The engineer lessened his glare as the startup sequence on the device began without any notable errors, it'd be more annoying that it had any right to be getting the dampener's programming to work and the small device had caused him no end of problems in the hours he'd spent building the thing, not even designing it, actually building it had taken hours. It was absurd and infuriating and if he didn't need to test the thing he'd smash it out of spite.

Once he added in the constant sensation of bugs tearing down his factories, things in the deep magma chewing on his drills and the constant sensation of androids walking through his factories he wasn't in anything approximating a good mood. The humans walking through the streets of his cities were just the icing on the cake, acting like he couldn't see it when one of them pocketed small items. They didn't even have the decency of being subtle with their espionage, and he was just waiting for one of them to 'get lost' somewhere they shouldn't.

Balistraia just looking at him with visible concern didn't make it any better either, and the way she looked ashamed as he thought that only twisted that particular needle in deeper. Minor grievance after minor grievance, still he took in a steading breath and silenced the majority of the thoughts. They were unhelpful, and once he'd made sure the dampener worked and brought it to 2B he'd be able to sleep again, the closest thing he'd get to a break. Even if every destroyed outpost threatened to wake him.

The machine was set to half power and began to spool up and the engineer felt it radiating out, visibly making a blurry zone in his area perception for a few seconds before clearing up, and as the energy enclosed him the sensation of skittering legs and organic flesh became distant, and the factory as a whole. Still noticeable, but a conversation in another room rather than right next to him.

He was so engrossed in the odd sensation he didn't notice Balistraia walking up behind him, something he wouldn't have even been capable of not noticing without the contraption, the same device she swiped off the table before him. Her form was only four meters tall at the moment, but it still towered over his own as he looked up at her. "What exactly are you doing" He could have kept the vague frustration out of his voice, but she'd have felt it regardless so he didn't bother. The wide smile on her face however turned that frustration into a vague concern as the engineer noted a few things, he wasn't in his armor, and there were no androids in the room, and with his dampened systems it'd be difficult to control a drone if Balistraia didn't want him too.

That worry grew as she turned the dial to max, and his sense's shrank as low as they'd ever gone, barely past his own reach, the sensations of the factory outside rather than just a room over. Only the strongest sensations reaching him, shattered command tanks, new ships coming online, bugs rampaging inside outposts, and even that was negligible and harder to notice than they were to ignore.

His senses were as mortal as they could be, and it was as jarring as having a bag over his head. Balistraia's words only confirmed what he already knew. "We were talking, and we think you need a break" how had…. They'd only started talking about it after the device was on, that's how he hadn't noticed the oncoming betrayal. The minds had known if they'd voiced the thoughts he'd have prepared countermeasures, and he should have done so regardless.

The scathing glare he leveled at the mind was ignored "I have things I need to do, and I was going to rest soon regardless." Balistraia only smiled wider as the device disappeared into one of the myriad compartments within her body, he wasn't getting it back. "Yes, you'd have 'slept' for two hours. Very restful. No, your stress levels are well outside of acceptable limits, and if you don't care about the mental health aspect you should be more than aware of your faltering efficiency."He didn't bother to lessen his glare or respond, It was noticeable yes but once his normal rest cycle could begin again it'd mitigate the majority of it. He already knew the optimal rest work cycle, and he'd be getting back to it… eventually.

He didn't bother to resist as Balistraia pulled him to the floor and into her lap, if he was in his armor it would have been futile, without it it was just laughable. She'd made her form soft and he sank into it as she wrapped her arms around him and pressed him into her chest, it radiated warmth and she used her control over her body to make it grab him, applying gentle pressure everywhere they touched, which was most of him given just how much give her flesh could have when she wanted it too. The pressure started to move and squeeze as she massaged his entire body at the same time, keeping him trapped.

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Even without her strength he couldn't have escaped, her body was frictionless and he was stuck without any leverage.

You know it wasn't intentional but Balistraia's body is just the best for hugs

He let out a tired sigh as he leaned back "just how long do you plan on keeping me here." and pretend to ignore the giggle and hand playing with his hair, he had some dignity. "Until you feel better" That was both vague and not a time frame. "You have one hour and then I'm getting out" The admittedly soothing massage immediately stopped and the strength of the 'hug' increased causing him to sink even deeper. "And you'll be enforcing that how?" ….He was clever, he'd figure something out, eventually.

Still he needed to suppress the urge to flail his limbs in an attempt to escape, or at least his legs as his arms were well trapped, did he actually just entertain the thought of throwing a tantrum? And only not do it because it wouldn't work? He really did need a break.

He was stuck with the sensation of her hands running along his scalp as the warmth from her systems radiated into him. His body didn't ache, nor was it sore, but the sensations coupled with her …flexing? Of her internals was soothing nonetheless, even if he'd never actually admit that.

The drones in the room and within his inventory ignored his attempts to control them, even when he felt the connection and commands send. Traitors one and all. Which closed off the easiest avenue to escape, leaving him with only his internal storage and deconstruction aura. Neither of which seemed immediately useful for his situation.

Trying to exert any control over the materials of Balistraias body was an exercise in futility, given the sheer potency of her shielding systems and the fact she was technically speaking partly organic, but that meant nothing for the material around her. With the dampener reducing the engineer's senses however… it'd be like doing it in the dark.

Still he reached out with that metaphysical muscle inside his head, trying to find the nearest material he could control, the air was well within his grasp already. The sensation of his powers hold on it was diffuse however, more a medium of conduction than something he could actually affect given it was already a gas but well.. He'd never actually tried to pull the air within himself. It was matter so there was no reason he couldn't, and with a flex of intent the engineer started to pull in the air around him, slowly.

It took seconds for him to realize that wasn't going to lead anywhere, perhaps he could gather enough to launch himself with a burst of air but it'd take hours to gather enough to move his weight any significant distance. Intentionally stretching his reach out let the engineer reach the floor Balistraia was resting upon, and the wall she was leaning against, and though it should have been well outside the range of his diminished view his vision spread to whatever his power touched.

Which was…. Maybe new? He'd never actually tried to effect something outside of his awareness bubble but if the energy was causing his view to expand…. And in order to store things he needed to know their shape and composition… had his awareness bubble always just been a low intensity wave of Projector energy? If the dampener was reducing or absorbing his output then he could just increase his own output. It wouldn't reconnect him to the factory network, probably, but….

Immediately the floor underneath them fell as he rapidly increased the intensity and softened the material around the floor Balistraia was sitting on, causing a circle of still stable matter to fall free. And more importantly causing Balsitraia to remove one of her arms to try and grab onto the lip of the hole. With her dangling while still pressing him into her stomach he no longer had to fight gravity and the absence of friction, only her grip which given said absence of friction was actually feasible. Wiggling frantically side to side he started to escape, but Balistraia's artificial mind rapidly figured out his admittedly flawed plan and she took a firmer grip of him, sacrificing her grasp on the lip of the hole and letting them fall into the storage room under his auxiliary lab. He made to try the same trick again, but found that she'd turned the projectors lining the walls on, having figured out what he'd done. "Are you done now commander?" The engineer still didn't care for that title, he'd made Balistraia so he didn't have to command. "....for now"

It'd take awhile to make a new plan after all.