Laying out upon the cheap, motel single bed, Meredosia stares blankly up at the aged ceiling paint and the yellowed light glowing out from the dusty dome fixture. She adverts her crimson eyes away briefly back down and watches an advertisement on the old, outdated television. Furrowing her brow with recognition at the repetitious advertisement, she squirms her long, gray haired head uneasily upon the single stiff pillow on the mattress, wincing with a slow breath through her gritting teeth. She gradually tosses and turns, curling more and more with each move. Fighting against a reflexive wince, she presses her hands tightly upon her growling stomach. She hisses out her aggravation and frustration. With a harsh frown, she reaches out and snatches her wallet off the lone, worn nightstand in the small, simple motel room. Flipping open the billfold, she sorts out the meager amount of money upon the bed top. With the final bill, she stares unhappily and frowns, her mind running the dismal calculations. She eases out a saddened sigh and grimaces, plucking her funds back up into her wallet. Wrapping her arm tightly around her gurgling, empty stomach, she cringes sharply and clenches a few bills in her hands. In a surge of frustration, she curses out in a dialect of evuukian, stows away the billfold in her frayed blue jeans, and turns off the bed, standing up on the floor. Quickly slipping on her hoodie, she swiftly steps into her boots and sweeps up the room key into her pockets. She pauses in front of the small room door and wrestles an uncomfortable grimace. Mustering her determination, she exits out into the parking lot of the remote, rundown motel.

Meredosia slowly widens her narrowed eyes against the high noon sun. The dark circles under her eyes contrast her ivory skin and the bright ambient light. Wandering down the long, cracked sidewalk towards the nearby intersection, she focuses ahead through the corridor of the small commercial buildings surrounding the street. She concentrates on the mission, keeping her gaze lowered upon the concrete walkway in front of her and hands in her hoodie pockets. Minutes later, she reaches a roadway inlet into a small strip mall parking lot and surveys the area. Searching the collection of store signs upon the different sections of the large, long building, her crimson eyes sift through the business front of no interest to her. A few passes later, she settles her intrigued gaze upon the simple lettering of "Fval Spice". Sliding her stare down, she notices the blue and red "Open" sign light through the windowed front. The wind shifts overhead across the rooftops, and a breeze blows down around Meredosia. Closing her eyes against the gust, Meredosia sniffs the air, fluttering her eyes in surprise, and instinctively follows the alluring scent straight towards the small restaurant.

Opening the door, Meredosia steps cautiously in and surveys the layout of the establishment. A few different, simple arrangements of tables and chairs comprise the majority of the seating in the front with a number of wall mounted benches around the edges of the space. Gazing towards the back, a tastefully decorated counter sits between the short hallway to bathrooms and an entry into the back kitchen. Meredosia hears activity in the back. Sizzles of food fill the air, and flashes of cooking flame light warmly glow out from the path to the kitchen. The aroma guides Meredosia's hand, and she tightly grasps onto a menu, unconsciously lifting it open to her eager eyes. Scanning the menu, she sorts through the possibilities across the pages. Moments later, her gaze pulls away from the elaborate dishes and narrows down upon the cheaper choices. Standing in the middle of the front area, she deliberates, a hint of hunger licking her lips.

An older Fvalian man, steps out from the back kitchen, hoists up two large paper sacks upon the counter, and narrows an unamused glance to the wall clock. Slowly shaking his head of short, graying hair, he mumbles out his confusion in fvalian, his short, black tail twitching with his thoughts. Pausing a moment, he notices Meredosia, perking up his furry ears, and dons a pleasant smile. "Oh! Pardon me. Sorry to keep you waiting. Dine in or carry out?"

Meredosia blinks back to awareness, meets the older Fvalian man's gaze, and searches her mind for a second. Eyeing at the door, she frowns briefly at the alternative and glances around the front area. "Um... Dine in."

With a delighted smile, the older fvalian waves his clawed hands out to all the seating and slightly bows. "Of course. Sit wherever you like. Please."

Meredosia fights through a bit of indecisiveness and settles in a seat at a small table. The fvalian man quickly picks up an order pad and pen and rushes over to Meredosia's table. "Yes. What would you like to drink?"

With a meek, reserved tone, Meredosia simply replies. "Oh. Uh, just water right now."

Nodding, the fvalian man writes it on the pad and tilts his head to the side curiously, inquiring. "Do you know what you want? Or, do you need a minute?"

Meredosia glances down briefly, turns the menu towards the fvalian, and points out to the cheaper option, gazing up. "I think I will have this. Just as it comes on the menu."

The fvalian nods happily, jots down the order in fvalian script, and presents an appreciative grin. "Yes. I will get your drink, and start cooking it."

A slight smile appears on Meredosia's ivory face, and the fvalian man hurries off to the back kitchen area. Folding up the menu, she places it off to the side on her table and settles into her chair. With a long sigh, her thoughts wander, and she sinks back into her own mind, staring idly ahead at the table. Seconds of quiet pass. Hearing the soft thud of a full glass of ice water upon the table, Meredosia stirs from her stupor. Quickly glancing up, she nods in confirmation to the fvalian man and picks up the paper wrapped straw on her table. Peeling the wrapper off the straw, she notices the older fvalian man on an aetherphone, and her long, pointed ear twitches faintly, her attention locking onto this side of the call.

Lifting a mildly annoyed brow, the fvalian speaks to the other party calmly. "Yes. This is Noyando. Where are you? Orders are coming in."

Noyando listens to the response, emotions on his face shifting between a gamut of frustration, understanding, and disappointment. With a long groaning sigh, he shakes his head during the long explanation from the other party. He collects his thoughts, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Try to come in for dinner deliveries, if you can. I will figure out lunch."

Firmly pressing the end call button on his aetherphone, he watches the status screen flicker away, groaning out his irritation quietly, and mumbles a few choice phrases in fvalian to himself. He lifts his head up, notices Meredosia gazing over, and bows apologetically. "Sorry. I did not mean to disturb you."

Meredosia shakes her head slightly, and smiles politely. "Oh. No. It's fine. I was not bothered."

Pausing a moment, she fights off some hesitation and carefully pries further. "Um. If I may ask, what is wrong?"

Noyando tugs at the corner of his mouth and shrugs his shoulders, putting his aetherphone away. "The usual delivery man for today... has a hangover. I don't have others that can work Sundays."

Thinking quietly for a moment, he glances over at Meredosia with an examining stare. Moments later, he poses a question to her with a humored smirk. "You want to earn some money?"

Meredosia blinks to attention, searching her mind a moment. Fighting off the uncertainty blatant on her face, she mulls over the idea out loud. "Well, I could use the money. But..."

She smiles awkwardly and motions to the outside past the glass front. "I just moved here myself. So, I am not that familiar with the area."

With an encouragingly dismissive wave of his hand, Noyando widens a smile on his light brown face and explains with calm tone. "It's okay. These orders are nearby. You can walk to them easy. I will show you on a map, and write out directions."

Furrowing her brow, Meredosia cocks her head curiously and blinks, searching. Noyando sighs and motions over the storefront in general. "I cannot leave the store right now. I take orders and cook by myself today, until later."

He smiles with a shrug of his shoulders. "You deliver the orders, you keep the delivery fee. If you want more work, we'll talk. I always need good help."

Pondering the offer quietly to herself, Meredosia's stomach growls loudly. She glances around embarrassed, pressing her hands firmly on her midsection. Noyando lifts an intrigued brow and smirks enterprisingly towards Meredosia. "When you work for me, I will cook your meals for free."

Meredosia perks up, and her long , pointed ears twitch reflexively at the notion. Lifting an intrigued brow, she smiles. "I might actually be interested."

Noyando smiles, nodding appreciatively, and turns towards the kitchen. "Good. Let me cook, so you can eat something first."

Pausing midway through the entryway into the kitchen, he turns to Meredosia. "Oh! I am Noyando. What is your name?"

The faint trace of a hopeful smirk cracks in the corner of Meredosia's face. "Um... Mera."

----

Across the beautifully landscaped courtyard between a number of immaculately maintained resort buildings, Chad leads Tassilda, Modoran, Trakenthin, and Deedri with an excitable Veevi at this side. The team wanders loosely behind Chad, each taking in the elaborate layout of the resort grounds, winding pathways, and fanciful decorations. Tassilda sneaks out a sly smile, glancing behind her towards Deedri, and points towards a building with a large "Spa Center" sign. Noting the location, Deedri nods back at Tassilda with a hopeful smirk. She flicks over a furry, tufted ear over towards Modoran, searching the space, and curiously turns her head. The group travels across the open space on the stone paver pathway. Modoran remains silent, his dark blue eyes actively polling around between the different visible entrances into the area. With a rigid posture, he stiffly angles his head side to side, uneasiness visibly slipping out onto his dusky bluish gray face. Seconds of observation later, Deedri thoughtfully crosses her arms, furrows her fair brow, and steps over closer, whispering to Modoran. "What are you looking for?"

Shuddering out from his focused state of mind, Modoran gazes down at Deedri, attempting to nonchalantly shrug off suspicion. "Oh... Uh... Just making notes of the layout of this place. It is one thing to see a map of the layout, but another to see it for yourself."

Deedri narrows her unconvinced auburn eyes at Modoran, flicks her furry ears, and gradually wags her tail. "Okay. I guess that makes sense. You just seemed uncomfortable for some reason."

Summoning a wave of cool confidence, Modoran presents a calm smile to Deedri and dons an easy going tone. "Well, it's a big job. And, there are going to be A LOT of Evuukian house members all in one place. Also, some of the really big names will be wandering around."

Blinking with a realization, Deedri bites her lower lip, contending with the surge of nervous energy. "That's right... I'd forgotten about that, with getting everything else prepared. Oh. I really need to review the guest list again, and try to get some familiarity with the politics."

Modoran thinks for a moment, directs a comforting smile towards Deedri, and relaxes his body language, his attention shifting. "Yeah. To be completely honest, I would NOT go too deep into all that. House politics change EVERYDAY. And, there's a tremendous amount of history behind every little thing."

He smirks confidently and chuckles. "If you want, I could give you a quick overview of the current important bits."

Perking up, Deedri gazes at Modoran with a delighted grin. "Oh! I'll take all the help I can get. Gods. I thought medical literature was convoluted, then I just read up about one recent scandal."

A humored smile appears on Modoran's face, and he chuckles lightly, lifting an intrigued eyebrow at Deedri. "Ah. Which one? There were at least three major ones last week and a few other minor ones."

Widening her eyes in genuine surprise, Deedri grits her sharp teeth briefly and brings out her aetherphone from her skirt pocket. "Okay... So, where are you getting your information from? Because the news sites I visit didn't mention anything else, right now."

Peeking over Deedri's shoulder, Modoran guides her, instructing her on the more appropriate aethersites to visit. Tassilda stretches out her neck, rolls her shoulders, and sighs with her thoughts, pondering out loud. "It is ever a lovely resort here. Though, I doubt we'll be able to enjoy it fully."

Chad glances back over his shoulder, continuing to lead the team down a long pathway branching off the main route. "I wouldn't say that, yet. I mean, we are still going to be busy."

Trakenthin cocks his head to the side, shifting his eyes down towards Chad, and twists his mouth. "Busy doing what exactly? I understand our general purpose. Clarification would be appreciated for our daily activities."

Sorting through the agenda within his mind, Chad lays down an explanation, the group traveling further along the lone, stone walkway. "We'll be serving as both entertainment and security purposes here. Most of the time we'll just be making appearances and hosting events for the guests. It turns out a lot of Evuukian house members are big fans of the show. So, it seems like it will be like a small convention."

He slyly smirks and shrugs his shoulders, laughing. "As for security... Nothing too crazy. We will be escorting some big players around, stand around at big gatherings, and just serve as deterrents against the nobles acting out too much."

With a swift snort, he rolls his brown eyes. "Most probably don't want to be caught being stupid in front of us AND the cameras."

A spark of foreboding mischief flickers in Veevi's pink pupil eyes, and she grins devilishly towards Chad. Trakenthin grumbles with a dismissive eye roll and slowly shakes his head. "I hope we have time to ourselves."

Tossing her raven black hair back, Tassilda brushes stray strands over her swirling horns and nods in agreement. She puts her hands on her hips, contorts her gray skinned face, and stares her light blue on black eyes sternly ahead at Chad. "Again, I DO hope we get a chance to enjoy a little of this for ourselves. It'll be quite torturous to be at such a place and forced to constantly babysit bratty nobility."

Chad dons his trademark, bright white grin, stepping past the end of the long path into a small courtyard, and presents a resort villa to the team. "We'll be here til Saturday evening. And... The guests leave Friday. Until then, I think we'll be able to enjoy ourselves a little in the off time."

The rest of the group gawks in surprise and delight at the facilities before them, the camera crews off to the side recording their reactions from different angles.

----

Late morning sun beams around the moderate cloud cover above, projecting large drifting shadows across the grass in the backyard behind the ranch style house. Bach reservedly judges the eager grin upon Sotalia's face and sits across from her at the large picnic table. Perking up, Sotalia taps her long, thick black fingernails upon the wooden plank table top and smiles expectantly. "So... What's the first step in this lesson?"

Bach twists on a grimace, searching the edges of his mind, and cautiously approaches the conversation. "Well, first... Let's see how well you can do the regular disintegration beam spell before we get too far ahead of ourselves."

Narrowing a brief, incredulous stare at Bach, Sotalia draws a confident smirk, turning around on the bench seat, and stands up searching the vast open field. "Fair enough. Let's see..."

Her gaze settles upon the battered, burnt, and blasted boulder, and she points out to the stone target. "I guess I'll use our favorite target."

Resting his arms upon the table, Bach weaves his fingers together and waits patiently, nodding a confirmation. Sotalia stretches out her arms, rolls around her shoulders, and settles her footing upon the grass, swaying her hips with shifting weight. Closing her golden eyes, she releases a long, calming breath, and readies her hands in front of her. With careful motions of her gestures, she methodically speaks the incantations in sync, ending with her hands in front of her. Her palms ahead and wrists touching, flows of magical energy stream out from her body and swirl forth, condensing in the middle of her outstretched fingers.

An orb of prismatic white noise grows briefly. A stream of sparkling, dull gray launches out. The beam quickly bridges the distance and splatters upon the surface of the boulder. Plumes out powdered rock belch out from the impact point, and glowing sparks puff out chaotically. Over the seconds, Sotalia grimaces under the stain, the magical flows jetting around her body into the beam. Moments later, the beam fades out. With the gentle breeze moving through, the cloud of dust around the boulder drifts away, raining a fine dust over the grass in the path. Sotalia grins triumphantly, the fading stone haze revealing a sizable, few centimeters deep bore hole into the giant rock's surface. Pivoting in place, she faces Bach with a drama flair and projects her confidence with a pose, awaiting the recognition of her efforts. "I do believe that should demonstrate my expertise with the disintegration beam."

Bach lifts his hands up from the table top, lightly taps both extended index fingers to his mouth contemplatively, and sneaks an amused smirk out of the corner of his mouth. "Yes. That it does. Now..."

Pointing at Sotalia, he hoists up an amused eyebrow and hides a hint of grin. "Can you curve the beam?"

Sotalia blinks blankly, mentally halting upon the concept. Resting her hands upon her hips, she cocks her head to the side, puzzling out loud. "Curve it... As in... Changing the direction it leaves the starting point?"

Raising a hand away from the other, Bach draws a circle in the air and smiles smugly at Sotalia. "Well... I'm thinking more like a... Circle."

Sotalia furrows her intrigued, light tan brow and steps back to the bench next to the wooden plank picnic table. Settling back onto her seat across from Bach, she wrestles a confused grimace. "Okay. Explain."

Bach shrugs his shoulders. He searches his mind briefly and pantomimes out the key concepts, gauging Sotalia's understanding from the faint twists of her expression. "Well... The D-Ball spell is basically bundles of high energy magical particle streams circling upon themselves into rings, that also spin around."

Tossing her fiery orange hair back, Sotalia narrows her stare curiously and leans over the table slightly, watching Bach expectantly with her golden eyes. "Okay... I THINK I know what you are saying. But, some kind of an example could help."

Bach nods in agreement, lifts his hands up in between Sotalia and himself, and blinks his eyes to a glowing blue. A single tiny, prismatic point hovers in between Bach's palms. The particle moves around in a fast circle. Soon other spots form, flying in the same ring path. Seconds later, a blurry ring of fast moving magical energy pivots around a center axis. The rotation speeds up, and the ring turns into the illusion of a flickering, transparent orb. Observing in utter fascination, Sotalia studies the display of magic attentively. A minute later, Bach releases the flows of magical energy, and the particles harmlessly dissipate into the air. Watching the miasma float away in the wind, Sotalia directs her attention upon Bach and cracks a sly smile. "I think I get it now. I was a little curious about what the secret trick to it was."

Bach cracks a humored grin, tilting his head to the side, and nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders briefly gazing away. "Oh, yeah. The fundamentals are simple."

He perks up an eyebrow, sarcasm seeping out. "The execution... Now THAT is the hard part. I mean, all you have to do is create nearly solid rings of thread thin, highly destructive magical particles. Then, you need to spin up the rings in counter rotations of each other along the same center point, as you build layer upon layer to form an orb that wants to spin apart..."

Starting right into Sotalia's golden eyes, Bach's tone lowers slightly. "And, shred you to pieces."

The confidence fades away in Sotalia, an awkward unease sneaking out during the idle gaze at Bach. "Yeah... Um... I think I might practice with harmless magical particles, first. Just to be on the safe side."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Nodding at the idea, Bach chuckles lightly to himself, crossing his arms. "Yeah. That's probably a really good idea. I mean, I don't think Aristespha wants to have to stitch up hands OR reattach fingers today."

Sotalia rolls her eyes with a humored snort and readies her hands in front of her. Over the minutes, Sotalia grits her teeth, grimaces, cringes, and strains with each attempt, finely wrestling the control of the small speck of magical energy in the space between her hands. Patiently watching with his blue illuminated eyes, Bach waits for lulls in Sotalia's frustrated pride and calmly suggests alternative methods for approaching the problem. A few more stubborn failing attempts later, Sotalia adopts recommendations, gradually altering her technique to a more viable form. Her sheer determination and unyielding pride powering, Sotalia struggles through dozens of gradually less unsuccessful attempts and forms a crude, slow ring of magical energy particles. A spark of joy lights up her golden eyes, and she hoists the successful manifestation of her labors towards Bach, beaming with pride. "Yes! OH, I'll have THIS figured out soon enough. Take a look!"

Bach blinks back to awareness, gazes over from his own magical creation, and examines Sotalia's efforts with an encouraging smile. "Yeah. That's pretty good progress."

Sotalia's attention slides over to the complicated, complex molded streams of different shapes and figures hovering in the air between Bach's hands. In the moment, her prideful front wanes into an unamused pout, her eyes comparing the obvious differences between her magical craft and Bach's. She focuses her defensive stare at Bach. Watching him study her creation, her gaze softens and lightens to a smile, his hands moving close to hers. Bach glances over, puzzling for a moment. "Hey, you okay?"

Sotalia blinks back to her usual confident grin. "Of course. So, what are you going to do?"

Tilting his head towards Sotalia's energy ring, Bach squints at the details with his blue illuminated eyes. "Well, if you don't mind, I can show you some tweaks you can do. I think you should be able to feel them if you pay attention."

With a simple nod, Sotalia perks up, smiles excitedly, and waits eagerly. "Go right ahead."

----

Stepping out from a large, tall brick building, Dr. Dawkins pushes through a set of double doors into the parking lot surrounding the old brick structure. Harvos and Nash walk up to either side of Dr. Dawkins, leading a small gathering of graduate students a few steps behind. Leaning over towards Dr. Dawkins with a smirk, Nash jokes with a curious tinge in his tone. "Hey, not that I don't appreciate you offering to pay for our lunches... But, you sure you want to pay for all the graduate students?"

He snorts and shakes his head. "I mean, I know Grand Library retirement is good, but I don't want to take advantage of an old man. I could help out with the bill."

Laughing, Dr. Dawkins slowly walks towards his older luxury sedan in a nearby parking spot and dismisses the concern with a casual wave of his hand. "Oh, nonsense. Gods know, I can't take it with me. So, I figured I might as well enjoy it with others."

He smirks and bounces a side glances between Harvos and Nash. "And, I once, all so long ago, was a graduate student here, too."

Harvos slightly nods his head of short, bright brown hair and large upright horns and presents an appreciative smile. "Well, thank you, very much, Dr. Dawkins. We all appreciate your generosity. Especially my graduate students."

A satisfied smirk graces Dr. Dawkins face, and he flashes a grin with a wink towards Harvos. "They were looking a little hungry. I always found filling stomachs was a great way to keep the morale up during the long stretches of research."

Noticing Nash turning towards his car, Dr. Dawkins motions him over. "Let's take my car. It's quite the enjoyable ride, and I rarely get to drive anyone else around in it these days."

Nash pauses a moment, glances down at the car keys in his hand, and shrugs, putting them away in his shorts pocket. "Yeah. Probably a good plan. My car isn't..."

Wandering his gaze swiftly through the windows, he surveys the chaos contained within the vehicle. "Um... Set up for passengers anyway."

Harvos rolls his bright brown on black eyes and slowly shakes his head with a snort. "You mean it's completely filled with junk mail and empty drink cups. AGAIN?"

Nash holds his hands out to the side in a display of mock offense and twists his mouth with a sarcastic color. "Oh, passing judgment are we? I'm sorry, not all of us have to keep up appearances just in case Malva calls up."

A flash of embarrassed red highlights Harvos's cheeks, and he flings a mildly annoyed glare at Nash. "Gods dammit. NOT in front of the graduate students."

Stopping, Nash pivots slowly around and gazes back to Harvos with a wide, dramatic wave of hand, showcasing the parking lot devoid of others. "DUDE. They are gone. At this rate, they'll be through the first plate before we even get to the door."

Dr. Dawkins chuckles happily, unlocking his car, and shakes his head with a smile. "Gods. It is ever good to know that some things don't change. Reminds me of my youth scavenging for free food scraps after faculty events."

Opening the door, he hits a switch on a side console, unlocking the other doors. He pauses a moment, retrieves a cheap looking aetherphone, and sorts through a few menus. He taps out a very quick message and slips the device back in his pants pocket. Harvos gets in the front passenger's side, and Nash gets in the back. Settling into his driver's seat fully, Dr. Dawkins addresses the two. "I figure we'll get into more detail after lunch... BUT, I must ask..."

He turns his head slightly and lifts an inquisitive eyebrow. "What exactly has been going on with the higher ups as of late?"

Averting his gaze, Nash momentarily grits his teeth and shakes his head, closing his door. "Yeah... We'll definitely have to save a bunch of THAT, after lunch. But, to say the least, the powers-that-be are well..."

He blinks a few times and grimaces. "Scared shitless? I think that's the best way to put it?"

With an inquiring glance, Dr. Dawkins eyes over to Harvos and starts up the car. "Really?"

Harvos exhales slowly with an uncertain grumble and rocks his head carefully side to side, mulling over the sentiment. "Truthfully, scared shitless is the NICE way to put it."

The old sedan slowly backs out of the parking spot, turns out into the main street, and rolls off towards a campus exit.

With a casual stride, Issac rounds the walkway around the corner of another nearby brickwork building, maintaining a cautious survey of the area. Slowly changing his direction via sidewalks and crosswalks, he maneuvers over to the large, tall campus building and stands in front of the double doors. Glancing around briefly, he nonchalantly pulls open one side of the entrance and walks on inside.

Presenting a facade of purpose, Isaac searches for landmarks, signs, and other bits of unique features along the walls. He delves deeper into the old, wide halls and spots a number of departmental directories and color-coded wall stripes. Narrowing his focus upon one, he follows a dark green band, directing him towards a doorway and down a dark stairwell. He climbs cautiously down the stairs and reaches the dimly lit, disused basement floor. Quickly scanning the area, he retrieves a cheap aetherphone from his pocket and wraps up his blue scarf over his lower face. He studies a picture of a map on the screen, comparing the structure of the basement hallway, and slowly nods, recognizing a particular door down near the end of the hallway. He quietly steps forward. Isaac peeks through small windows in the other doors into darkly lit rooms of technological towers of flickering lights, listening to the droning mix of muffled fans and air conditioning duct work.

Reaching the target door, Isaac inspects the doorway carefully, searching for the unusual, out of place. He checks the high corners of the hallway for monitoring devices, squinting into the darkened, distant corners. Isaac levels his focus upon the door and begins to gesture out an incantation. Flows of prismatic energy flow out from his gloved hands upon the door knob and jam. The magical miasma seeps into the mechanisms. Isaac halts, narrowing a puzzled stare at the door knob. He unceremoniously grabs hold of it, twists it simply, and opens the door without any issue. Blinking in annoyed astonishment, Isaac rolls his gray eyes, grumbling to himself, and slowly shakes his head. He notices the stark contrast of ambient dust against the recently disturbed marks on the door knob, inspecting the coating of funk upon his glove. Twisting his mouth under the scarf, he wipes the excess off his hand onto his pants and enters the room, closing the door behind.

Checking the map on the aetherphone, Isaac navigates aisles of server racks, webs of cabling, and blockades of old junk piles. Through the dimly lit labyrinth of turbulent air currents, Isaac ends up against the opposite wall, near a corner area of the oldest computing equipment cabinets. Surveying the area, he compares the layout against the map. Ascertaining his location, he guides his pointing hand towards the target destination. He gazes up from the cheap aetherphone and grimaces at the sight of boxes upon boxes of old equipment, paperwork, and literature piled up over the space. Putting away the phone, he sighs deeply, shakes his head, and stretches his arms out with a resolute grumble. "It's never easy..."

----

In the busy buffet restaurant, Dr. Dawkins, Nash, and Harvos sit around a booth table, pausing a moment from feasting, and watch the graduate students leave in a wave towards the food lines. Tilting his head to the side, Nash glances down at his second plate stacked upon a prior dish and slowly turns his face towards Harvos and Dr. Dawkins. "Damn... I guess we're really not paying them enough these days. I think a few of them are on their third plate already."

Harvos shakes his head with a smirk towards Nash, chuckling. "You need to be careful. If you fall too far behind them, they might feel ready to challenge you for leadership."

With a reflexive laugh, Nash rolls his pale blue eyes and twists his mouth with a long groan. "WELL, I don't have to worry about THAT. They only know half the bullshit I have to deal with, and NONE of them want to deal with even that much. Man, I couldn't give this damned job away."

He snarls his upper lip, easing out a long sigh. "Especially with the recent drama..."

Dr. Dawkins gradually nods, idly stirring the remnants of food on his plate with a fork, and narrows an inquisitive stare at Nash. "Indeed... So. They really are that deadlocked as to what to do?"

Nodding with a frustrated frown, Nash grumbles, summoning up a summation. "They're afraid to get too involved. They don't want to draw attention and disturb what Aristespha's group has been doing. They don't want to report it to the many authorities for fear of multiple governments digging into Grand Library affairs, with legitimate reasons to do so. Something they've all wanted for YEARS."

Harvos slowly shakes his head and settles back in his spot in the booth, crossing his muscular arms with hints of irritation. "In other words, until their hand is forced, they are NOT doing anything until they absolutely have to. Until then, they are trying to keep it all hidden. As per the usual unspoken policy."

A saddened frown grows upon Dr. Dawkins, and he regretfully nods, fighting against an unnerving familiarity. "Yes. I believe I'm partly responsible for THAT policy. It does seem like they've taken an exception to the rules and made it the rule for all exceptions."

Presenting a sympathetic smirk, Harvos shrugs his shoulders and eyes over at the heaping bounties of food upon graduate students' plates. "Maybe. But, I tend to think it's more of the fault of the current board not having any experience at handling something like this. They seem more prone to inaction than action. To be fully honest, it's not the first serious issue they've stalled out on."

An electronic chirp rings out from Nash's shorts pocket, and he fumbles around, bringing his aetherphone into view. "The hell?"

Dr. Dawkins perks his brow, shifting his attention towards Nash. "Something wrong?"

Puzzling at the messages on the phone screen, Nash hums in thought and scrolls through the list alerts, contorting his confused face. "Yeah... But, it doesn't seem like anything too high priority. Looks like the network links to a few old servers in the basement farms went down."

Briefly springing his green eyes wide, Dr. Dawkins sneaks the cheap phone from his pants pocket out under the table, briefly diverting his gaze towards the screen, and navigates to an audio messenger app. Drawing in a breath, he taps his finger on the record button and inquiries curiously. "So, whatever would cause these servers to lose their network connections?"

Nash's eyes sift through the information streaming upon the small display, and he shrugs nonchalantly with a calm attitude. "Well... More than likely the network cables have backed out over the years from all the vibrations working on them. I've run into that a few times. Maybe someone tripped over a cable, and it unseated just enough? Don't know who'd be down there. OR... It could be the old software on the thing just stalled out. That happens on those old configs."

Putting his aetherphone on the table, he plucks up his fork and readies to finish up the rest of the platter before him. "Meh. It's just a bunch of old archive data that's got redundant duplicates elsewhere in that cluster group. If they don't come back online after a few minutes, I'll need to get back to check on them."

He rolls his eyes and drags out a groan. "Especially before I get emails from some faculty members that, for some gods awful reason, have hardlinks to those specific nodes. Keep finding those STILL after all these years."

Maintaining a cool, collected exterior, Dr. Dawkins secretly taps out a series of onscreen buttons and glances down, noticing the "Message Sent" prompt. "Well, let us hope it's just a temporary glitch. It would be a damn shame to hurry our nice lunch."

Cracking a smirk, Nash chuckles and wiggles his way across the booth seat edge. "Yeah, but let me get that third plate started just in case..."

----

Sliding a heavy box over with a shove of his boot, Isaac stands in front of the cleared floor, slowly panting. In contrast to the ambient drone of ventilation fans from stacks of computing equipment around him, a high pitched chirp sounds out from Isaac's pocket. Quickly retrieving the cheap aetherphone, he notices a new message indicator and navigates through the menus. He lifts an eyebrow, momentarily puzzling at the contents of the message. "The hell?"

Tapping a play button, he puts the phone close to his ear. "An audio recording?"

Isaac focuses upon the playback and grimaces, trying to divine the purpose. His gray eyes spring wide open. He spins around in panic, putting away his aetherphone, and searches the area around him. Locking his attention onto a few nearby tall racks of blinking equipment, Isaac hunts frantically for the cable connections. Tracking the winding routes of wiring on the floor, he compares the different colors of indicator lights between similar machines. He narrows down his hunt to a few rack mounted servers. Fumbling around, he pushes his hands inside the mass of plastic coated wiring, parts the chaotic waterfall of electronic cabling, and finds a few indicator lights completely dark above network jacks. Quickly, he grabs hold of each plug, presses it firmly in, and listens to a reassuring click each time. Seconds later, indicators blink back to life. Isaac stands back, carefully examining the nearby racks. This section of the symphony of optics soon flickers with the surrounding, blending back into the whole. Settling down, Isaac releases a long sigh of tentative relief. "Good gods... Hope that'll fix it..."

He returns his attention back to the cleared section of the tiled floor, stepping over, and kneels down for further investigation. "But... If not... Have to find-"

The distant, muffled sound of a door opening peaks above the dull drone of the server room. Isaac's gray eyes spring wide open in surprise. Quickly scanning the area, he hops over behind a low wall of stacked boxes and slinks low into the shadowy cubby. Listening attentively, Isaac aims his ears at the reflective walls and ceiling. Above the sound of footsteps, a masculine voice confidently speaks out with a hint of a swagger. "SEE. I told you this was the perfect place to go. No one has been here in AGES. No one is going to bother us."

The noises of movement grow closer to Isaac, and a feminine voice giggles excitedly. "Yeah... You were right. OH, over there."

The masculine voice adopts a curious tone. "The stack of boxes?"

Isaac winces and slowly shakes his head, silently mouthing. "NO. Somewhere else..."

With a sly tinge, the feminine tone laughs. "NO. That table over THERE."

Quickly peeking out from behind the stealthy cover, Isaac surveys the area. A wave of relief flows over him, and he notices the table meters away from his position. Slipping back into hiding, he listens in on the conversation. The masculine tone chuckles and lowers his voice. "Well... We got the place to ourselves... Whatever shall we DO, now?"

Sounds of shuffling upon the table rise into the soundscape. The feminine voice eagerly giggles with a seductive tone. "Oh... I don't know. Maybe-"

Isaac pauses a moment, searching for the conversation with a hand to his ear. Seconds later, the developing carnal chorus of excited movement, aroused breathing, and passionate noises mix with the muted squeaks of an old table. Isaac rolls his eyes in disgusted annoyance and drops his frustrated stare to the ground. Rubbing his eyes to a pinch of the bridge of nose, he slowly shakes his head and mutters near silently. "Of fucking course... Couldn't wait for any other time..."

In a lull of intimate rhythm, the masculine voice hopefully approaches a request. "Hey... Could you do that thing with your tail?"

Isaac blinks blankly, curiosity knocking the irritation out of his expression. The feminine voice lets loose an aggressively eager giggle and growls happily. "OH. YES. But... ONLY if you let me guide you down by the horns."

Underneath his scarf, Isaac's jaw hangs open, and he puzzles in a bewildered stupor, the sounds of carnal gymnastics overtaking the ambient drone.

----

At the booth in the buffet, Nash settles back into the bench seat, patting his stomach, and gazes down at another empty plate on the table. "Well... I don't think I could fit another thing, even if I really tried."

The aetherphone on the table in front of Nash chirps out a few notification tones. Slowly leaning forward against his full stomach, Nash picks up the phone, squinting at the text prompts scrolling on the screen. He releases a long sigh of relief and puts the phone back in his shorts pocket with an amused smirk. "Welp! Disaster averted, from the looks of it. Those systems are back online, and reporting no further issues."

Glancing up to Nash from checking the cheap aetherphone on his lap, Dr. Dawkins quickly works the worried grimace off his face and calmly nods. "Well. That's good to hear. Just a glitch, then?"

Nash takes a long sip of his glass of iced tea, pausing in thought a moment, and casually grins with a humored eye roll. "Well... It's OLD equipment. Eventually, I really need to get around to migrating the contents to our new data arrays."

Wrestling a grimace on his face, he grumbles. "But... I'll task my graduate students to check them later. Just to make sure. Really don't want any more surprises at this point."

He turns his head towards the nearby table, overfed graduate students lounging lazily in their chairs. "Speaking of which... I think they're all more than done at this point."

Harvos snorts at the lethargic gathering of students, shakes his head, and grins humored at Nash and Dr. Dawkins. "Well. We do need to head back. If only to make sure they don't fall asleep here."

With a bit of worry creeping out onto Dr. Dawkins face, he reads the latest message on his aetherphone, overhearing the comments between Nash and Harvos. Summoning a calm, interested facade, he hums contemplatively and addresses Nash and Harvos, secretly tapping the record button on his phone. "That is understandable. I doubt they will be doing much for a while. By the way, I was thinking..."

He cracks a sly smirk and chuckles. "Could an old man pester you, Harvos, for a tour of the old department?"

Harvos's bright brown eyes search his mind, and he scratches his short brown hair. "Certainly. We actually have a few new exhibits that I believe you would want to take a look at."

Dr. Dawkins grins with an eager tint, nodding appreciatively, and furrows his aged brow. "Excellent. I've been curious how the old department has been, and just wanted to see the direction it has gone."

He glances over towards Nash, politely posing a request. "I do hope it wouldn't be too inconvenient for you if I drove over there first, Nash?"

Shrugging his shoulder with a neutral attitude, he swings his head over towards the graduates in the early stages of calorie comas. "Not a problem. It's not like I'm going to get any work done for the next few hours with these kids."

Lifting an intrigued eyebrow, he smirks towards Dr. Dawkins and Harvos. "Plus... It might be a good thing to do while we dig more into the latest drama."

A delighted smile appears on Dr. Dawkins, and he sneakily presses the send button of the aetherphone, putting it up. "Sounds like a plan. Allow me to settle the tab, and we shall be off."

----

Listening quietly with the phone pressed to his ear, Isaac nods understandingly at the audio playback and sneaks out a soft sigh of relief. His attention shifts over to the sounds of giggles and chuckling. A young masculine voice snorts. "Wow... Uh... That was, um, a bit intense."

The young feminine voice snickers, stifling a few laughs. "Gods almighty, it went EVERYWHERE. I'll have to remember THAT magic trick."

With an awkward cadence, the masculine voice wanders over towards another topic. "Yeah... Oh... Crap... We probably need to get back before the boss gets back from his lunch."

A bit of concern colors the feminine tone. "Um... Should we, like, try to clean THIS up?"

Sounds of shuffling, movement, and table squeaks punctuate the masculine voice's commentary. "Ah. Huh. We'll come back later. Don't think anyone is going to notice this any time soon."

The activity moves away from Isaac. The young feminine voice barely holds back a giggle. "I don't know. We might get really distracted, again."

Distantly, the two snicker. The door opens and promptly closes. The faint sounds of fast footsteps up a flight of stairs echo from the other side. Isaac cautiously stands up, slowly inspecting the vicinity, and softly steps out from his hiding spot. Keeping alert, he walks towards an intersection of the different equipment aisles, studies the pathway leading to the exit door, and observes over the moments. A minute later, he relaxes his shoulders and growls out his annoyance, shaking his head. "By the gods! Let me get this ONE THING done..."

Pivoting around, he halts mid step. Catching sight of the old, squeaky table, his eyes open wide. The expression on his sun touched tan face blends up fascination, puzzlement, and disgust, and he studies the scene before him. Dropping his analytical stare downwards to the floor, he traces the carnal leftovers up the table and squints absolutely bewildered at the wall. Glancing once upwards, he drops his attention back ahead and pauses. He snaps his stare up dumbfounded, blinking blankly. He hangs his jaw open under his scarf, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. Recollecting his sanity, he quickly walks away from the scene and kneels back down in front of the cleared section of floor, examining the tiling. He feels along the ground along suspicious grooves and taps upon the different sections, listening for the contrasts of sounds. Quickly, he finds an odd spot, swiftly gestures out a spell, and flows magical energy into the crevices. With a lift of his hand, a section of floor rises up, revealing a large, unused conduit junction box with a tight, sealed package filling the space inside.

Grinning happily, Isaac removes the hefty parcel from the space. With care, he replaces the section of floor, scoops up the package under an arm, and stands up with renewed vigor. Thinking a moment, he slides over a few stacks of old equipment and books over the section of floor, camouflaging the hidden spot. With a content sigh, he begins to step away towards the door, reaches the aisle intersection, and stops. The outline of a sly smirk appears under his blue scarf, and he wills flows of magical energy towards two choice targets near the table. A used condom hovers through the air, glides down the aisle, and rests upon network cables going to previously loose plugs. Following close behind, an incriminating pair of panties hangs itself upon the top corner of a nearby server rack. Barely containing his cackle, Isaac takes off quickly out of the server area through the door.

----

With a wave out his open driver's window, Dr. Dawkins bids both Harvos and Nash goodbye, calling out to them. "Do not forget to keep me updated!"

Harvos grants a confirming nod, and Nash gives Dr. Dawkins a thumbs up. The two walk through the double doors back into the tall, large brick building. Dr. Dawkins drives his sedan away, calmly cruising through the campus proper. Exiting onto the surrounding city streets, he keeps an ongoing watch of the area and eyes his rear view mirror, hints of paranoia slipping out onto his face. He slows to stop at a red light, checks the latest message on the cheap aetherphone, and nods to himself. The sedan navigates down the greenery lined the roads. Minutes of traffic and turns later, he rolls to a stop in a back alley behind an old strip mall and waits patiently.

Moments later, from behind a row of dumpsters, Isaac appears without his face covered and swiftly moves around Dr. Dawkins's car. With a swift pull of the handle, he slips around the passenger's door, hopping into the front seat. He closes the door, pats the tightly sealed package on his lap, and pulls his seat belt on. "WELL. Despite the lewd comedy fate tried to make of it, the mission was a success."

Dr. Dawkins puts the sedan in gear, turns the steering wheel, and shakes his head with a relieved smirk. "I must say, I can not shake the feeling that greater powers were conspiring against us in the most awkward fashion."

Fighting down an ill-humored smirk, Isaac snorts and rolls his eyes with a disgusted tone. "You do NOT know the half of it."

Twisting his mouth, Dr. Dawkins glances over with a lift of an eye brow. "I get the distinct impression that your messages did not quite impart the situation fully."

Grumbling out the amusement at his expense, Isaac sighs and settles into the leather car seat. "Yes. I think you could say THAT. I must say, I'm not exactly familiar with the proper terms to describe what happened."

He pauses a moment and stumbles out. "And... Honestly... I am a bit wary to search for them."