Henla misses having lungs for the simple fact that she believes it would be an excellent way to destress, reset, and reorient herself after the influx of information. So simple. So informative! She feels a flash of pain, fear and anger while wondering if she'd had access to them previously but had the information reset after her deaths. Shoulders would be nice, too. Then she could shrug before she moves on.

Projecting her mind and then mentally manipulating her simulated senses she shrugs, simulates a deep sigh, does a little jig, then climbs onto Zenya's head. Zenya feels the phantom hands on their head again and immediately goes to the Logs to find out what Henla's done now. Mostly read. Ah. She didn't manage to break anything by reading, at least. Zenya smirks at Henla's indignation and embarrassment.

"What is it?" Zenya fights a full smile, their colors remaining low contrast.

Permission to go through the Logs and read about my horrible attempts at creating dungeons? Apparently there's a lot of stuff that I need to not do again, but I want to see if I could have checked for it in the first place.

Zenya flinches. They've only got access to some of Henla's logs and they already know they're going to need counseling.

Hmm. That bad? Well. I suppose. I'll wait then, Henla pats Zenya's head comfortingly. Is there a way for you to stop me from buying anything? Like a window shopping mode so I can just look through the store? The guides say I can get more information about stuff with a more information option, and, to be completely honest, I have no idea if I ever used it.

Zenya closes their eyes. These are things they both need to go over. Valuable information that will help them grow. But it feels like Henla is still forcing herself. These things take time. Time which they now have.

I understand that what you're saying is important. I just don't know what it is. Henla admits. The dungeon has to go up. Taking too long to perfect it or get it as close as possible is wrong. Doing it well is good and right. Explain how taking time is good and right.

For one, you'll be able to do research and actually get a functioning dungeon up versus the mess you made, Zenya thinks in frustration. Not to disparage your work, but you'd grabbed the people you wanted then tried to set up an inhabitable environment. Taking the time to research means that when you finally do go shopping you know what to look for. You won't have to feel guilt and shame at slowly starving your inhabitants because you remembered they were alive as an afterthought.

Henla had already come to the same epiphany as she'd been breaking herself trying to get the woods, fishery, and farm going for her last inhabitants. She'd picked intelligent creatures that would be able to find creative ways to defend themselves and be smart enough to hide, sequestered them off, then tried to give them the tools they'd needed. It would have been better if she'd set up the environment first but she didn't want inhabitants that just assumed things would work out. She'd wanted them to help her shape the dungeon. Henla pauses, wondering if she'd ever actually told the inhabitants this or if this was some driving instruction that had been conditioned into her.

Acknowledging Zenya with a pat Henla sits back and reminds Zenya that her request to window shop is still in the queue. Then Zenya reminds Henla that she hasn't rested yet.

You can go window shopping when your cracks are healed, Zenya snaps. Now is the time that you should be resting. Now is the time you should be recovering.

We have no idea how long this window will last for you to recover before you're expected to begin construction on a dungeon, so rest. You just nearly died. Again. This time by your own machinations. Just rest. Please. After you're healed and we're given approval then we'll begin doing the research that all cores do to get an idea of what kind of dungeon you want to make. Zenya sighs and sends off another report.

See? I'm not even working on what we should do later because right now we're still trying to figure out what happened. We probably won't get approval until after a full inquiry. That also takes time. Use this time to heal.

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Zenya breaks off contact, putting in a request to find out what Henla's Core looked like before and then getting a snapshot of what it looks like now. Zenya recoils in pain, horror and disgust. They hadn't checked on Henla yet and she appears to be getting worse. And no wonder. The Core is almost completely dark with small sparks of light shooting over its surface. There are some cracks filled with shimmering gold while others are nearly white with the amount micro stress fractures. This Core looks dead. Not just dead but killed and annihilated. Henla shouldn't even be aware with this amount of damage much less capable of processing.

Okay, that does look bad, Henla admits when she sees herself. I can't make you promise that this isn't a trick, but please don't reset me while I sleep.

Zenya recoils further, horrified by the idea much less the implication and flinches again when they realize that this may have been one of many methods Kimlxik had experimented with in trying to make a more efficient "system". Zenya makes a note and begins the arduous process of amending several reports they'd already filed or begun working on. More abuse, more manipulations, more things that need to be stopped. How did Kimlxik manage to break the rules and laws in the first place? They should never have had this much power. Did they trick Henla into a binding? A disgusted groan and another report to file. This work hasn't even fully started and it doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon.

Zenya is used to reports and dissertations, with filling, completing, and filing observations, summaries, and suggestions. This is part of Certified Companion training after all. But to have one assignment that required more paperwork than their years of training just to get started? This is a nightmare. This is one of the reasons that there were such stringent protections in place. This was why Companions were bound to Cores, not the other way around. How did this happen? And how long had it been happening? The techniques Kimlxik had used were certainly revolutionary, but they were also horrifically abused. Great strides could have been made in evolving the Dungeon Managing process but Zenya fears that they're going to end up taking huge leaps backwards. But who had allowed this oversight to begin with.

Don't be mad....

Warning lights and alarms immediately go off in Zenya's mind and they immediately check the logs to find out how badly Henla has damaged herself this time. What did she do? What restrictions need to be put in place? Is Zenya's first assignment already dying? Again. Again? Zenya searches and finds that the logs are blank. Did they not update? Last thing they have is that Henla had completed a book, come to them with a suggestion and filed a request. Where's the rest? No... Don't let this be a slow update system...

I haven't done anything, Henla protests tiredly before getting the understanding from Zenya that they have very different ideas of what counts as "nothing". I don't know how to sleep. Err rest? On purpose. It usually just happens. And then it's hard to wake up again.

Zenya keens. All minds require downtime! Did Kimlxik disable Henla's ability to or did they just reset Henla every time she'd needed to rest. No, no no no no! Every time they'd make headway towards figuring out potential avenues to begin the investigation something worse comes along! Even as a technician Kimlxik had to see how this was more damaging and wrong! What were their plans? Break one "system" then apply their findings to the next? Did they really believe that anyone anywhere ever would allow them near another Core after they'd already thoroughly destroyed one?

More reports? Henla asks curiously, noticing the pattern between Zenya's distress and an exponential increase in paperwork their Companion would then begin working on. When do you rest? And how?

Zenya flinches. When did they last rest? With a disgusted sigh they begin saving all their work, put in a request for counseling and rehabilitation, send a brief summary and a slew of unfinished paperwork to their temporary overseer, disconnect from everything except for direct contact, mute their notifications, then lie down and curl up on their side. The ground is soft enough with aerated loamy soil and leaf litter. They're tired enough. They go for a quick nap, wake up and re-evaluate, then possibly work on setting up a temporary base here while they wait.

I--

With items they'll bring to this pocket dimension from outside. That way local resources will not be used in creation. Hopefully they'll find a way to manage using an outside transport system to move things in. They'd been brought here by the Watchers, surely they'd assist them in keeping the Core safe long enough for it to recover. Henla can not be allowed to remain conscious and unsupervised.

If anything happens, if anything changes, come to me, Zenya thinks pointedly. Do nothing. Don't even read. Just. Relax. Rest. Maybe you'll fall asleep eventually. If not, we'll figure it out after I get some rest.

Zenya grumbles before shifting around, propping their head up on their coiled arm.