Long rows of back to back benches stretch across the floor space of a clinic waiting area. Desk staff busily guide people through the forms and advise on the many signature requirements. An older woman in neat, professional attire inspects a couple of clipboards upon a desk, each with a metal clip binding together paperwork. Deedri promptly steps up next to the older woman, presents a proper stance, and dutifully hands over a clipboard. "Dr. Blackwell, it was as you advised. Though, it was a particularly advanced sinus infection. Hence, I felt he would be best served with a magical evacuation of sinus build up."

Fighting down a reflexive wince pushing towards cringe, she maintains her proper exterior. "It was... Substantial. But, he was VERY relieved. I prescribed some low-grade antibiotics and recommended some over the counter nasal sprays."

Taking the clipboard from Deedri, Dr. Blackwell flips through the standard forms, scans the detailed notes upon each page, and pauses upon a specific section, her eyes slightly widening. "OH. That IS a substantial amount. I am a little surprised his sinuses could contain that much."

Deedri awkwardly smiles and shrugs her shoulders. "It was, also, quite colorful, too."

The stoic head doctor cracks an amused smirk and sighs with a shake of her head. Casting her gaze over the nearby clipboards, she hovers a hand over the collection and rests it down upon one particular stack of paperwork. She lifts up the wooden back of the board and presents it to Deedri with a slight smile. "I believe you'll enjoy this one, especially after reading up on your medical school publications. I believe it aligns with your expressed interests."

With a curious tilt of the head, Deedri grasps onto the clipboard, lowers her attention to the paperwork, and her auburn eyes light up. With her furry, tuft ears perking up, she smiles graciously and nods with a slight bow to Dr. Blackwell. "Thank you, Dr. Blackwell."

Dr. Blackwell returns the nod and points Deedri towards a room door in the distance. Deedri leaves promptly, and Dr. Blackwell focuses upon the files on the desk before her. Under a minute later, Aristespha steps up with a clipboard in hand, attempts to neaten up her appearance with a free hand, and straightens up her posture. "Dr. Blackwell. It turns out the patient had a rash... extensively on and around the perineum. I performed some basic magical treatments to alleviate the more prominent symptoms and discomfort. Then, I prescribed a broad spectrum topical ointment from the pharmacy to address a few likely causes, until lab work is done to confirm a specific source."

A well-hidden sinister smirk creeps upon Dr. Blackwell face out of view of Aristespha. Promptly picking up a case file, she swiftly pivots, calmly faces Aristespha, and exchanges clipboards with her. "Excellent. Here is your next assignment. It seems to be a common theme today."

Nodding respectfully against her trepidation, Aristespha scans over the first few pages of paperwork. The corners of her mouth contort slightly towards a grimace, her violet eyes reading the detailed notes of the patient's prior medical history. Down a long hallway of doors on either side with medical professionals and patients moving along, Deedri stands outside the examination room door, takes a long breath in, and turns the handle. Stepping through the open doorway, she quickly scans the space inside. A tall, strong man with short dirty blonde hair turns in place and faces Deedri respectfully, with a hint of recognition. An evuukian woman with long golden brown hair and golden highlights upon her cheeks stands up from wiping the face of a four year old boy with dirty blonde hair and golden highlights on his cheeks. With a happy tone, Deedri politely greets everyone. "Hello, I'm Mage Preeta."

The man reaches out a hand and smiles. "Nice to meet you, doctor. I'm Mason Anderson."

Deedri shakes his hand, expressing a bit of embarrassment with a bright smile. "Oh, I am very flattered, but it's only mage. Doctor is a few more years of schooling that I need before I can use that title."

Rolling her auburn eyes at the topic, she sighs lightly and muses humored. "Quite a few doctors get a little particular about that title sometimes."

Mason laughs, shrugs awkwardly, and snorts. "Ah, sorry. Certainly showed my lack of upbringing there. I'll keep that in mind. But, is doc okay?"

Deedri nods quickly with a laugh and turns, facing the evuukian woman. "Of course."

The evuukian woman perks an amused eyebrow at Mason, giggles to herself, and accepts the handshake offered by Deedri. "It is nice to make your acquaintance, Mage Preeta. My name is Lalyanpha, and..."

She glances over at the ever distracted child, resting a guiding hand on his shoulder. "This is Mylo."

Focusing her attention upon Mylo, Deedri waves her hand towards him with a delighted smile. "Hello, Mylo."

Mylo glances up from playing with the toy wand in his hands, noticing Deedri, and blankly blinks his brown, orange hinted eyes. Sitting upon the examination table, he happily returns the wave. "Hello. My name is Mylo. What's yours?"

Deedri flicks her furry, tufted ears forward and grins back at him. "I'm Mage Preeta, but my first name is Deedri."

Accepting the answer happily, Mylo returns his attention towards the toy wand. Lalyanpha sighs with a shake of her head, and Mason shrugs nonchalantly. With a reassuring smirk, Deedri gazes between Mason and Lalyanpha. "So far, seems like normal four year old behavior."

She swiftly eyes the clipboard in hand and searches for a confirmation. "You are here for his yearly checkup and immunizations, if I'm correct."

Lalyanpha nods and points to her eyes with a bit of concern forming up her face. "Yes, but we wanted to check on his eyes, too. He seems to see just fine, but a new orange coloration is showing through."

Furrowing her brow to ponder, Deedri glances over to Mylo briefly and returns her attention back to the parents. "And, you've noticed this recently?"

Both Mason and Lalyanpha nod in unison. Stepping over to an adjustable stool next to the examination table, Deedri sets the height and takes a seat in front of Mylo. She thinks a moment, smirks thoughtfully, and lifts a finger up. With her eyes flickering to a glowing auburn, a rainbow point of color forms on the claw tip, and she directs a playful tone to the child. "Mylo, look!"

Lifting his head up, Mylo searches around briefly and locks his full focus upon the tiny rainbow orb of color upon Deedri's finger tip. He gawks at the colorful display, and Deedri guides the illusion around and leads Mylo's eyes around. During opportune moments, she leans in quickly and squints at Mylo's face with a meticulous stare. Carefully backing away, she swings the colorful glow to another position. She finishes up the examination, the rainbow upon Deedri's finger tip fades, and Mylo excitedly gazes wide eyed at Deedri. "How did you do that!?"

Smiling with a slight laugh, Deedri pantomimes the gestures for a fake spell. "Oh, it's just a simple illusion spell."

She tilts her head to the side and points to Mylo's hand. "I see you have a wand. Can you do magic?"

Mylo immediately nods, fumbles briefly with the wand, and energetically waves around randomly. Colorful fading streams trail out behind the toy's path through the air. Deedri momentarily eyes the wand, familiarity itching her cheek, and glances over to Mason and Lalyanpha. "Well, I would recommend seeing a specialist in genealogy genetics for a proper confirmation, but I believe the coloration is just a different expression of his evuukian traits."

She quirks a quizzical eyebrow at Lalyanpha. "If I may ask, is there anyone in your family with orange eyes?"

Lalyanpha blinks in thought and nods, a reserved smile holding back a spark of joy. "Yes. Yes, there is. My father."

Placing his arm around Lalyanpha, Mason gently pats her shoulder and sighs, playfully rolling his brown eyes. "You do know if you tell him this, he's just going to find a reason to come down again to see it for himself."

With a sly grin and nudging lean into Mason, Lalyanpha chuckles to herself. "Oh dear. My father and mother will come down yet again and spend the weekend capturing our child's complete and utter attention. How ever shall we survive the peaceful moments together we rarely experience these days?"

Momentarily staring out distantly, Mason's brow contorts in thought, and he slowly nods to a swift acceptance. "Well... So, whenever you want to tell him, go right ahead. I'm certain we'll survive another visit."

Pondering a moment, Lalyanpha furrows her brow and directs a question towards Deedri. "Could this color change have anything to do with magic use? Last visit my father was very excited with getting him started on a lot of my old magic focuses. I did not know if that could have been a trigger."

Deedri sways her head slightly from shoulder to shoulder indecisively and sighs with a tug to the corner of her mouth. "That would be very hard to determine at this point. Now, it could be a possibility if there was a family history of a similar magically reactive biological trait. But, he's a bit young to be able to flow enough magical energy to trigger most known traits that react to magic use."

Drawing in the air with his toy wand, Mylo plays with the color vapor trails. Moving around a few times, Deedri glances at Mylo during the brief convenient moments, furthering her study. Mylo stops waving the wand around, and his stare settles upon Deedri's furry, tufted ears. "Why are your ears furry?"

Smiles at Mylo, Deedri guides her fingers along her long, furry ear to the end tuft, and pulls the ear lower. "Oh, it's because I'm a fvalian. We have furry ears, claws, and a tail."

Blatantly furrowing his brow, the little boy thinks and curiously gazes at Deedri. "Will I have a tail when I'm big?"

Slowly shaking her head amused, Deedri chuckles lightly with a smile. "No. Probably not. You will probably have long ears and skin colors like your mother. And, you will probably be as tall as your father. Maybe even taller."

Mylo cocks his head to the side, his eyes piecing together his next sentence, and a bit of excitement hops up onto his face. "Will I grow horns like Nass?"

Blinking in confusion, Deedri furrows her brow briefly, searching for more information, and glances over to both Mason and Lalyanpha. "Who is... Nass?"

With Mason trying to match the name, Lalyanpha perks up and answers readily. "Oh, that's Mylo's friend from the park we visit. She is a little emin girl."

Shaking her head politely, Deedri presents a small smile to Mylo. "No. Probably no horns. Those usually show up early, and I don't see any signs."

Mylo frowns downward with the revelation and pouts within his disappointment. With a faint giggle, Deedri grins and cranes her gaze at Mylo. "Well, Mylo, horns aren't always good. My friend, Tass, has them. As much as she really likes them, she has trouble with them sometimes."

The little boy gazes up curiously at Deedri and blinks puzzled. "Really?"

Deedri softly chuckles, sets up the table nearby with basic medical diagnostic instruments. "Oh, yes! One time she didn't get much sleep one night, and she walked around most of the morning with part of a pillow stuck on her horn."

Mylo's brown, orange speckled eyes widen in amazement. "She didn't know?"

Shaking her head, Deedri rolls her eyes and prepares her stethoscope. "No. I had to tell her."

Continuing the examination, she amuses both child and parents with her stories of getting tails caught in doors, absentmindedly clawing up furniture, and insects flying into ears.

----

Standing with his arms crossed, Bach levels a very unsure and uneasy grimace at Sotalia. Under the shade of the large tree near the side of the ranch style house, Sotalia lifts a prominent eyebrow with an eager grin and rests her hands on her hips. "Well, today, I think it's time for another session of flight training."

Apprehension pulses through Bach, and he forces the sarcasm through an awkward smirk. "Right... Does this training involve a harness, a floating disc, and swinging me into treetops?"

He tenses the wrap of his arms around himself and winces with memory. "Because, I'm not exactly convinced THAT taught me anything... Well... Apart from experiencing which trees had the nicest leaves to crash through... And how many firs and cedars are around."

Gritting her teeth into an awkward wince, Sotalia averts her golden eyes momentarily, a wave of embarrassment passing through her posture. She recovers her confidence, carefully eyes Bach with a prying smile, and cocks her head inquisitively to the side. "OKAY. Yes, THAT was a bit over ambitious. But... Your attitude towards flying has changed from what I heard from your brother. Are you afraid of flying now? Because, it didn't sound like you used to be."

Bach twists his mouth, cringes out his unease, and releases a long sigh, slumping his shoulders. "I mean, it's not the whole flying thing... It's, well, the whole falling from great heights that's become the bigger issue."

With a sway of the hips, Sotalia shifts her weight from one leg to another, and blinks at Bach in honest thought, visibly puzzling. "Okay?"

Releasing his arms to his sides, Bach shrugs and sneers his upper lip lightly . "Well... Before, if the main flight spell failed for whatever reason, I HAD, at least, three other spells I could direct cast in moments to keep me from falling to my death. Now..."

With sharp exhales, he sags his posture and shakes his head in defeat. "I don't have any."

He draws in a long breath, rolls his blue eyes at himself, and fidgets his nerves out through his idle hands. "Now, it takes A LOT of concentration and care to even get liftoff. And, just a split second interruption is enough to get me falling too quickly to stop... nicely, at least."

Sotalia's analyzing stare upon Bach softens to a genuinely concerned gaze. Piecing together the options in her mind between side to side rocks of her head, an empathetic frown appears on her light tan, gray edged face. Nodding her head of dark red hair, she steps forward and stands directly in front of Bach, presenting an honest smile towards him. "Okay. Well, first, I truly apologize for the previous approach. Second, I've gotten so used to having the same options for not falling, that I kind of forgot what it's like not to have them."

Chuckling, Bach rolls his eyes at himself. "Hey, it's cool. I mean, I kind of forgot, too, until I couldn't use all my old spells. So... Puts it all into perspective."

A warm grin graces Sotalia, and she clears the stray dark red hairs in her eyes over her horns. "So, I think we need to try a different approach. Don't worry, it's FAR less intense and more controlled."

She speedily speaks incantations and quickly motions a stream of gestures with her hands. Bach watches carefully and suspiciously eyes her. "Standard hover spell?"

Extending both her dual toned forearms out at waist level, Sotalia flips up her palms with a graceful flair and lifts her eyebrow at Bach with a smile. "Yes. Hover is much more tolerant to additional weight and has all the extra stabilization measures."

Glancing down at Sotalia's arms, he returns his uncertain gaze back to her. Sotalia flexes her fingers and reaches forward towards Bach's arms. "Oh, come on! Hold onto my arms, and I'll support underneath yours. It's what my sisters and I used to do all the time when practicing."

Bach nods slowly and moves his arms up. Grasping lightly around Sotalia's elbows, he rests his arms onto her awaiting palms. "Okay, I'll give it a try. Something slow and easy. Yeah, I think I can get behind that."

Moments of Bach standing later, Sotalia's hands playfully squeeze Bach's forearms, and she patiently awaits with a grin. "Whenever you're ready, flyboy. Whatever height and speed you feel like."

Bach stares at his feet, and a blue glow shines in his eyes. Seconds later, the grass surrounding gently waves along with a silent breeze, radiating outwards from Bach. Stray hairs upon Bach's head lift up into an invisible upwards current. Sotalia watches attentively, carefully examines the phenomena around her, fidgets within the magical flows stirring. Her focus returns to Bach, feeling the weight upon her arms briefly lessen. Bach's head and shoulders gradually shift up along with his upper body. The heels of his boots part from the surface of the ground. And, his whole body floats slowly up, hovering centimeters clear over the dirt. Sotalia pushes off the grass and immediately matches Bach's height, her hands firmly supporting his shaky balance. Seconds of sustained flight later, she glances down below at the ground and hoists a puzzled brow towards Bach. "You know you can go higher if you want. I still have plenty of flight time left, and you aren't shaking around too badly."

Flashing a grimace, Bach focuses his full attention purely upon the distance between his feet and the ground. "Uh... Yeah... I'm okay. This is a pretty good height... for now... I can keep this right here."

Rolling her golden eyes, Sotalia shakes her head and pierces an incredulous stare into Bach. She furrows her brow in thought, cracks a hint of a smirk, and nods with a genuine smile. "Okay. Here's an idea to try. Have you tried closing your eyes, and not focusing so much on what's exactly below you?"

The blatant hesitation spills over into Bach's tone, and he barely lifts his head in response. "Uh... Well, maybe I tried in the past. I don't know. After the first few flops... upon the hard ground... I never really tried much else. Stuck with what worked, you know?"

Squeezing her long black nails into the thick of Bach's forearms, Sotalia meets his perplexed gaze with a firm stare. "Let's try it."

Bach eyes drift downwards, mulling over the concept. Sotalia pops an assertive hiss. "Stop. Looking. Down."

Bach snaps his head up and notices Sotalia's reassuring smile. "Yeah... Okay."

Tilting her head to the side, she gazes humoring at Bach. "It'll be fine. You close your eyes and focus. I'll keep you from drifting or tilting."

A mischievous grin parts her mouth, and her hands tightly grip onto Bach's arms. "And, don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

She winks with a sly smile. "You still know too many spells that I don't."

Narrowing his partly amused gaze at Sotalia, Bach chuckles lightly and closes his eyes with an accepting sigh. He straightens his posture, resettles his balance with Sotalia's support, and calms himself. Seconds pass, and Bach steadies himself gradually, relying less upon Sotalia buffering his corrections. Sotalia flexes her fingers out, opening her hands, and briefly drops her palms slightly away from the underside of Bach's forearms, observing his stability. She replaces her hands underneath Bach's arms and waits. "SEE. You're doing really good. Now, try going up."

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Drawing a slow breath in, Bach nods reserved and tugs at the corner of his mouth. "Alright. But, not too high."

Sotalia bites her lip and contorts a guilty grin. "Of course."

With a careful, gradual pace, the distance between the toes of Bach's shoes and the ground increases. Keeping a steady hold of Bach's arms, Sotalia rises up in sync and provides a stable platform to buffer the occasional corrections of balance. She glances around at the nearing branches overhead and the opening between the leaves that both her and Bach float into. Over two meters up with the green canopy surrounding them, Bach's progress fades to a halt, and Sotalia levels off in sync. Bach breathes in slowly and exhales carefully with an awkward smile. "So... I can't really judge right now with focusing on everything, but... We're not too high, right? Maybe a meter?"

Amusement fills Sotalia's grin, and she glances down and stifles a giggle. "Oh. At least."

Bach's head cocks to the side, his mouth twists, and he opens his glowing blue eyes. Studying Sotalia's brightly smiling face, he recognizes the branches and leaves surrounding him, much closer than before. His illuminated blue eyes widen, and he begins to tilt his head down. Sotalia pops a firm, assertive hiss and commands. "Do not. Look. Down. You are doing just fine."

Sotalia's arms shudder from the shakes in Bach's balance, and she glances down at Bach's grip around her elbows tightening. With a calming and confident tone, she firmly grips Bach's arms. "Hey, look at me. I've still got you. Don't worry."

After a few unsteady moments, Bach regains stability, keeping his tense gaze upon Sotalia. "O-O-okay. Y-Yeah, I'm trying to not think about it. But..."

He struggles with the reflexive downwards trend of his glances, and winces back his concentration. "It's, uh, a bit hard to not think about the situation and how high I- Uh... Ah... You mentioned your sisters?"

With a reassuring smile Sotalia nods, and she humors Bach with a comforting tone. "Yes, I've got two of them. One younger, and one older. I'm the middle child. The younger is Talelia, and the older one is Maelvia. Two years difference either way."

Bach nods, swallows down some of his nerves, and thinks for a moment. "Are they mages like you?"

Laughing, Sotalia shakes her head of dark red, shoulder length hair, and sighs softly. "Not exactly. Both picked up magic, but didn't do the whole adventuring thing. Maelvia is a research mage at a magical materials company. Talelia did the medical route and became an alchemical pharmacist."

Bach thinks for a moment and smirks impressed. "Wow. Not a bad choice there."

Sotalia shrugs her shoulders and chuckles to herself. "Yeah, I know. You should see her and her husband's house and their massive pool."

With a tense exhale, Bach searches his mind further, avoiding the urge to focus downwards. "So, um, your nieces and nephews?"

Sotalia's attention turns inwards and a genuine, warm smile graces her face. "Dellena, Taetala, and Merrick are Maelvia's. Then, there's Kalant and Sontaila, and a boy on the way for Talelia."

Pausing in thought, she gazes right at Bach's face and grins appreciatively. "By the way, they all LOVED the wands. Including my sisters. So, thank you very much for making them."

Bach's averts face away momentarily to work out the humble shyness and nervously laughs. "Ah, not a problem. I'm glad they liked them."

Sotalia's muscles tense with the more weight briefly resting upon her arms. Bach straightens his posture and continues uneasily surveying the tree tops. Sotalia quirks a brow. "Speaking of which, Kalant was curious if you could make a wand that shot projectiles."

Hoisting a suspicious eyebrow up, Bach aims a reserved stare at Sotalia. "Yes... But, well, how old is he?"

Sighing with a tinge of frustration, Sotalia shakes her head dismissively. "Seven. Gods, I keep telling him he's just too young for anything powerful."

Bach twists his mouth in contemplation and grumbles uncertainly. "Yeah, I have to agree. But, there might be something I could make. I'd need to test it..."

He furrows his brow and grimaces briefly. "Really don't want to be the one responsible for him shooting his eye out."

Sotalia nods in complete agreement, rolls her golden eyes, and grumbles. "Gods, I'd never hear the end of it from my sisters if it did happen. I have to screen everything I send them so much as it is."

Observing Bach's wavering balance, Sotalia buffers shaky weight upon her arms and grins slyly, watching him fail at playing off the fit. With a light chuckle, she pats the underside of Bach's arm with her hand. "You ready to land?"

Bach pauses a moment, his mid-air stance shuddering, grits his teeth sheepishly, and nods in resignation. "YES. I'm about at my limit."

Smiling honestly, Sotalia gradually floats down and steadies Bach's descent. Bach's full weight presses into the soil below, and he stands rigidly with a slight wobble. Glancing down at the ground, he lets go of Sotalia and eases himself down to a seat upon the grass. Sitting down nearby, Sotalia reaches over into a belt of pouches in a nearby equipment bag and plucks out two small vials. She offers one to Bach and rolls her eyes at herself. "AND, before you ask, I made sure the cherry flavoring was CORRECT this time."

----

Veevi lifts up the training dagger in hand at the wooden post. Nearby in the backyard of the two-story house, Modoran stands off to the side, staring idly down at his aetherphone. He flips through a few evuukian news articles and flashy ads between summary texts, and briefly watches Veevi clumsily strike at the training target. With sloppy form and awkward style, Veevi slams the blunted dagger upon the post, her hand bouncing back from the force reflecting back. She growls, grumbles, and feels her wrist. Seconds later, she guides the loose pink hairs back over her fuzzy, upright ears and trains mischievous her stare upon Modoran. With a sway in her step, she approaches Modoran, a devious grin shining. "I'm sure that this is important training and all... That was... FUN... Yesterday."

Slowly lifting her finger close to her mouth, she bites playfully upon the sharp nail and arches a suggestive eyebrow with a flirty squirm down her posture. "I think I might learn much, MUCH more if our exercises were more..."

She tips her head down slightly. "One ON one."

Blinking in the momentary bewilderment, Modoran lifts his head up from his phone, glances over towards Veevi, and observes the sultry pace of Veevi. Hooking the tip of her training dagger upon the collar of her tight-fitting shirt, Veevi stretches the opening and reveals the plentiful surface area of her tan, brown striped chest. Modoran's dark blue eyes widen in surprise, and he quickly scans the vicinity, worried thought wrestling against his confident pose. Moments with Veevi in immediate proximity later, he flashes a sly grin, slowly nods, and puts away his phone. "Ah. I think I may have an idea of what you want."

A spark of interest flickers up into Veevi's pink pupil eyes, and she places her hands upon her hips with a sway and wag of her tail. "OH. Really?"

Taking a step back, Modoran rolls his shoulders into a long stretch and smirks cunningly, drawing his training blade. "A simple exercise. Try to touch the blade upon my body. If you are successful, you choose how we do... training."

A sinister grin pulls across Veevi's tan face, and she narrows a determined stare upon Modoran. "DEAL."

She sloppily lunges out of the gate with the blunted dagger first and stumbles off to the side on the ground, Modoran parrying the attack. Deftly hopping away, Modoran maintains a relaxed, flexible stance and meticulously examines every motion from Veevi. He stands a few meters away, smiles nonchalantly, and taunts for her next attack. "Well, good effort."

Picking herself off the ground, Veevi snaps her head towards Modoran and grits her teeth, snarling her upper lip. Her eyes widen in a mix of shock and ire, witnessing Modoran casually check his phone. She swiftly scrambles back up to her feet, places her training blade forward, and charges. Spotting the last second feint from Veevi attack, Modoran deflects her dagger and forces her momentum into a tumbling spin upon the backyard grass. He mumbles to himself, flexes his fingers, and steps away from Veevi, closer to the two-story house. Furiously blowing the stray pink bangs out of her eyes, Veevi digs her sharp nailed fingers into the dirt and watches Modoran calmly wandering towards the corner of the back lot. Whistling loudly, he plays with the phone and keeps his dagger loosely in fingers at his side. Veevi slowly stands back up, baring her teeth, and slowly approaches Modoran. She walks patiently towards Modoran and locks her full attention upon him. Off to the side of the confrontation, fresh footprints form in the grass, leading towards the house's sliding glass door. Veevi closes the distance, and her pink eyes spring wide open the moment Modoran turns his back completely towards her. Her boots dig into the earth, and she sprints off. The few meter gap shrinks in seconds, and she swipes out her blade to his exposed back. "GOT YOU-"

The blunted dagger contacts Modoran's back. A triumphant grin ignites upon Veevi's face. It quickly dissipates along with the visage of Modoran. Passing right through cloudy imagery, Veevi blinks in shock, the magical miasma puffing out into the passing wind. She flops upon the grass, blinking in utter bewilderment, and flicks her fuzzy ears towards the sound of the sliding glass door closing. Springing up off the ground, she sprints over to the door and tugs the handle with all her weight. It remains closed. Well within the confines of the house, Modoran hums a smug tune to himself, climbs up the stairs, and listens to the shrill screams of a very angry half-fvalian.

----

In a small medical diagnosis room, Aristespha stands back up straight. Carefully pulling off thin polymer gloves, she presses her foot upon a pedal on the medical waste bin lid and deposits the gloves. "You may redress yourself and take a seat. That is all the examination I need to perform."

A young man dressed in the latest fashionable fads and brands pulls up his pants, zips back up, and sits down upon the examination table with an expectant stare upon Aristespha. "So, uh, doc, is there something you can do? I mean, he's, uh, been down and out all week. And, THAT has NEVER happened to me... EVER..."

Picking up a clipboard thick with medical paperwork, Aristespha retrieves a pen from her coat's front pocket and clicks the tip out with a stoic gaze towards the forms. She carefully writes upon the page, glances over to the young man, and maintains a stern, professional stare. "Mr. Henderson, I have good news and bad news for you. Which would you like to hear first?"

Henderson blinks blankly and gradually opens his mouth with a slow, uncertain twist of his head. "Uhh... Sure, how about the good news?"

With a perk of a scrutinizing eyebrow, Aristespha calmly lays out the situation with proper, explanatory cadence. "Despite your gross misuse of a medical alchemical compound which is typically used to stimulate localized blood flow, that you acquired through less than official means, that can have SEVERE and DANGEROUS side effects... You are only suffering the minor, temporary issues of said misuse. Thankfully for you, since there's no signs of discoloration, swelling, redness, loss of sensation, nor necrosis..."

She presents a smug smirk and faintly amused face to Henderson. With a quiet sigh, she brightens her tone slightly. "The good news is you get to keep it. Sexual function of your penis should return in another week as your body stops overreacting to the residual effects of that specific drug."

A wave of relief radiates through Henderson, and he unleashes the tension in a long exhale, relaxing his shoulders. A moment later, his eyes open wide, and he jerks his head up with a thought smacking into the front of his mind. "Oh shit... A week?!"

He gazes pleadingly towards, furrowing his brow with a fresh wave of desperation and worry. "Uh, um, Doc? Is there anything you can give me to help me out until next week? I got a date in two days..."

Tilting his head to the side, he telegraphs with a shrug. "And well... I want to be READY and ABLE."

Aristespha narrows an unamused glare through Henderson and chills her tone. "SO, you are asking me to prescribe a drug to potentially misuse... to remedy a situation you put yourself into by misusing a drug?"

The young man's eyes search his mind, and he pieces together the logic into his embarrassed conclusion. "Oh... Yeah... Sorry..."

Twisting her mouth with an incredulous hint, Aristespha rolls her violet eyes with a shake of her head. She smiles calmly at Henderson with a supportive tint in her voice. "Admittedly, this is not medical advice but a mere dating suggestion. Why not just have a night out doing the things your partner wants to do? Nice and relaxing. And, will certainly earn you some favor."

Henderson nods at the thought and idly scratches the hair of his goatee. "Yeah. Huh. Well, Robin did mention wanting to go downtown and the park marketplace."

Mulling over the forming plan, he agrees with himself. A spark of memory reminds him, and he glances up to Aristespha. "Yeah, uh, wait, you mentioned some bad news. So... What's the bad news?"

Donning an amused grin, Aristespha shrugs, a tint of smugness sneaking out. "Oh. The bad news is whoever sold you that alchemical compound ripped you off COMPLETELY. If it was as pure as he advertised to you, you would be in the hospital operating wing deciding between prosthetic or regenerative replacement options."

Henderson's jaw drops in bewildered terror tempered by gracious acceptance of the strange luck.

----

Sitting at the table in the dining area next to the kitchen, Tassilda drones on technical about the detailed basics of magic energies and flow. She averts a lecturing gaze away from her single student, Veevi, and turns in her seat, searching a bag for another tome for the menacing pile in the middle of the table. Narrowing her eyes with a sinister smirk, Veevi quietly mouths out a simple stream of incantations and slowly gestures out a series of rough motions with her hands. She winces in concentration, points her finger at Tassilda, and cracks a mean smile. A plume of pink mist smokes out from her finger, gathers into a tiny cloud, and drifts in near Tassilda's head. The vapor looms and holds its position, within the blind spot. Tassilda finds the desired book and resettles herself into the seat, her head swinging right into the awaiting trap. The magical miasma deposits a bright pink hue onto her gray, patterned skin and black hair, brilliantly contrasting the motif. Veevi grins brightly and stiffens her posture pseudo studiously against the slips of amusement. Dropping the new tome in front of Veevi, Tassilda collects herself and dryly lectures. "This particular book with go over the proper, proven methods of refining your control of magical flow and practical practice spells to aid your understanding of casting."

She pauses her explanation and notices the lack of overwhelming boredom radiating from Veevi. Continuing to examine the strangely attentive gaze from Veevi, her cheek twitches, and her face contorts against a growing itch. The seconds pass, Tassilda cocks her head to the side and glares suspiciously. Veevi keeps her strained attempt at innocence upon her face. With heavy footsteps, Trakenthin enters into the room through the archway and starts towards the refrigerator. Glancing up from a book in his hands, he spots Veevi and nods towards Tassilda. With a brief slide of his hazel eyes, he abruptly halts his momentum and squints confused. Tassilda traces Trakenthin's stare upon her and contorts a wary, confused gaze back at him. "What ever are you looking at?"

Blinking dumbfounded, Trakenthin lifts his hand up and motions towards the side of his face. "Pink?"

Pausing in thought, her light blue on black eyes widen in surprise, and her hand yanks out her aetherphone, tapping through many screens in one motion. She holds the device up, squints at the screen, and grits her teeth in a surge of anger, the front camera mirroring her face on the display. Spouting out a series of ireful phrases in a very aggravated emin dialect, she slams her hands on the table and stands up with a furious glare at Veevi. "Where the fuck did you learn of THAT spell!? There's NO WAY you would have the knowledge to have found it on your own!"

Veevi cackles out ill-humored laughter and lounges back in her chair at the table, admiring the result before her. Tassilda quickly gestures and growls out incantations. Aiming the palm of her hand at the pink covered side of her head, she flexes her long nailed fingers out and releases a transparent wave of magical energy. The flow washes over her head and neutralizes the magical pigmentation into faint wisps of miasma, fading away in the surrounding air. Shining forth a contemptuous smile, Veevi narrows her pink eyes at Tassilda. "Well, OF COURSE, I couldn't have found them on my own. I had to seek the help of a proper, proficient mage. One with demonstrable ability. One that DOESN'T need material components to do a fireball."

With a furious light in light blue on black eyes, Tassilda glares down at Veevi, sneers incredulously, and glances out the back sliding glass window towards a distant ranch-style house. She tenses her hands repeatedly, popping a knuckle with each flex, and grits her teeth.

----

The doorknob of the bedroom door turns, and the door slowly opens, revealing a very exhausted Aristespha. Dretphi's voice bounces down the hallway. "Dinner will be ready in an hour."

Aristespha glances over her shoulder and calls back. "Thank you."

She closes the door and approaches the bed, each step weighing heavier. Her shoulders slouch, head sways in long rolling stretches, and she yawns loudly. Standing at the side of her bed, she flops forward into the welcoming sheets with a muffled whump, and a rush of air waves out from underneath the bed covers. Fumbling with her grasp, she pulls out her silvery blue hair from the tight bun. Crawling along the top of the bed to the pillows, she buries her ivory face into the fluffy cushions. A long muffled groan resonates softly from Aristespha, and she drags another pillow over her head. Sebastian's ethereal visage forms next to the bed and gazes down upon the weary Aristespha. "So... How was work today, dear?"

Aristespha slowly rotates her head underneath the pillows and pulls back the top pillow enough to peer a violet eye out towards Sebastian, straining out an exhausted sigh. "What do you think, Sebastian?"

Sebastian kneels down next to the bed to Aristespha's eye level and smiles lovingly at her. "Any more rashes around people's junk today?"

Sliding the cushion on her head further back, Aristespha smiles slightly and chuckles softly. "Funny you should ask that..."

A chime rings out from Aristespha's pants pocket. Rolling over onto her back, she tosses a pillow off to the side and reaches for her aetherphone. Tapping through menus and sliding to the right screen, the body of an aethermail message appears on the screen. Aristespha quickly reads through the lines of text and furrows her brow at the new information. Sebastian cranes his head over for a peek, and Aristespha tilts the phone for him to read. Aristespha sighs out in a mixture of relief and frustration, settling her head down on the pillow. "It is from Nash. Looks like the Grand Library higher ups are trying to figure out how to deal with the Orth Ridge coverup and the likelihood that Isaac Huxley is Noxian."

Grimacing awkwardly, Sebastian drifts his ghostly form down and lays upon the bed next to Aristespha. "Well, they probably didn't expect one of their own to become a Dark Lord and go around trying to do... whatever he's trying to do..."

Aristespha's eyes briefly open wide, and she brings the phone down and focuses upon the display in surprise. "What the-? Isaac has had access to the library database systems- Wait, STILL!? Gods! He still has access?!"

Gritting her teeth in the surge of frustration, she narrows her disbelief at Nash's words on the screen. Sebastian searches through the lines of text and traces Aristespha progress. Puzzling momentarily, Aristespha draws a sly grin on her ivory face. "EXCELLENT. Nash is compiling usage logs for Isaac's accounts, and he is going to send us copies of all the data he has pulled!"

Sebastian grins proudly and nods assured. "That's good! Maybe, we'll figure out exactly what he's plotting finally, dear. Maybe, he'll be able to track where Noxian is by tracing the connections?"

With a grumble, Aristespha frowns briefly. "He does mention that. Unfortunately, no recent accesses so all the tracking logs are probably too old to be of great use. But, Nash is sorting through it to create a timeline for us."

A sense of calm washes over Aristespha's face, and she smiles with a long exhale. "And, from what he has heard... They ARE going to keep our group hired on our retainer agreement to pursue Noxian."

Sebastian smiles lovingly at Aristespha. "It's going to be okay. After you get your hours together, you'll have all kinds of research to do. We'll start figuring out his plans and where he's going next."

Closing her violet eyes, Aristespha breathes contentedly and absorbs the surrounding silence in peace. Minutes later, she cracks a devious gaze towards Sebastian with an ill-humored smirk. "So, I am curious... What part of smearing a dangerous alchemical cream on your penis sounds like a good idea?"

Blinking blankly, Sebastian eyes Aristespha incredulously in surprise. "Uh... Like... None of it?"

Rolling her eyes, Aristespha groans into a chuckle. "Yes. You would think so."

----

Lifting her flow blade up, Dretphi concentrates and focuses her full attention upon the sword in her hands. A red glow gradually creeps through the worn passages embedded in the blade. The wind blows through the shady tree above and rustles a chorus of leaves. Dretphi maintains her calm demeanor and struggles to keep herself relaxed. Cideeda's voice carries around the corner of the ranch style house along with another unfamiliar voice. Snapping out her trance, Dretphi rests her sword down and brushes platinum blonde braids out of the way, glancing over her shoulder. Cideeda steps out from around the corner of the house with a young, tall muscular teenager following behind her, scanning around the area. She waves towards the grassy area on the side of the house with the steel plate targets and shrugs. "I wouldn't worry too much about this area. Also, I'd avoid mowing anything near the targets. You're likely to hit something that'll foul your mower blades up."

The young teenager nods understandingly and notices the dents in the heavy plates. "Cool. WOW. Looks like you guys are shooting some serious firepower out here."

Chuckling, Cideeda shakes her head of short, multi-colored hair. "Nothing too crazy. If you find any spent brass or lead, it's all yours."

Stepping forward towards the shady tree, she waves towards Dretphi. "Hey, Dretphi! This is Dace. He's checking out the place out to see what it'd take to get the lawn together."

Dretphi greets Dace with a nod and gazes out to the backyard of tall grass waving in the gentle breezes. "Significant labor awaits you."

Standing in line with Cideeda and Dretphi, Dace crosses his arms and surveys the vast area. Over the seconds, he deliberates internally, nodding in acceptance. "Aww, this isn't that bad. My tractor with side cutters can take care of this. It looks pretty smooth, and I can finish it up with the zero turn mower."

He searches the area, squints his eyes at nearby forest, and turns to Cideeda. "Hey, you need that forest cleaned up? Could bring out my family's forestry mech and make short work of it."

Waving off the idea, Cideeda shakes her head politely. "Oh, that? Not our problem. Just the lawn work for now."

Scanning the scene one more time, Dace glances down over to Cideeda and nods in anticipation. "I think I can do it."

Donning a reserved stare, Cideeda crosses her arms and casually mentions. "One hundred and fifty."

With Cideeda watching carefully, Dace furrows his brow and smirks. "Two hundred. It's not hard, but there's A LOT of it."

Pausing in her thoughts, Cideeda grins slyly and retrieves a plastic wrapped object from her shorts pocket. Between two claw tipped fingers, she holds up a large, blue black dragon scale within a plastic bag, glints of color reflecting in the bright sun. Dace's attention snaps to the artifact. Cideeda smiles smugly and calmly explains. "How about this fine specimen of dragon scale to make up the difference?"

Presenting the dragon scale, she places it into Dace's awaiting hands. Quickly scrutinizing the item, Dace smiles excitedly and reaches a hand out to Cideeda. "Oh hell yeah! I got a friend in college right now who'll freak out when I send him a picture of this. It'll be worth it just to see the look on his face alone."

With a toothy grin, Cideeda firmly shakes Dace's hand. Stretching her arms behind her back, she gazes over the green sea of the back yard and narrows an entrepreneurial stare. "Excellent! Now, since you are here... Are you in the market for artifacts and other items from ruins?"

Smirking, Dace calmly shakes his head and nonchalantly shrugs. "Ah, nah. I'm more interested in making new stuff that's like the old stuff."

His focus shifts towards Dretphi's sword, and he puzzles at blade. "Speaking which, where did you get that sword? That's like the best looking replica flow blade I've ever seen."

Dretphi blinks, hoists the tip of the blade up to the sky, examining the blade, and angles a confused stare towards Dace. "Replica?"

Halting his thoughts, Dace squints at the blade and hangs his jaw open, discovering the error of his assumption.