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[google-font http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat][Montserrat In truth, everything had gone to plan. It was an obscure plan. It was rushed, reactive and tied-together-with-a-serious-amount-of-luck-and-hope-plan, but it was working; for now. When the glass had disintegrated, a light dusting across the floor, Dante was already moving. His left-hand grasped Kashia’s wrist and pulled her on along swiftly. Though he felt her stumble at the sudden shift in motion she was soon following at the pace he set. His right-hand reached inside of his jacket to a pocket and remained concealed as he pulled the young girl around the outer edge of the room.

Those within the room were distracted as intended. The visitors were cowering, holding one another, checking for any injuries, attempting to quell the incessant baying of their youth or abscond whilst blinking profusely as their sight slowly returned. Any staff that were not copying these actions were moving from person to person offering any assistance that they could. It was all an act, a ploy, a means of looking busy, so that perhaps the professional woman with her tablet would not turn her ire upon them. Just her gaze alone conveyed her power, a look Dante had yet to master.

With no time to study the woman and learn her ways, Dante had led the trio around the room and at quick pace to the guard last spoken to by the woman. As he turned to input his tan hand to a scanner, the lapis-coloured man stepped up beside him. Right hand pulled free he pushed a weapon of sorts against the man’s side, the action concealed by his body.
[+royalblue “Open the door. Swiftly now, or this,”] the weapon was pressed in snugly, [+royalblue “will melt your insides into a viscous soup in seconds.”] The tone was hushed but firm and the threat very much understood.

The language he spoke was foreign, one born of a blue marble planet some multiple systems away. It was brutish, coarse, and simple, all things that matched the look of the man who did not need his earpiece to translate for him. He complied, pressing his hand into the space provided and after a few precious seconds they were afforded entry through the door. It slid into the wall at which the group progressed through at haste. Hex gave one last glance behind them before the door closed shut.

[+royalblue “Good, very good. Now, I will be taking this,”] a communication device was swiped from the man’s belt having released Kashia,[+royalblue “and you will be going in there.”] Passing off the device to Hex he grasped the guard’s jacket and thrust him back into a nearby door. From contact the door slid open and the man fell further back, crashing against a locker as Dante advanced upon him. Pressing the weapon in his hand to the guard’s neck as thin blue fingers snatched at his shirt.

[+royalblue “A word to the wise my little human friend."] He stepped in close as the man shivered, fear coursing through him, his eyes darting from the weapon to his attackers golden iris'.[+royalblue "I suggest you return to your home world post haste. Tell your leaders to throw up walls as your people are prone to do and segregate yourself from the rest of the universe. There is naught but death for your kind out here.”] Raising the weapon to his neck he pulled the trigger and sent a surging course of electricity through the man’s body. Immediately his muscles tightened, fingers and toes contorted, an audible groan the only sound before he collapsed to the ground. Tucking the weapon back into his jacket he looked down on the unconscious soul.[+royalblue “Such a silly race. So susceptible to electricity. And that is coming from a synth..”]

Had Rhea been there he could quite well imagine her chuckling at that.

The hostility going between the other two went over Kashia's head. Her mind was still abuzz with the swift coming excitement. Orange eyes darted here and there. Sometimes they were on other visiting groups, this was a fairly popular site on planet, and other times they were on security. Their little task force hadn't done anything to call their attention as of yet, so the gazes of the three guards in plain view was divided equally on everything there was to see. Well, almost, two of them stationed close to the entrance did seem to keep coming back to a conversation bouncing between them. By the looks of it, it was becoming more and more compelling. That only left one set of eyes and whatever surveillance cameras were running to worry about.

That being said, Kashia had taken to watching the one undistracted guard, and he seemed to notice. At first he just went about his watch, but by the third or so time he looked their way to see her staring he attempted to interact. A small wave, usually that got people to move on, however not this time. Her gaze persisted. In fact, it soon became awkward, especially considering she didn't bother to wave back. It was akin to the persistent stare of an infant. Like she was waiting to be entertained. He didn't much care for that most days, least of all today, so he found himself avoiding that group all together, hoping they would move on with their tourism sooner rather than later.

The young woman continued looking at the man by the maintenance entrance right up until Dante grabbed ahold of her. She was really just waiting for something to happen with the explosives, there was no intent to awkward the guard out of looking at them, but it worked out miraculously considering he hadn't notice it was the Synth who threw them. He didn't look back that way until the light flashed and damn near blinded him along with half the other people in the area.

Bits of near powdered glass fell gracefully to the ground and the tension in the courtyard thickened from the consistancy of molasses to set gelatin. No one seemed to move, whether it was out of confusion or fear. Through the opening left by the mirror like glass they were afforded a look inside. It was much as to be expected, a secondary lobby with few guests seated here and there in much the same state as the external onlookers. There was only one exception. A woman, smartly dressed and holding a tablet, was standing in the keycard access-only elevator that had just descended from somewhere within the tower and she was fuming. It wasn't much time at all before she out of the elevator, walking toward what was once a window with purpose, and shrieking.

[+forestgreen “This is the third goddamn time! These fucking protestors are taking this too far.”] Apparently she were was issues here before their little group arrived.[+forestgreen “And you lot, what are we even paying you for?”] Her comments were directed at the security, but she specifically called over the one by the maintenance entrance. [+forestgreen “I thought I told you to check the windows.”] The woman's tone was severe. In the brief pause she took, the guard stuttered something out about having looked them over, but what cut short. [+forestgreen “Do it again. And if another one of my windows shatters, I am going to lose my mind and you are going to lose your job. Are we clear?”]

With no room for argument, the security officer set out. It was seconds before she called on another. This one who was minding one of the doors inside the building. [+forestgreen “Aberday, I am going to call a maintenance bot, so you do not have to bother this time. But if you would be so kind, I would like you to go to surveillance and have them look over the footage from last night up until now... again. Just to cover all our bases. Thank you.”] She spoke with a sickly sweet false pleasantness that conveyed that this was not a request, but a command before she began typing furiously on her tablet pad.

[google-font http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat][Montserrat Though his eyes had strayed past her to the room, he felt a tickle of amusement at her understanding as things began to slide into place. This was not his first choice. He wanted this to be silent and to be off this place before anyone knew the system had been attacked, not least for his own safety than for the flesh and bone girl they had brought with them.

The spheres in his hands, four in total, were smooth, metallic and no larger than an eyeball. With a brush of his teal thumb over their surface brought up several light bands that were previously unseen. The bands lit up red giving a dull hum and he was about to put their plan into action when he saw the quizzical look on Hex’s face – or whatever passed for quizzical in a synths facial repertoire.

[+royalblue “Perhaps [i starting] with murder is the wrong approach.”] A noble thought for a being who had committed genocide. He shrugged at her ongoing confusion.[+royalblue “If we kill everyone then we lose any moral high ground we hold. This is not about defeating them through fighting or warfare. We are trying to win the support of the galaxies.”] He glanced over to Kashia, a look of understand bringing an unusual warmth to his eyes.

[+gold “And when the galaxies offer their support to the Termani,”] she paused as someone passed close by the trio,[+gold “because they lie and lead them astray – as you very well know they will – you will understand that you can only meet these animals with violence. They started it – you are meant to end it.”] With that she fixed him with a quite stern and terrifying gaze. It was much colder than her usual looks, yet he seemed to take it in stride as gold met gold.

For only a few seconds they looked at one another this way until the hum in his fingers began to grow in pitch. Stepping out to his side his arm pulled back and the spheres were thrown with added umph from their talk. Almost at once they all struck the window, but it did not shatter. Instead they splayed against the reflective surface like a tomato against concrete. Dante turned away from them swiftly enough to pull Kashia in towards his chest, holding her head to his chest and covering her ears with his hands. Knowing what was to come Hex merely averted her gaze.

The gel like orbs began emitting a white light. Coupled with their growing hum they drew the attention of those in the room. As they watched it would build to blinding, forcing them to shield their faces or turn away. Ten seconds after being thrown the orbs detonated and the glass shattered without sound. It was almost peaceful in how the shards fell like snow, small flakes like powder on the floor. The humming, so loud yet suddenly gone, left only a dull ring in the ears of those in the room.

Just sort of nodding along with his analysis of the situation, Kashia wasn't sure she entirely understood how he came to these conclusions, but she knew she agreed that the side door was where they needed to be. Not that she had some great insight, that's just what felt right, which was in great part why she was here. They were in agreement up to that point, then he pulled some balls out of his pocket. It took a moment for her to process just what they were. But when she did, she perked up. [+orange “Yeah... that will get them going.”] This place was already abuzz, so something like that was going to be like hitting a hornet's nest with a bat. Chaos was always a perfect distraction. And quite frankly, this was the excitement she was expecting when she joined this crew.

Eyes darting around to try and see if there was some particular place that seemed obvious for him to hit, or if he was gesturing anywhere in particular, Kashia was distracted before she could settle on what he meant. [+orange “Ooo, that window over there looks important. Do that!”] With her excitement, discretion was pretty much out the window, but luckily the girl hadn't been loud enough to draw any real attention to them that wasn't overlooked as an overexcited tourist.

The window in question was mirror like, one could not see inside, but it was unlikely it lead anywhere other than a secondary lobby area on the first floor of the building.

[google-font http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat][Montserrat [i Nervous?] That didn’t help clarify matters for her two partners, as they were not the most emotionally attuned individuals. Even for one like Dante, designed to understand and express emotions, he was at a loss for what that really meant. However, taking it at face value and its most basic meaning, he could take the information on. Utilizing their faux photo-shoot, he was able to get a look at the staff, their fresh and crisp uniforms, their muted expressions and stunted moments of conversation. Just what could be making them ‘nervous’?

[+royalblue “The main door is a distraction, it won’t lead anywhere of use.”] He spoke in soft tones as Hex came over with the lens and he played into his tourist role, looking down as if to inspect the pictures taken.[+royalblue “We need to get through the technicians entrance, that is where they will keep the storage units and database records.”] Whilst keeping his tone and voice low, he would gesture about the building, now and again marking out things of interest for the two women though he looked quite convincingly like a tour guide showing his knowledge to them.

[+royalblue “Lets play into their nervousness.”] He commented as he reached into his jacket searching for something.[+royalblue “Kashia, what will happen next may be a touch… extreme.”] He glanced to the young Shelvi girl as his hand came free, several metallic spheres in his teal palm, shining golden eyes on her.[+royalblue “Before we go ahead though, do you have any ideas for getting us past that doorway?”]

If Rhea had been there he would have asked the same thing. For Hex and Dante, the synths saw violence as a key option in the arsenal and one often utilised very early on. But Rhea and Kashia were much kinder and gentler souls. If she had an idea to accomplish their plan without death, he was keen to hear it. Perhaps he should have asked this back on the ship, but feeling a little pressed for time he believed they would work better in the moment than planning too much.

It took a moment for the young woman to realize what Dante was doing when they stopped. Once it clicked, she went along with the charade. Looking this way and that as he pointed. This also allowed her gaze to linger in one direction for a while without drawing attention to herself. There were two main doors. One behind the service desk that looked to be the main entry into the actual working parts of this facility and another that was designed to visually blend in with the rest of the room. This was likely a service entry for technicians and such. Unlike the first, this one was locked. Judging by the scanner beside the door, access would only be allowed by badge.

Being given her first direct order, Kashia found it odd. She was sort of used to these things coming through Rhea, and even still they were few and far between with how the ship had been operating. Not in a way that made her feel rebellious, just sort of strange, although that might have also had something to do with trying to use her intuition on command. She’d never really [i tried] to use it before. It just happened. Luckily, that didn’t hinder her feelings in any way, but trying to describe it was going to be another beast entirely. [+orange “It’s all like,”] the Shelvi girl sort of shoved her hands together, lacing her fingers awkwardly so that they didn’t fit quite right. [+orange “Everyone was like this at port too… like their all…”] she searched for an actually word and sort of lit up when it came to her. [+orange “Nervous! Yeah, like everyone is nervous about something, the same thing, but they are a lot more worried about it here than they were there.”] She wasn’t a mind reader; Kashia couldn’t tell what was throwing them off, but there was definitely something that had everyone tense.

[google-font http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat][Montserrat No-one said anything more after he called for them to leave, resignation on Kashia’s face that she had been chosen to go with the two synths. Rias left Rhea alone immediately, preferring to go up to the bridge and undoubtedly do more checks, similar to how Dante was so meticulous in his ways. As they left though, a blue hand lifted towards the little pink woman, offering a farewell to her though his eyes conveyed a more heartfelt goodbye. He did not want to say it aloud to her, however. He had the seen many farewells were becoming more permanent of late and did not wish this to be one of those times.

A foldable rifle of composite materials was tucked under Dante’s jacket before they had left. Whilst basic scanners would not detect the weapon, more advanced versions would. This didn’t bother him because if they could detect the weapon, they would know he was not an organic lifeform. His unusually drab and toned-down attire would help them to blend into the crowd, but regardless he kept his hood pulled up to help hide his appearance; nothing like a blue skinned, white haired, tall and thin being walking around to garner attention.

When they made it to the tower he brought Hex and Kashia in with him though pulled them off to one side. Like some delighted tourist he smiled, looking elated and saying nonsensical words as he raised his hand to point out different parts of the building. From his trouser pocket he produced a lens, holding it up as if taking pictures before he turned back to the two women, namely to the non-synth member.

[+royalblue “The staff. Something isn’t quite right. What are you getting from them? Try to read them, tell me what you feel.”] He asked Kashia quietly as he leaned in, putting an arm around her and passing the lens to Hex. He was not good with understanding the mood of the building, but he knew this situation was unusual. Pristine uniforms, increased presence of staff, rather strict protocol’s in place as two members quickly separated on being seen talking to one another. It was odd.

If he had a better grasp of his feelings, he might think this awfully suspicious. But for now, as Hex lifted the lens to ‘take their picture’ and allow Kashia a clear site of the staff inside, he would rely on the small girl to utilise her natural abilities; what did she feel.

Hearing the call to leave, Kashia turned away from the Pyrenian woman and gathered with the others who would be leaving ship. She was armed as well, a simple handgun. Easy to wield and conceal. If all went as it was supposed to there would be no reason for her to use it. None of them would, but even still she was a last line of defense when it came to that.

Rhea was worried, but she tried her best not to let it show on her face. They were the ones going out and she didn’t need to instill any more potential doubt. Though she was certain most of that belonged to her niece. When the girl looked back before leaving, she smiled and waved at her. She did the same with Dante when he turned to her. The red eyed woman would have preferred a kiss goodbye, but it seemed he was plenty distracted by a million other things that were going on around him. Not to mention she could practically imagine the third degree Hex would give her. Somehow Rhea was not confident the Synth would see a difference in the types of affection she was willing to display in front of her. It was best avoided altogether, sad as it may be. With or without, though, she planned to be right here waiting for them when they returned.

Door closing behind them, the loading docks opened directly into a market place with a clear view to a great many of the stalls and shops. It made for a convenient but busy layout, at least for those who came here to do trading and other such business. It was less convenient for them, as they were attempting to keep a low profile. And what’s more, the atmosphere made Kashia antsy. It was like everyone was talking about something, but she didn’t know what it was and she didn’t like it. They were on a mission though, so it wasn’t as if she could stop and ask. The young woman needed to stick with the others, and their lanky blue leader was making his way swiftly and masterfully through the crowd, his sights already set on the tall central communications building that could be seen from just about any place in the city.

The closer they got the more looming the spire seemed overhead. It was a tower that was meant to collect data to be stored from across the entirety of this system and a good portion of the next. So one would think it would be built on practicality, but it was an architectural marvel on top of that. A striking shade of light blue it stood out starkly on the magenta sky. The aesthetic matched a theme that ran through the entire city. This was a place of consistency and planning, hence the trust placed in them to safeguard data. Who knew what other secrets were buried here as well.

Any and all were free to enter at the main gate; this was a public structure on the ground level, however there were a number of staff members scattered about the area. More than one would expect. Each was decorated in the pristine customer service employee uniform that signified they were there to help with any and all questions. To Kashia they looked stuffy, but more than that tense. If the folks at the port were walking on eggshells, the staff here was on broken glass. From time to time she would see two of them together whispering to one another, but they always straightened up when one of them noticed someone was looking. Appearances were important it seemed.

[google-font http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat][Montserrat Kashia was the least of Dante’s concerns, as she was being taken more as a precautionary measure than an integral part of the plan. In truth he would have preferred to leave her behind with Rhea, taking both Hex [i and] Rias with him in her stead. But he understood keeping Rhea safe was the overall priority, so if he were not staying, Rias would have to. It was more born of statistics and analysis than sentimentality. He would be needed on the mission more so than his ‘father’.

Watching the pair as they spoke in hushed tones to one another he wondered if all of this was truly worth the risk. The danger of being caught, being captured, putting Rhea and Kashia in the hands of the Termani and the torturous things they would do to them; it seemed all a ridiculous thing to risk against their goal of exposing the Termani. His concern came from the other systems and planets disregarding their information and taking the side of the perpetrators. But for now he kept his thoughts to himself. Rhea was going to do this regardless of his help, so it was better to try, for her.

[+gold “You understand the fallacy of this mission, the unquestionable fact this will end in failure, yet you still help this woman. Why?”] Hex had a way with reading Dante, similar to their silent conversation earlier, so for her to approach and question him about his thoughts wasn’t as off-putting as it might be to Rhea. It was lucky for him that she stood near to him as her lack of manners would have had her shouting this across the ship.
[+royalblue “Why not?”] A simple enough response, but the woman always did like to delve deeper.
[+gold “You sound like a malfunctioning Gen 1 with compromised linguistic capabilities.”] [i ‘You sound like an idiot’] had never been made so technical.
[+royalblue “I am a sentient AI with independence and freedom, I’m a bit of an abnormality, no?”]
[+gold “Perhaps. But you are not a basic automaton. You have skills and knowledge of the collective. You were built with emotional capabilities but they were to be used as a means to an end."] She had actually fought Rias' reasoning on giving him the emotion chip.[+gold "It is logic that dictates your existence, much as it does ours. And yet here you are, risking capture and termination for this being. It is illogical and infeasible. The probability of success is-“] He turned on her then, interjecting with a glint of something more in his golden eyes.
[+royalblue “I know the probabilities. I know the statistics, the ratios, the numbers and facts. I have made constant adjustments, played out a thousand simulations of how this goes. I [i know] how this will unfold.”] He bit back at her though she stared back impassive as ever.
[+gold “And?”]
[+royalblue “And…”] He faltered as his analytical mind struck emotional thoughts, the two worlds a battle in most living entities, but in a mechanical abomination like Dante it was a particularly hard fight. Turning from her back to the counter where he had been retrieving his weapons for their mission, he shook his head lightly, white locks waving side to side.[+royalblue “I have to try. Since you turned me on, I have ran, and hid, and looked out from the shadows wary of reprisal. I want to know what it means to be truly free.”]

It was the first time the blue skinned man had been open with his own reasons behind wanting to stop the Termani. It may have been easier to say it was for Rhea, for the twins and their collective people, but it was a big moment for a synth to have wants and desires like this. To him it was only natural to want freedom. Hex saw it as another fault. He was made to fight the Termani and yet since escaping had failed to keep up with this prime directive. She merely nodded however as she turned away.

Dante would take a moment to finish packing, sliding a bag from the counter and looking to the two girls. They seemed done and he stepped to the table.
[+royalblue “Okay, lets get going. The sooner we are done, the sooner we are off this place and closer to being done.”] He let out a soft sigh as his hands lifted up and ran though his snowy hair, a deep breath taken to ease him.

Luckily, it appeared as though her beau would step in and put an end to whatever it was one would call this train wreck of a conversation. And as small as it was, his hand on her shoulder was a steadying gesture. Rhea was feeling a little bit better already. Though, where she expected him to say something, there was nothing. Red eyed bounced from gold to gold waiting for something to happen. But nothing came until Dante announced that it was done with. Had they been communicating? They must have been, somehow with only proximity or the linking of eyes. And just what was out of the way? What exactly did he tell her to wrap things up with a neat little bow like that? Surely he hadn’t detailed their encounters to the others… had he? For someone like her it was frustrating. Linguistics and communication were her passion, and with decades of experience under her belt, she was pretty good at gleaning meaning from the small relays even if she couldn’t fully under stand the words or actions. However, in this case there was nothing, nothing for her to cobble together from their stares. And unfortunately she was going to have to live with that for the time being, because Dante was rightfully ready to move on.

Kashia on the other hand, was fully ready to put this off. She wasn’t sure what was going on when she and Dante entered the room, but she was sort of irritated it was handled so quickly. But after listening to the captain mention the dangers of staying here any longer than they needed to she balked away from extending it anymore with her complaints and hesitance. So, fidgeting away as they rehashed the plan one final time, the young woman was doing her best to pay attention. She got the gist of it, go to the communications hub, get one of the newbies??? to a terminal, let them work their magic, and get back out without being noticed. Pretty similar to what she would be doing on Pyreen as well. Her main job in the operation was picking out paths that were more likely to be clear for them. The Shelvit girl could avoid others for days, so she wasn’t too worried about it. All she had to do was listen to her gut, the one she was currently ignoring to try and get this done and out of the way quickly.

As things wound down and the others were getting the last of their ducks in a row, Kashia turned to her aunt. Her voice was kept low as she spoke. [+orange “Are you sure you can’t come?”] Her head kind of cocked to the side as she looked down at the shorter woman.

[+lightcoral “What?”] Her tone was one of amusement. [+lightcoral “Of course I can’t. It is important I remain unseen and running around in a place like that cloaked is incredibly suspicious.”] To her it was obvious, but looking up at her young niece she could see worry in her eyes. A empathetic smile came to her lips as she began to try and ease the girls anxieties. [+lightcoral “It will be okay… Dante will keep you safer than I ever could. I trust him to do that much or I wouldn’t let you off this ship. Okay?”]

Taking in a deep breath, that wasn’t really what was bother in her. Not that Kashia could really put a finger directly on what was, so she nodded. [+orange “Okay.”] And that was the last of the complaints to come from her.

[google-font http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat][Montserrat Not one to know the complexities of the Pyrenian culture, it was unlikely that Dante would understand the desire to keep sexual relations private. To him it was a natural thing, at least to natural beings, and so why should there be any blushing or embarrassment from speaking of it? For a mechanical man knew no need for secrets once each party to the act was known. Still, it meant naught here what he did or did not know. The look from his petite partner begged a request and he stepped forward to oblige.

Placing a cooling hand to her bare shoulder, the skin as hot to the touch as during the throes of passion, his golden eyes found a match in Hex and the duo shared a silent conversation between one another. It lasted a few seconds before both their heads tilted like curious dogs. It was Dante to speak first.

[+royalblue “Now, with that out of the way, perhaps we can get on with why we are here to begin with; the data points.”] He wanted to refocus their attention off their little game and back onto the larger goal here.[+royalblue “I would rather get off this station as quickly as we can. Whilst we are here there is chance the Termani will learn of our presence. Removing our information from their central system will help; but it will mean nothing if they find us.”]

It was a stern if small reminder that they were here for a purpose. He too had been guilty of letting his mind wander, scattering them to the stars so that to try and bring them back took great difficulty. Ever since his death and resurrection, if it could be called that, he had felt… off. But it did not show nor would it, if only for Rhea’s sake. His hand tightened only a fraction on her shoulder.

Based off the cold silence and the less than happy stare, Rhea had determined that Hex wasn’t all too excited about being denied. And as much as she would absolutely love to remove herself from the room, she decided to tough it out. Besides, leaving now would be a slippery slope. It would be all too easy to fall into avoiding these two entirely after all this, which she decided was not a good thing. So the Pyrenian stayed put, looking back to the other woman in silence and actively trying not to look intimidated.

Then came Dante to break the silence, however it seemed as though no one was paying him any mind. The quiet persisted despite him and no one looked his way at first. His fears that he might be seen as incompetent were unfounded, at least in the case of Rhea. Both because she did not see a random hiccup in the ships workings as a blemish on him and because she was still rather focused on the golden stare locked with hers. If Hex was anything like Dante, she did not expect that she would stand down from whatever this interaction was just because her pseudo-son walked in. And she was right, because the staring continued. The red-eyed woman wasn’t sure why she didn’t just put an end to it herself, seeing as it was only growing more uncomfortable as time went on, but it was what it was. This unwillingness to be the first one to back out of this strange interaction made answering Dante’s question somewhat difficult. Enough so that Hex was able to completely disregard that as well and continue with her own interests.

[+yellow “Seeing as you feel constricted from speaking on the matter, now that Dante has arrived you can demonstrate for us instead.”] Obviously that would be better. It eliminated the need for secondhand processing of the data.

And that was about it for Rhea. Her face flushed to a color that just about match her eyes. She was lost for words, which was just as well because it was unlikely the Pyrenian would be able find a way to explain why that was impossible Hex would accept. And so, she finally broke contact with the other woman and looked to her beau with an expression that shrieked ‘save me.’

[google-font http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat][Montserrat Golden eyes narrowed on the rose-coloured girl as at last she declined to answer, a touch perturbed to be rebuffed on what was a simple question. The questions had been getting progressively more invasive and the prying would have no end in sight. As much as the anthropologist was dying to learn more about synth and synth-kind – was there a term for the synth race? – the desire for knowledge was more pressing with those before her.

Rhea was hemmed in by societal norms, by basic politeness and through not wishing to come across in a negative or rude manner. Such consideration was commendable, something even Dante had been slowly learning during their time together, not as preoccupied with his own self-indulgence of late. Not such the case for two android-like beings, to whom knowledge was the end goal and woe be to whatever came between them and it.

Enter the man of the hour; Dante. He was running a cloth between his hands as he returned to the others, cleaning his fingers of lubricant and oils, a look of annoyance on his face at the sudden incident arising. To him, it made him look incompetent, that he was not capable of keeping a ship running single-handedly. It was bad enough to him that perhaps Rhea would see this gross ineptitude, but with Hex and Rias here it was hardly a glowing indictment of his skills.

[+royalblue “Well, the hose is repaired, the coolant and hydraulics topped up.”] He reported back, the space mechanic making his observations known to a room that seemed to disregard his entrance. Both parties stared across the table at one another, and a creeping thought that perhaps he shouldn’t have left this trio alone together began to form in the back of his mind.

[+royalblue “Everything okay?”] A simple question but perhaps he wouldn’t like to know the answer. The topic at hand had been a touch delicate after all.

As hard as she had been trying to keep the limelight off her as much as possible, the next question was too direct for that. It called pointedly to her personal experience and feelings. As much as she would rather be talking about almost anything else, there was a relatively tame answer, so she began bumbling through it. [+lightcoral “Well, at one point I suppose I did. When my expectations for my life were a little different... that was a long time ago though. At least, for me it was... We were still figuring all these things out.”] It called back to a struggle she had already moved on from. [+lightcoral “I’ve since come to terms with it, and as time went on, I found that raising a child was not really what I wanted for myself... well, for the most part.”] That brought her to the second part of the question and her face reached a deeper red. [+lightcoral “Considering Dante comes with children... and that I agreed to help raise them when the time comes again, I suppose I would have to say that has changed to some degree. So yes, in some hypothetical universe where it was a possibility, I would be willing to...”] Rhea faded out there. She did not really want to think of it as a donor situation. In fact, she was having a hard time thinking about it at all. She just hoped that line of thought was close enough to the answer that Hex wanted for her to move on.

Unfortunately, it was not. It only threw her into the details of Dante. And while Rhea took a great deal of interest in him and had many a question as to how exactly they managed all this, she did not dare ask. The fear that the synth woman might turn it around back to her again was too great. Instead, the Pyrenian woman just listened. That was until that fear of hers became a reality. It was right back to the matter of their love life and Rhea’s head whirling with how she should answer. There was some silent deliberation before she came to the conclusion that considerate was probably the word she was looking for when it came to Dante, but in the end it would not come out. Her face could not possibly get any hotter than it already was and she was finally forced to put an end to this despite her wishes to remain polite and accommodating. [+lightcoral “I am sorry… that-that’s just too much for me to answer.”] As well as some of the rest of this conversation probably should have been, if only the petite woman would have been able to put her foot down sooner. [+lightcoral “The details of our… encounters are a private matter between myself and Dante. I think it better that it stays that way.”] Not to mention she was still hard pressed to consider Hex Dante’s mother. Despite his saying that there was no real formal attachment or set up between them, to the Pyrenian it still felt wildly inappropriate to even think about disclosing such details to a parent-adjacent figure. Well, to anyone really, but especially Hex and Rias.