be extracted by hand, at great peril.

    This place seems so familiar, but Nicola doesn't recognize anyone. At least until one person peels away from the crowd. A young, brown-haired girl emerges from the dancing crowd and herself looks around. Scanning the crowd, she spots Nicola, her eyes lighting up, immediately dashing over to close the distance. She seems like she's the same size, at least relative to Nicola's height, but her features seem different, younger by a few years.

    Somehow, Nicola knows what Bryony is about to say. "Nicola! I haven't seen you in forever!"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Hey Bryony!" Nicola seems a little confused, even though she knew, but she pushes it away, reaching out to grab the other girl's hands. "How have you been?" The question doesn't quite deny that it's been a while, but doesn't agree with it either. She is glossing over this little weirdness without problem.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony grabs Nicola's hands, her smile spreading. "I'm good! I didn't know your family was in town! Are you here to trade? The harvest festival is great this year!" Harvest festival? It takes a moment for Nicola to register what that is, but she seems to remember with little effort. That's right. Medium-sized towns like this serve as regional hubs. The festivals aren't only communal and entertaining. They're commercial. These festivals last for days, and people travel long distances to sell their wares or to buy important goods.

    Suddenly excitement paints Bryony's face. She's remembering something, and as usual, she has a limited ability to contain her enthusiasm. "Nicola! Nicola! You have to taste what we made this year!" Made? "The harvest was really good, c'mon!" Bryony doesn't wait for acknowledgment, still holding one of Nicola's hand as she runs into the crowd.

    Nicola is pulled through a shifting crowd for a few moments, eventually reaching a particularly popular cluster of stalls. They're selling bread. Why is it glowing, though? Oh. Nicola can remember her father teaching her about the chemistry of this process. Trace amounts of Ruby leech into the groundwater of al-Furat; the plants that grow in the underground caverns, fed by that water, often glow as a result. So too do certain staple foods made from those plants. You can even see traces of it in the people who grow up on al-Furat too, her father taught her. It tends to subtly, or not so subtly, add unusual color to their eyes. Bryony and Nicola both have some of that.

    Bryony smiles at one of the people minding a stall, handing over a few coins that she fishes from her pocket. They smile back and hand her a single roll, which is torn in half by Bryony a moment later. She rather unceremoniously bites into her half. The other is handed to Nicola. Most of the glow is confined to the bread's crust, it seems. The inside looks like a fairly normal brown bread. It's different from most bread on Earth, though. Bread like this is noticeable sweet, but it's also a little sour. Nicola saw these at home, but she never got one this fresh from her Dad; most of the glow was usually gone by the time they made it to the big city she was in. "Try it!"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola does try it, digging in with happy bites. She doesn't talk, but then she never talked much back home, it's only the loss of her father and device that really made her feel so lonely that she felt like she needed to make friends, and thus tried to make herself talk. Here, in what feels like home, that urgency fades away. "It's good."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "I'm so glad! It really /is/ extra good this year. You've got a good sense for these things, I think! Aro says I'll eat anything--can you believe he said that--but if you like it, everyone is going to like it." Aro? Bryony smiles. "I'm really happy you made it." And then Nicola hears something, something that sounds out of place. Bryony hears it too, apparently, her face a little confused as she turns to Nicola. "Hey. What's that?" It sounds like wood banging against other wood, the same sound repeating at seemingly random intervals. It's a little bit muffled, but it's close. It's strange, though. Nicola didn't know that sound growing up. There are no trees on al-Furat. No wood. Most buildings are primarily made out of stone. It's one of many things she learned on . . . Yes, that's right. She's not really here, is she? She's on Earth.

    And then a final, louder bang, as Nicola is woken up from her dream. Her window is closed, but a short distance away, another one is flapping as a gusting wind blows hinged blinds open and closed against their frame. It's coming from the direction of Bryony's room, next to hers. Did she leave the window open?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
And when her dream is rudely interrupted by that sound, it takes Nicola a moment to wake up. A moment to realize what's going on. When she does, she slips out of her bed and tiptoes towards Bryony's room, asking softly, "Hey, are you there?" She's trying to avoid drawing Jessamine's attention if she doesn't need to.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    There's no sound from behind Bryony's door, save for the rapping of the blinds, now very clearly originating from within. Jessamine's door is also closed. Jessamine's a heavier sleeper, but it doesn't make any sense that Bryony would sleep through this. Bryony tends to sleep very lightly; she has been woken by night time storms more than once even during the very short time she has been here.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola had considered this fact before she even asked, but she wanted to make sure before barging in. She gently opens Bryony's door and pushes herself in, taking a look around to consider what may be going on. She suspects she'll find it empty of occupants.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Nobody is inside. Nicola can see Bryony's pajamas rather messily strewn about, and her shoes are gone. Her backpack is gone too, though its normal school contents have been emptied out onto her desk. Wherever she is, it looks like she got dressed and left herself. She just didn't take the front door. The perhaps obvious reason for that is that Jessamine's room has a window looking out toward the hallway adjoining the front door. Sneaking out that way would be a lot more risky, if that's what this is.

    By the looks of it, she opened the window, but she wasn't able to fully close it behind herself, or to properly latch her blinds. Maybe she didn't think she needed to. The weather wasn't acting up when everyone went to sleep at ten. The desk clock on Bryony's desk indicates that it's now nearly midnight, and a storm is slowly approaching. It might be bad timing for a midnight excursion, though maybe she didn't know that. Despite her claim that it's "inferior, barbarian technology," Bryony hasn't quite mastered her smartphone. It's doubtful she has ever seen the weather app Jessamine installed for her.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola heads back to her own room, and grabs her own phone. Then she goes through her contacts list and pulls up Bryony's number, hoping that the other girl didn't leave it at home. If she can hear the other phone's ringtone go off, she'll immediately cancel her call, otherwise, she waits.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    For the first few seconds, Nicola doesn't hear anything. But then, with Bryony's door now opens, she starts to hear a faint buzzing from that direction. It's here, it seems; Bryony knew enough to put her phone on vibrate, just not enough to remember to take it with her. How is she getting anywhere without it, though? She has been really good about remembering routes to the few places they've gone to together, but still, she barely knows the city. Maybe she's just going to the convenience store to get something. If that's the case, though, why sneak out? Jessamine is fine with trips like that; there are plenty of nights when she works too late to cook, and the girls have to rely on takeout or convenience store food.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola debates what to do, she doesn't know where Bryony went, or how long she's gone. She ends the attempt to call, however, realizing it's useless, and sits down on her bed, musing to herself, "This would be so much easier if I could get some seeker spells to look for her..."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Without her device, magic isn't an option available to her. There are options, though, now that she's sitting down and thinking. It's possible Jessamine might have some magic that's useful. If Lindy is still sending her on odd jobs, her skills likely haven't gotten rusty, and she was one of the better mages aboard the Arthra before it was destroyed. Jessamine was good enough to successfully spearhead the attack on her father and the Elans' facility, and to go head to head with Tamsin Eclat, their chief of security, an excellent fighter according to most people.

    There are other things she could do herself, though. Nicola interacts with Bryony more than most people, so maybe she could figure this out on her own. Has anything changed? Bryony has been spending more time in her room than usual. She has even skipped her favorite detective show once or twice during these last few days, something she is very loathe to do. Maybe she could look around and make some sense of things?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola feels a little guilty when she goes back into Bryony's room to snoop, but she has to figure out a way. After a few moments of carefully looking through Bryony's room, she picks up the other girl's cellphone and tries to look at whatever apps may have been left open.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    So much for privacy. Bryony still hasn't set a lock code on her phone. A quick swipe opens the phone, revealing a GPS mapping application. Looks like she wanted directions to an intersection near the apartment. Nicola knows that spot. It's only a few blocks away. It's in a rundown cluster of warehouses and freight facilities near the docks, with nothing of obvious interest nearby. Why go there? Is this the kind of thing she was told to watch out for?

    Whatever the case, Bryony's timing couldn't be worse. Outside, thunder rattles loudly through Bryony's open window, and the first scattered raindrops start pattering on the roof adjacent to it. Looks like the storm will be here soon, and if the forecast is right, it's going to come down heavy. Wherever she's going, she might get trapped out there, in the rain.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola still isn't going to tell Jessamine. So, she changes the map to show direction to school instead, kicks it back where it was, and then grabs her raincoat and climbs out of Bryony's window. She wants her own room to stay warm for when she gets back.

Once outside, she quickly runs towards where the mapping app told her to go. Once there, she looks around and yells, "Bryony!?" She tries to be loud enough to be easily heard but not loud enough to cause a ruckus.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    The distance isn't far, but even running, it takes ten minutes for Nicola to reach her destination, between the handful of stoplights and her short stride. It's a mostly uneventful trip. A few cars pass her by as she begins, but they pay her no mind, likely assuming she's making a midnight convenience store run. By the time she actually gets into the warehouse district, the already scant traffic has died down to nothing. It's purely commercial and light industrial properties around here, and there are few vehicles on the street when it's not business hours. She can hear a few heavy trucks rumbling in the distance, but those are a few streets over or more, heading into and out of the freight distribution center in this area.

    The rain grows heavier as she proceeds. It's a drizzle when she starts, but by the time she gets halfway, it's already a light rain. Judging by the thick clouds in the distance, and the gusting winds blowing in from the sea, it's going to get a lot worse. She can already see water flowing in the deep storm channel running parallel to this street.

    She eventually arrives at the intersection. There's not much to see here, though. This is a quiet meeting of two small streets, well away from the main roads. In any of the four corners, there are high fences, some of them topped with wire. Bryony is athletic, but it doesn't look like anyone could climb these fences. Behind the barriers are nondescript warehouses, all of them looking like they're well-trafficked during the day, but totally dark and quiet now. Nothing to see here, almost.

    One interesting feature stands out. Only a few meters down one of the streets, there's an alcove. It's fenced off with short chain link, but the fence door lazily creaks open and closed. It's only moving in the wind because someone lifted the latch; there's enough slack in the locked chain that a small person might have fit through. Behind the fence, within that tiny lot is a small utility building constructed with simple concrete walls. It's not clear what lies within. There's stenciled writing on the door in Japanese, but it has faded down to illegibility. Below it is even older stenciled spraypaint, but that can still be read because it was written in big block letters in English. "G-Cans" G-Cans?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
With the weather turning out the way it did, Nicola is glad she decided to wear her raincoat. Not getting a response, she looks around for signs of the girl she's looking for until she notices the creaking gate. She slips through and slowly, carefully heads in. She notices the writing, but the English is no more legible to her than the faded Japanese.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Inside the small utility building is a hatch. Judging by the rust pattern, which ends abruptly along a clean line, the hatch is usually closed. But someone has opened it ahead of Nicola. Beneath the hatch is a small circular tunnel with a ladder built into it, with rungs of shaped rebar extending outward from the tunnel's smooth concrete surface. This looks like a maintenance access point for something. There's nowhere to go now but down. Nicola can hear running water below.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
This whole scenario worries Nicola a little bit, but she's gotten this far. Down she goes, careully holding on to the rungs as she makes her way through the tunnel. She takes it slow and careful, and once she's far enough in calls out that name again, "Bryony?"

Bryony Elan has posed:
    By the sound of it, nobody can hear her. Above, thunder again rumbles, though Nicola can't see the lightning down here. Below, as Nicola descends deeper, the roar of rushing water only continually grows. Eventually, she finds herself on a narrow grated metal walkway, in a tunnel easily ten meters wide. Below, a torrent of water rushes; it's hard to tell how much is flowing, but it looks very deep. This is part of a storm drainage system, it seems. With how loud the water is, and with how many twists and turns these tunnels seem to make, it's doubtful her voice will carry far.

    It's hard to find her way. There are numbers and letters posted high on the walls periodically, likely to represent location, but the coding system isn't intuitive. There's probably a municipal map to help navigate down here, but she doesn't have it. And this deep, her phone has no signal, neither GPS or cellular reception. If she's looking for someone, there's nothing to do but move.

    Even at her age, she's a keen-enough scientific thinker to make one correct assumption. Travelling in the direction the water is coming from will likely only lead to successive runoff intakes, massive flows from storm drainage channels on the surface, like the one she walked by earlier; eventually, she'd hit a dead end at the final intake. If she wants to go somewhere, she'll have to follow the water, heading toward whatever the nexus of this system is. And so she walks. It's not a shirt trip, though. Beneath her feet, the clanging of metal walkways seems to drag on endlessly. It's hard to tell how far she's walking, but it seems like kilometers. Around her, water flows to some unseen destination, growing ever louder as the tunnel grows wider.

    And then the metal walkway ends, transitioning to a concrete platform, as the water beneath her joins a much larger flow. And suddenly the tunnel opens up around her, leaving her standing on a high railing overlooking a massive chamber, likely thirty meters in height and many times more that in width. Massive columns of structural reinforced concrete dot this place, supporting the weight of the city above.

    https://imgur.com/a/jGRCi

    And there, Nicola finally finds her quarry. Farther down the platform, there's Bryony, leaning against the railing, staring at the rushing water.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Thus, Nicola finds her way there, making sure to keep track of the path she's taken to get this far. "Bryony!" She yells again, loudly this time, not caring if her voice echoes through the massive area. "You worried me, disappearing like that!"

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony shrieks sharply, turning toward Nicola with a startled look on her face. Surprised? More than a little. With the ambient noise in here, she probably didn't hear the other girl's approach. She certainly didn't seem to be expecting her.

    But her face softens when she realizes who it is, and a nervous laugh follows as her tension drains away. "Nicola! You scared me! What are you doing down here?" The easy smile on her face says that she isn't taking this very seriously.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola rushes towards Bryony. "Searching for you." She answers in their language, ignoring the shrieking entirely. Stopping a little short of actually invading her friend's personal space. She looks around. "What is this place anyway?" She looks around, "It reminds me of home."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "The G-cans!" Bryony replies with enthusiastic eyes, as if that explained everything. She spreads her arms. "Oooorrrr . . . the Metropolitan Area Underground . . ." Her enthusiasm drops a bit. She doesn't remember the rest of it, does she? She's probably looking for, "The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel," not that she seems to care when she gets it wrong. "It's to prevent flooding!" she states, perking up again. Flooding is not an entirely new concept for the two of them, even if they were born on a desert world. The Dunes, the far inland areas of endless sand which are home only to nomadic tribes, rarely saw precipitation. But nearer to the coastline, monsoons brought torrential rains during the rainy season. The bigger cities were built to allow easy runoff, but they had no storm sewers. So on nights like this one, the main roads often turned into rivers.

    Bryony turns toward the water, leaning against the railing, a few wisps of long brown hair falling to the sides of her face. She speaks in their native language as she continues. "It does remind you of home, doesn't it? It's like the caverns. Like the Underocean." Underocean: there isn't a good translation for that in most languages on Earth, but it was a central part of their lives back home. It's the collective term for the rivers and lakes found in the underground caverns throughout their world. It was life, and it was death. It made their world livable, but it was also a source of grave danger for those mining Ruby; flooding in mines claimed the lives of many.

    "I used to go to the caverns when I was feeling sad or lonely. I used to think, 'Someone else like me will be looking at this same water one day,' and I wouldn't feel quite so alone. Did you ever think that?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola leans against one of the tall pillars, closing her eyes as she listens to Bryony talk. Letting others talk always came naturally to the girl in a way that talking never has. Sadly, Bryony has to disturb this ease by asking a question.

"No, I hadn't. I had Ruby Rose." And for the longest time, the concept of being alone wasn't really one Nicola really had. She was alone, but the idea that she might not be never really crossed her mind until her life was turned upside down. "If you had asked me, then, I wouldn't even know why you'd think about stuff like that."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "Ruby Rose. I think I heard Tamsin talking about her once with your dad, in the lab. I don't think I ever saw her myself. What's she like? How did you get her?" Bryony asks as she turns her head toward the girl next to her, smiling at Nicola. It looks like she's trying to throw a softball to lighten the mood a bit.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Dad made her for me." Nicola says softly, and the question does little to soften the mood. In fact, it draws a tear from the girl's eyes. "I miss her." She doesn't really get around to answering the other question, about what the device is like.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony swallows nervously as she watches the tear start to roll down Nicola's face. She takes a few slow steps closer to her, and then she wraps her arms around Nicola in a tight hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that would make you sad. I was careless. We'll get her too, alright? We'll get her, and then we'll find our parents." She almost sounds certain of that. Maybe that's her way of coping. It's hard to tell whether that's hope or denial, though. The odds are stacked far against everything she's saying, and somewhere in the back of her voice, even she doesn't completely believe her words.

    Bryony holds the hug for a few moments longer before pulling away, though she keeps her hands on the other girl's shoulders. "She's an intelligent device, right? Built by one of the smartest people in the galaxy, right? I'm sure falling from the sky didn't put a dent in her. Devices are . . . "

    Bryony keeps speaking, but her voice starts to fade away. It's not that she's getting quieter. It's just that some other sense suddenly starts to displace everything else for Nicola. It's hard to put her finger on what it is. It's a sensation that's immediate and impossible to ignore, but also vague and hard to articulate. But something is there, for sure, she knows that. It's dozens of meters away, just beneath the surface of the water.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola returns the hug, clinging tightly to Bryony. "I hope you're right." She says softly, though her hope seems hollow, without much faith in the idea that Bryony could be right about this. She's about to say something else when she feels that sensation. "There's something over there." She points, opening her eyes.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony turns to look at the spot where Nicola is pointing. "Oh, did something wash down here? Ooh! Was it good! A car? I bet a car could float through here." Possibly true, save for the small problem of a car fitting down a storm drain. She doesn't seem to take what Nicola is saying very seriously.

    And then Nicola feels it again. It's more pronounced now, but it's coming from a different place. This time, it's . . . Bryony? No . . . It's her bracelet. What's going on?

    Is there something to it? She has had that bracelet since she came to live with them in Tokyo, but Nicola doesn't remember her having it back home.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
And thus, Nicola starts to stare at Bryony's bracelet. "When did you get that bracelet?" She asks softly, trying to get a little distance between herself and the other girl, examining the item that seems to be the source of this strange feeling.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony looks a little confused, her face uncertain as Nicola steps away. She lifts her wrist, looking at the smooth white bracelet. "I had it when I woke up. Jessamine said I should keep wearing it, that it looked nice on me." She shrugs. "I don't know. It's kinda like a good luck charm." She pauses. "Is everything OK? You're scaring me a little."

    There's something to it: something warm beneath the surface that Nicola can sense. It's not quite what it seems.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"They don't trust you, they put a bracelot on you, and told you to wear it." Nicola spells it out slowly, but just to be sure she adds on a further explanation of what she's going on about, "Ever thought it might be tracking you? And I think it's drawn the attention of something else." She actually sounds somewhat scared. "There's scary magical predators in this city, you know..."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "You . . . you're joking, right?" Bryony asks, her face souring. "Why?" She bites her lower lip with her front teeth, thinking on that for a few silent moments. "Nobody ever told me anything like that. Though I guess, with the questions they asked me after I woke up . . . " And then she seems to remember something, something raw enough that even her unspoken reaction is visceral, her face briefly twisting with self-doubt. She looks at Nicola. "Maybe they're right, you know?"

    She doesn't elaborate on that, instead looking around herself more nervously now. "Are you saying there's something out there? What should we do?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Maybe they are, I don't know." Nicola says softly, and she starts to head back where they came from. "We run. We don't have devices, we can't protect ourselves. Last time I got lucky and someone girl and her familiar protected me, I'd rather not gamble on it happening again." She picks up her pace.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony starts to follow behind Nicola. "I thought magic was dead in this world! Lindy said I wouldn't run into any monsters!" Her tone shifts, the young girl muttering as she remembers something. " . . . probably. She said probably." There's a moment of silence from Bryony as she struggles to catch up, only the girls' footsteps and the rushing of water around them audible. "Wait! Are you sure you didn't you just imagine it?"

    If Nicola was unsure, though, that uncertainty evaporates a moment later. Blocking the walkway in front of the two girls, something barely visible hovers. It's mostly concealed by some partial invisibility effect, but now that they're looking directly at it, its presence is obvious. Bryony scrambles to a halt, her voice now fearful. "Ok. You weren't imagining it! I take it back! What . . . what is that, Nicola? Please tell me you know what that is." The brown-haired girl looks at Nicola for support or reassurance or some kind of answer, her eyes betraying how afraid she is.

    Whatever it is, it waits for a few moments, as if trying to make sense of the two girls in front of it. And then it gradually fades into view. It's not one, but three, objects. They're polished metal spheres about a foot (30 cm) in diameter, a single glowing red line circling their equators, ending in a large, brightly lit "eye." Drones? Whatever they are, they're not friendly. Bryony seems to be oblivious, but Nicola once again has that same growing sensation of warmth, this time coming from within the machines. Are they charging an attack?

    The options available aren't great. Charging through seems like suicide. They could double back and head to the platform, but there's nowhere to go from there.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola reaches out to grasp Bryony's hand, to prevent the other girl from doing anything reckless. "I have no reception down here." She pokes the bracelet Bryony is wearing, hoping that whatever tracking stuff is in there will alert TSAB in case some kind of attempted tampering takes place.

"They look like some kind of drone?" Nicola suggests, taking careful, slow step backwards. "They seem to be responding to your bracelet? I don't know why, but there's a similar... feel to them and something from your bracelet."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    The bracelet flashes once as Nicola touches it, turning from its usual polished, lifeless white to a luminous pale blue. "Oh! It glows!" Bryony states, perhaps a little too happy about that, only to turn toward Nicola a moment later as she gives a second thought to her own statement. "Please tell me it does more than glow!" It's a wisecrack, the kind she reflexively makes when she's nervous sometimes, but the desperation in Bryony's voice is obvious.

    And then time runs out. In less than the time it takes to blink, three angry red beams fire from the drones' eyes, lancing toward Bryony and Nicola. Tonight just might be a bad night. Whatever the reason might be, someone or something with ill intentions has found them, and now they're here, alone and unprepared.

    Or maybe not. It's hard to tell, sometimes, whether things are a little too convenient, or if you're just not seeing all the wheels that are turning.

    A bright light fills the air, and a woman speaks. It's a monotone, artificial voice, with a British'esque accent, though the words themselves are in Mid-Childan. It's coming from the bracelet. A device? "Aegis. Defense Mode. On." The beams stop short of the girls, splashing against a glowing blue energy barrier which dissipates a moment later. Bryony just slowly turns to look at Nicola. Nope, she has no idea what's going on. That, unfortunately, doesn't stop her from making things worse.

    She still afraid, but she's pushing it down now; instead, she lifts a hand and points. "You thought you got us, you stupid drones! Joke's on you! I'm invinc . . . " She shuts up when then they fire again. And again. The energy barrier reappears each time, but it's already starting to crack. Bryony again looks at Nicola, her voice quieter. "That's not good, is it?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Bryony." Nicola says softly, looking at the bracelet and then at the drones. "I think your bracelet may be a device. Maybe you should try activating it instead of taunting them?" She still looks scared, but she also hides behind her friend. "Probably isn't good."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "Right! If I have a device, it can fire back right? Aegis! Fire everything you have!" Trust, though, seems to be a commodity in limited supply for this particular girl, for whatever reason. And tonight, the girls' blessings are mixed. In the same British-accented Mid-Childan voice, the device response, "Offensive Mode . . . Locked." Bryony's voice grows more desperate. "Aegis! Set up!" The reply is much the same. "Barrier Jacket . . . Locked. I am sorry, mistress." It's rare, almost unheard of, for devices to not follow all of their master's commands, but with the right modifications, it's possible to lock down the privileges of specific users.

    Bryony just looks at Nicola, and there's no more of her usual joking around left on her face. She squeezes the hand of the girl next to her tighter, responding now with the only thing she can think of. "Run!" There's no way to go but back, though, and whether it's a good idea or not, Bryony turns tail and starts sprinting back to the platform, dragging Nicola by the hand if need be. It doesn't take them long to get there; they never got far in the first place. She ducks behind one of the massive columns here, pulling Nicola with her. For the moment, they have a bit of cover, though the drones are slowly following them.

    A pair of tears start rolling down Bryony's face as she huddles there. She never got much practice with a device, and she's proving to not be the most level-headed person. She also didn't get out of the lab much. This seems like her very first firefight. If there are any smart decisions to be made in this situation, it doesn't seem like she's the one to make them.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Just keep using the shield, and stay between me and then. I remember the way back." Nicola hurriedly advices, grasping Bryony's hand and trying to guide her to rush around the drones, back towards the exit. She's rushing because she thinks there's not a lot of time before that device's defenses will fail. "Let's hurry." She re-emphasizes.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "I don't think we'll make it!" Bryony's protests don't seem entirely motivated by reason, though. The realness of this situation is starting to sink in for her. This, maybe, is a little taste of shell shock. For the moment, at least, she doesn't budge, even if staying put is a really bad idea. "Are you sure it'll be OK?"

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"No, but do you have a better..." Nicola pauses. She reaches out to touch the device, "... Aegis, Set up!" She sounds a little uncertain, but like it may be worth a shot. She's looking nervously at the drones on the other side of the column.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    The bracelet chimes once in response, the blue glow intensifying as the same voice speaks in Mid-Childan. "Secondary user . . . recognized." Its shape starts to shift, unclasping from Bryony, wrapping around Nicola's wrist instead.

    The light shines brighter, enveloping Nicola. "Barrier jacket . . . on." Her outfit shimmers and sparkles as energy gathers, instantly replaced by the protective form of the barrier jacket once the focusing is complete. With long sleeves and a hem only six inches off the floor, a four-buttoned, double-breasted military greatcoat, colored an almost black dark blue, is the centerpiece of the outfit. It's flared and worn open beneath the waistline, probably for ease of movement in combat. Black, soft leather boots extend up to the knee, comfortable yet with enough grip to reliably maneuver in. Bloused into those boots, military-style, are a pair of loose-fitting semiformal trousers; above the trousers is a matching button-up top, both articles the same dark blue color. It leaves little doubt as to who programmed this device: this is a TSAB officer's uniform. It's likely a default appearance that was never changed. They clearly didn't expect Bryony to ever henshin, after all.

    "Offensive mode . . . on." On? Where's the . . . "Basic attack . . . Burst Needle." A half-dozen slivers of energy, a few inches long but whisper thin, materialize around the bracelet. It's not clear how any of this is used, but how hard can it be? These things are usually point and shoot, right? Aegis's final words are a perhaps disconcerting warning. "Secondary uplink not detected. Functionality reduced." It's not clear what that means; it's not an error message that Nicola recognizes. Is that why there's no weapon?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Bah. We'll have to make do." Nicola says softly as the device doesn't grant full functionality, she moves out from behind the column and points at the drones, with a degree of ease that suggests that unlike Bryony, she has been taught how to fight. At the same time, it's an unfamiliar device, so it's not quite as natural as it could be. "Fire." She commands Aegis, willing the slivers of energy to strike the drones.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony's eyes widen as Nicola henshins. "Wait, are you going to fight them?" She crouches behind the other girl, leaning a bit to peek out from behind the column herself, doing her best to not get in the way. She seems to feel a little bolder now. It's hard to say why, but it's possibly because one of them is actually armed now. Judging by the tension she's still carrying, she's still scared, but a bit of her usual adventurousness is returning.

    In the space of only a second, the slivers start to rotate around the bracelet, spinning faster and faster until they blur together into a single ring of blue. And then, all together, they streak forward. Nicola has enough practice with her own device to get a rough feel for Aegis's capabilities, now that she's actually using it. It seems to be a primarily defensive device. Barriers and shields draw most of the device's power. As for the attacks, the power is a little underwhelming even compared to an average intelligent device. It's far less than Ruby Rose, certainly. And accuracy? It's terrible. Six needles race toward the first drone. Two hit, two are near misses, and two fly wide. It's not Nicola's aim, though, even though aiming one's arm is a little different than what she's used to. It's something about the device itself, or maybe just this attack.

    But these drones also don't seem very powerful. Even those two needles are enough to bring the first drone down. It's hard to say why. They could just be built from primitive technology. Or they could be reconnaissance drones.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"This device..." Nicola's voice leaves little doubt for what to fill in there. She doesn't like it, at all. Still, she took one down, and so turns back, giving Bryony a comforting smile. "I got this." She takes aim at the next, "Burst Needle, Fire." She tries to repeat the previous attack.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    The final two drones are clumped a little closer together. Using the weapon's spread to her advantage, it's easy enough to bring down both in one shot. These do seem to be very lightly armed and armored, and their battle tactics don't appear to be very sophisticated. They're barely even returning fire, just enough to keep Nicola and Bryony hiding behind that column.

    Behind Nicola, though, Bryony falls silent as the trio of drones clatters to the ground and begin to slowly dematerialize. She's just tugging, slowly at first, and then furiously, on the hem of the barrier jacket's greatcoat. Something is behind Nicola, it seems. Bryony is just sitting there, speechless, pointing.

    A control unit? Or maybe an angry big brother? Hovering a dozen or so meters away, apparently previously hidden in the water, is a much larger version of the drones the girls were just fighting. It's not clear what it was doing down in the water. And perhaps strangely, Nicola doesn't get the same feeling she got earlier; what she sensed before was something different, maybe.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola looks back, and her teaching extensively covered what to do in this kind of situation. "Go!" She yells, taking the position between Bryony and the way out, pointing Bryony in the proper direction. As soon as the other girl does that, she'll follow suit, making sure to keep an eye on the thing so she can respond to any attacks, but otherwise, there's no valor in suicide.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony doesn't hesitate this time. Actually staring a hovering death drone in the glowing laser eye, or whatever you want to call these things, makes for a good motivator. "C'mon!" She clambers up to her feet and starts sprinting back the way they came. She has always been athletic. And pushing herself, she can move really fast, even without a barrier jacket to reinforce her physical abilities. Thankfully, it seems she remembers the way too, in a perhaps useful change from her occasional airheadedness.

    The larger drone doesn't hesitate, unlike the others. It spends a split-second charging and then fires a single, massive red beam. A barrier from Aegis intercepts the blast, but Nicola can tell that she won't be able to outlast that kind of power in a firefight. Not with the limited offensive capabilities she has with this device. Aegis's attack style might be good for efficiently destroying weaker enemies, but against more powerful targets, it doesn't seem to have the firepower to easily penetrate strong defenses.

    The two girls start racing back the way they came, clanging footsteps carrying them down the suspended metal walkway. The drone doesn't seem to care that it's a little too big to gracefully pursue. It slams its way through the tunnel's entrance, shearing off a chunk of structural concrete as it clips a corner. The drone is less than a meter wide, but there isn't a lot of room in this tunnel for fast flight; the drone occasionally glances off the walls in sparking collisions as it struggles to maneuver the tighter turns. Nicola's barriers are slowly damaged, but it's perhaps a good thing she has Aegis with her right now. They might be able to make it.

    And then things go a little more wrong, or a lot more, as one of the worst things that /could/ happen /does/. The drone's accuracy gets worse and worse as it's jostled by its increasingly unsteady flight in this constricted terrain. One beam happens to miss its mark in a particularly inauspicious way, clipping the support cables suspending the walkway. Without warning, the floor beneath them plunges into the water, and before they can even think, they're being swept away in the rushing, frigid runoff.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola makes a surprised sound when they dump into the cold, cold water. It's not something she's used to, and she has no experience with anything like it, so she reaches out for Bryony to hold on to the other girl while she keeps her eyes open and tries to think of a new plan.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Bryony is already gone, though. Nicola can just barely see her a few meters ahead, out of reach. Girls her age have a high center of bouyancy, so her head stays above the water, but with the way she's thrashing, it might not stay that way for long. Can she even swim? Most people on al-Furat can't, and with how sheltered she was, it's unlikely her parents taught her. The oceans there are innavigable and prone to extreme weather. Even living too close to the coast is considered foolish; most "coastal" settlements are several kilometers inland. And people rarely swim in the Underocean. The culture of the planet teaches people to revere the water and keep it clean, taboos likely intended to keep the groundwater as pure as possible.

    They're carried forward with no recourse. An adult wouldn't be able to swim against this current, and it's worse for them. The sole saving grace is that these channels are uniform, with flat walls: the water may be racing, but there are no rip currents. There is a fall, though. They're carried back the way they came, until they finally reach the end of that tunnel. It empties out into the massive "temple" chamber they were overlooking only a few minutes earlier, and for a few moments, they're falling through the air.

    And then there's a splash. Nicola surfaces a moment later. Now the columns, massive from this perspective, are flying by them as they're carried toward the end of the chamber. There's nowhere to grab on, and they're moving fast. Where does this even go? Bryony is out of sight now, but Nicola can hear her calling her name. With the way she's screaming, it sounds like she's panicking. But it's hard to place where she is; she sounds far away. The water is loud down here, and it's difficult to hear anything else. Then the channel narrows and the current gets faster and more turbulent. They're in a tunnel; there's a light at the end, but it's tiny. It seems forever away.

    And the currents aren't so friendly in here. Bryony goes silent. And then for Nicola too, it gets harder to stay above the water. It feels like she's being sucked down. Suddenly, it's dark, and she can feel the water around her, her hair tossed in the current. This terrible feeling . . . it's familiar too, isn't it? It's just like her dream; she has been here before. Maybe the lack of oxygen is getting to her.

    And then, again, fate yanks her in a different direction. Is it luck? A Deus Ex Machina? This night has seemed both monumentally convenient and catastrophically unlucky, somehow, at the same time. When she starts to come to her senses, Nicola's is lying, wet and cold, on a concrete platform far deeper into the G-cans system. Bryony is a meter away, sputtering water as she struggles to breathe normally; she inhaled quite a bit, but it looks like she'll be OK now. Someone fished them out? Up above, there's moonlight. A huge concrete shaft over fifty meters high leads upward toward the surface; an access stairway winds around it, and rain is pouring through a massive opening up top. As her hearing starts to return, Nicola can hear that a battle going on very close to them. That's right. The drone. Who's fighting it? Who saved them?

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola can worry about other things later. Right now, she's making sure Bryony is doing alright. As soon as she is, she reaches out to support Bryony, taking towards the stairway opwards. "I think we're going to be alright." She tells her friend, sounding very confident. "Unless we freeze to death, but I'm sure we won't."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    A stray blast streaks a few meters shy of the girls. Luckily, Aegis is still active, and Nicola still has her barrier jacket engaged. She has used up over half of her energy now, but barring any extreme attacks, she has enough power left to withstand any incidental fire that comes their way. Bryony, though, looks like she might be a little less functional. She gets up slowly with Nicola's help, only to reveal a face with tear-filled eyes and a pained expression that's empty of her usual happy-go-lucky enthusiasm. This has gotten to her. She spends a few moments clinging to Nicola, clearly trying not to cry, eventually collecting herself just enough to not break down where she stands. She nods once at Nicola's reassurance, and then she starts ascending the spiraling staircast with her, heading for the surface.

    The firefight around them grows more chaotic. A few shots streak into the water from a concealed position on the walkway, detonating on contact with the water's surface. The blasts that result are small, and they do little more than vaporize much of the flowing water, filling the room with steam. That's highly convenient, though. If the drone is using thermal sensors, it's blind now, and it won't be able to directly target the girls. That might be an accident. If it's intentional, whoever is fighting seems resourceful and disciplined enough to decisively make use of the terrain.

    The girls climb. It takes them a while before they reach the top, with how slow Bryony is moving; it seems their ordeal was a lot harder to endure without a barrier jacket. But finally, they find themselves clear. They're out in the open now, in a smell fenced-off area, likely a safety precaution to prevent unwitting people from stumbling into the shaft and suffering a fatal fifty meter drop into the channel below. But this time, there are no buildings around them, save a small utility building likely intended for maintenance worker use. It looks like a mostly undeveloped area in a quieter slice of town. They can hear and smell the ocean not far away, though. They were almost at the main outlet for the G-cans.

    There's one final moment of danger, or maybe not. The drone streaks out from the larger opening, but it's not coming after the girls. It doesn't even turn toward them. No, it's running away from something or toward something, but it doesn't get far.

    "Skirmisher! Blast Whip!" They know that voice. Another woman, bearing a very similar barrier jacket to the one Nicola is wearing, leaps out from the opening a split-second later. An extended handgun tracks the drone with practiced precision as she vaults through the air. It fires, a blue beam missing by a few inches, only to twist and wrap around the drone as it does. The whip glows brightly as the drone's shields sputter and fail. "Scissor . . . " She lands and yanks the now entangled drone toward her; in unison, the knife in her other hand extends outward into a longer, sharper blade, which she thrusts forward. "Strike!" They know those attacks too. The blade cleanly pierces the drone's eye, easily penetrating the armor of the casing. The machine goes dark a second later and begins to dematerialize around the blade, disappearing as the smaller drones did.

    The woman turns toward Nicola and Bryony, her blade returning to its normal size before she sheathes both weapons. They haven't seen her in that henshin for months, but the long flowing brown hair and piercing, green-flecked brown eyes are distinct. It's Jessamine. "Are you both alright?" It's her usual matter-of-fact voice. That seems to be all she has to say. Bryony doesn't have anything to say, though.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola essentially collapses to the ground when Jessamine arrives. Tired. "I'm sorry." She says softly, and looks towards Bryony, unsure what to say to justify herself, but eventually decides on telling the truth. "I couldn't sleep because Bryony's window was making noise; and so I tried to track her down. I didn't want to close the window and lock her out." That does nothing to explain Bryony's reason for being out here, though.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Jessamine doesn't seem to be in a mood for recriminations or punishment; this might be the first time she has "let something slide." She just walks over and crouches down, hugging the girls tightly. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. Are you both OK?" Bryony finally responds, but all she manages is a nod. Jessamine spends a few moments in silence like that, and then she stands. "I don't have an umbrella," she says, removing her coat and draping it over the girls. "I think we're safe now, but I need to make a call to get us a ride home."

Nicola Esprit has posed:
"Cold." Nicola finally dismisses the barrier jacket, handing Bryony the device back. She adds, "This isn't the first time I've gotten attacked by something, Jessamine." She's very quiet, but she's decided to spill that. "A week ago, I got pulled in something called a Witch's labyrinth, and a girl called Fate and her familiar protected me from the monster inside."

Bryony Elan has posed:
    "Fate?" Jessamine withdraws her phone, beginning to tap something out. Texting someone? It's hard to tell whether she recognized that name or not. She's the consummate soldier, even when she shouldn't be. That demeanor of hers had been starting to warm a bit lately, but right now, it's back in full force. Cool. Detached. Professional. And also playing things a little too close to the vest. "It's . . . this world is more complicated than it seems. I'm just glad you're both safe now," she says flatly. "I was really worried." There's a lot she's conspicuously not talking about, like how she got there or how she found them. Instead, all she offers is, "We can talk more about what happened once we get home." Whatever message she was sending, she seems to have finished it.

    And then the phone rings. The conversation lasts all of thirty seconds. Whoever is on the other end of the line is doing most of the talking. Jessamine just responds every few seconds, usually with clipped confirmations. "Yes. They're both safe." . . . "It's too far to walk on foot, and the busses might not be running this late." . . . "Yes." . . . "No." . . . "Alright." Jessamine looks around here, scanning the area around them. The block is mostly empty, but there's some light industrial development a fair distance away. And a bus stop, which her gaze fixates on. "There's a bus stop. We'll be waiting there." And then she hangs up, and the phone is slid back into her pocket.

    She gestures for the two girls to follow her. Bryony just dutifully stands as she again wraps Aegis around her wrist. She's usually a lot less compliant, but she doesn't have much fight in her right now.

Nicola Esprit has posed:
Nicola doesn't have a lot of fight in her right now either. She's cold, and tired, and the adrenalin is leaving her. She follows along meekly, and as they sit down at the bus stop she leans against Bryony. It doesn't take long for her to fall asleep.

Bryony Elan has posed:
    Not much is spoken after that. There isn't much fanfare to end today's adventure. The three walk the short distance to the bus stop, and Jessamine drops her henshin. They sit and wait. The young woman turns, perhaps far too often, to look at the girls next to her. She's not fawning, but her concern is obvious. There's a bit more in her eyes too, something she can't quite stifle. Guilt. Around them, the rain is pouring now. There's a flash of lightning, and Bryony cringes reflexively. Thunder follows. This is the peak of the storm.

    Whoever Jessamine called isn't coming here themselves. Instead, a taxi shows up. The driver looks sympathetic as he sees the state the three are in. He asks more than once if they're alright. Only Jessamine responds, each time with a brief, "We're fine." The ride home isn't too long in a car on empty streets. Before long, they're back in their familiar neighborhood. Jessamine helps the girls back up to their apartment. The three of them briefly shower, and then Jessamine tucks them into bed. Their rooms are a little cold now, but electric blankets, already preheated, combined with physical exhaustion, make for easy sleep. For the girls, the night finally ends.

    Jessamine ends up in a phone booth, watching her apartment across the street protectively. She's not using the payphone, though. Again, she's talking to a specific person on a specific phone. The emotion in her voice is clear.

    "This was a disaster."

    Lindy's voice speaks from the other end, her own tone more matter-of-fact. "I agree. But we couldn't have predicted what would happen tonight. And you controlled the situation. At least we know our enemy now."

    "How? The drones just . . . disintegrated. All we know is how they've stayed under our radar for this long."

    "Skirmisher and Aegis's sensor data from the battle was enough. The technology and energy used was distinct. It's them. One of them, at least."

    "Is this really the only way? I'm having trouble doing this. I'm supposed to protect them."

    "You are doing just that. I want what you want, Jessa, believe me. If there was a better way to ensure their safety, I would take it. This is our best option. I need you to trust me, lieutenant."

    There's silence, interrupted finally by a terse, "Yes, ma'am." And then Jessamine hangs up the phone, spending a few moments longer staring at her apartment, before braving the rain to head back inside.