A woman stood over a counter, surrounded by tools and parts. In front of her was a small machine. The machine consisted of many small components and electronics and a circular tube. Holding a wrench, she tightened a bolt holding the cylinder in place. Letting out a relieved sigh, the woman put down her twist.
“Finally finished,” She said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “Hey Michael!”
“Yeah?” A man responded, poking his head out from behind a small divider. “Can you pass the steel?”
“Yeah no problem.” Taking three steel plates from Micheal, the woman attached them to the back and sides of the machine.
“Alright, we should be ready to test the reactor within the next week.”
“Miss, are you ok?”
Evelyn looked before her, finding a man looking down at her. The morning light peeked over the buildings as people started coming out of buildings to go about their day. “Yeah, I'm fine, just daydreaming a tad.” Nodding, the man walked off.
Standing up and dusting off her pants, Evelyn headed back to the guild hall. Inside the gallery, dozens of adventurers milled around eating or talking. Walking past them, Evelyn made her way to Silvia's office area.
Inside the waiting room, she found Primrose carrying a box from the back. “Evelyn! Perfect timing!” She said excitedly, putting the chest down. “Everything’s been approved, so I'm getting some supplies for you! After we get this to your room, we’re going shopping! My treat!”
“Thank Primrose,” Evelyn said, picking up the box easily. “How many more boxes are there?”
“Just that one,” Primrose said, grabbing a witch's hat from a nearby chair and putting it on, “Now, let's get going!” Primrose grabbed Evelyn's arm, dragging her along the best she could. Evelyn's metal body kept Primrose anchored until she started walking with the girl.
Dragging her down the street, Primrose hummed happily. Evelyn couldn’t help but smirk, enjoying her antics. Reaching the outskirts of the city, the academy came into view. A large magnificent structure, it stood tall over its front yard. On either side were the rectangular dorm buildings. Beyond the woods behind the main building, houses peeked from between the trees. “So, where are we headed?” Evelyn asked, looking around.
“We are headed to my group's dorm! I can't wait for you to meet them!.”
Is there anything I should know about them?”
Giggling, Primrose brought them to a stop in front of one of the small houses. Letting go of Evelyn's arm, Primrose unlocked and kicked open the door. “PRIMROSE STOP KICKING THE DOOR IN!!!” A deep feminine voice shouted from inside. Waving Evelyn in, Primrose jumped through the doorway. Slowly walking in, the common room had two couches with 3 people sitting in them.
A woman with the lower body of a snake draped herself upside down over the back of a couch. Next to her, a pale figure in a black cloak was reading a book. And finally, on the other couch, a shorter muscled man was eating a bowl of food.
“Everyone!” Primrose shouted, “This is our new dorm mate! Meet Evelyn!” She dramatically gestured in Evelyn's direction. Waving at the group of people now looking at her, Evelyn sighed, glad she got over her stage fright in middle school.
“Evelyn,” Primrose said, turning to the group, “This is Sadie,” She said, pointing at the snake woman who waved at the two, “Sup.”
“And next to her is Nico!” The pale man glared at Primrose before looking back at his book, “It’s Nicodemus NOT Nico. How many times am I going to have to tell you,” he sighed.
Primrose stuck her tongue out in response before turning to the final member, who had, by this point, finished his food and put his bowl on a table next to the couch. “I’m Hallbjorn,” He said, nodding at Evelyn. “Heyyyyyy, I was doing the introductions!” Primrose pouted. “Yeah, Prim, I'm not letting you just introduce me as Hal. Anyway, do we actually have a fifth room for Evelyn to stay in?”
“We have the storage room in the back,” Sadie said, “which explains why someone was up all night banging around in it.” Sadie glared at Primrose, who giggled and rubbed her neck shyly. “Sorry about that, but yes I was cleaning it so Evelyn could have a place to sleep.” Then, turning to Evelyn, Primrose smiled, “Let’s get you set up! We have all day to chat after all!”
Primrose bounded down a hallway before turning a corner and going out of sight. “You should probably catch her,” Sadie said, “No end to the amount of trouble she could get up to.” Snorting a laugh, Nicodemus nodded, “That is the MOST troublesome Fae I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.”
“She a Fae?” Evelyn asked, intrigued. “Much to our annoyance sometimes, yes. And she has all the mischief that comes associated with it too.”
“EVELYN COME OONNNNNN!!!” Primrose shouted from down the hall. “And all of the impatience too.” Nicodemus added, returning to his book.
Walking down the hall, Evelyn found Primrose bouncing in the final doorway. “Come on come on come on!”
Inside the small room, boxes were stacked to one side, leaving a moderate amount of space. On the other side, a small bed had a set of sheets and a blanket folded on top of it.
Putting the box at the base of the bed, Evelyn stretched, letting her joints relax.
“I'll let you get settled in today, but tomorrow we’re going shopping to get you some clothes and some gear. Can’t have you doing quests with us in nothing but the shoddy training clothes from the guild.”
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Following Primrose back to the common room, Evelyn sat on the couch with Sadie and Nicodemus while Primrose sat with Hallbjorn.
“So,” Sadie said, “What’s your story? Not everyday someone new joins an established dorm.”
“I’m new in the area so I’ve only just applied to the guild. I’m here on recommendation.”
“You must be impressive; the guild doesn’t do that very often.” “Hallbjorn said.
“I have some special things i do, and I guess I made an impression.” Evelyn responded. “We should have a sparring session soon, I want to see what you can do. What kind of fighter are you?” Hallbjorn asked.
“I have experience in hand to hand and hand to weapon combat.”
“I heard she broke the yard masters training sword!” Primrose added.
Whistling, Sadie nodded, “That IS impressive, his sword was made of iron wood. Shits tough.”
Nodding, Evelyn made a mental note of the material, wanting to look more into it.
“What about all of you?” She asked the group.
“I’m a Druid!” Primrose shouted, throwing her fist in the air. “I can manipulate plants and fungi.”
“It’s helpful for foraging but she’s extremely impressive in combat too.” Sadie added. “I’m our front line. Sword and shield and all that. Got a shied mount for the end my my tail for some quick defense.”
“That’s smart,” Evelyn said, “It might be worth examining that idea further and attach a blade to the tip of your tail. If you could whip it fast enough, you could probably make some good quick strikes out of it.” Scratching her chin, Sadie thought about the idea. “I hadn’t thought about that. Might be interesting to try out.”
“Got to say Evelyn, I'm impressed. You’ve been here less than an hour and you're already helping. I can't wait to see how much better we get with your help in the months to come,” Hallbjorn said, nodding. “But anyway, I'm what you could call a shield wall. Got me some massive great shields.”
“He also makes a good battering ram,” Primrose added. With a sigh, Hallbjorn agreed, “Not my favorite thing to do, but i'm damn good at it.”
“And last but not least, Nico is our stealth expert.” Then, with a drawn-out exasperated sigh, Nicodemus looked up from his book, “I’m a spiritualist. I use my contracts with spirits to scout and fight.”
His short description left no room for conversation as he returned to reading his book. “Don’t mind him,” Sadie said, “He’s a bit of a grump during the day; he’ll be a lot better later.”
After a few more hours of conversation, Sadie and Hallbjorn started cooking dinner. Nicodemus, Primrose, and Evelyn sat on the couches, with the girls continuing to discuss their plans for the next few days.
“Dinners ready!” Sadie shouted over. Nicodemus jumped up and moved quickly to the kitchen. Following Primrose, Evelyn walked into the kitchen. There was chaos as Nicodemus chugged a bowl of liquid, and Hallbjorn set the table. Sitting down with everyone, Evelyn examined her food. There was a steak and a variety of vegetables. With Primrose and Sadie next to her digging in, Evelyn took a bite of the steak.
“How’d we do?” Sadie asked her. “It’s pretty good. My tastebuds are a bit muted so I probably can't enjoy it as much as the rest of you.”
Hallbjorn looked surprised, “How did that happen?”
“It’s just how I'm made. Speaking of which,” Evelyn said, “is there a bath here or a river nearby?”
“There's a campus bath house,” Sadie said, “We can all go after dinner!”
“OOOOO! Sounds like fun,” Primrose cheered. Nodding, Hallbjorn gave a thumbs up. “Why not,” Nicodemus said.
Entering the bathhouse, the chatting group each got assigned a locker by the staff. First, a thin metal bracelet was snapped around each of their wrists. Then, leaning in to whisper, “That’s your locker key. Only the staff can take it off to prevent thefts,” She explained.
Opening her locker, Evelyn took off her clothes and stored them. Then, feeling something pressed against her back, she turned her head to find yet again Primrose. “Wow your skin is so smooth!” She said, feeling Evelyn's back. “Um, Thanks, Primrose.”
“Prim, stop bothering her,” Sadie said, grabbing Primrose by her Antenne. “Ow ow ow ow ok fine let go!”
“Come on Evelyn,” Sadie said, waving her forwards.
Meeting with the boys, the rest of the group entered the bath. Evelyn found an empty section near them and felt the water temperature. Shrugging, she opened her back vents, steam spilling out, before sliding in. The rest of her group watched in amazement as the water around her started to bubble and steam.
Sitting cross-legged at the bottom of the bath, Evelyn let her coolant water refresh.
Feeling something wrap around her, she looked to see Sadie's tail trying to pull her up. Satisfied, Evelyn stood up and closed her steam vents. Then, breaching the surface, she found them all staring at her. “What?”
“What was that?” Sadie asked, uncoiling her tail. “I refreshed my coolant. If I don't keep my heart cool, I run the risk of quite literally melting into a pool of molten metal.” She said, sitting on the bath wall.
With a hiss, her chest opened, revealing a shiny metal layer. Then, with another hiss, the second layer opened.
Dozens of wires and tubes filled with her orange luminescent blood connected to a ring in the center of her chest. A point of light made a full rotation of the crew every few seconds.
Reaching forwards, Primrose tried to touch the reactor. But, noticing, Evelyn quickly shut her chest before Primrose could reach.
“That’s wild,” Halbbjorn exclaimed.
Shots of rapid gunfire surrounded a woman, her back to a barricade. By her side was a man in a robotic exoskeleton. “Sir, the Inir heavy infantry are incoming!” She shouted.
“Fuck, do we have contact with the artillery?”
“No Sir!”
A Thundering BOOM echoed over the battlefield, silencing the area.
With a chuckle, the man mumbled, “Looks like we don't need to call them.”
Then a deafening explosion raced over them; the blast wave threw them and their barricade to the cracked road. A second round booming overhead.
Scrambling to her feet, the woman grabbed a nearby rifle and ran to the man. “Commander are you alright?”
Reaching out her arm to him, she pulled him up. “Yes, I'm good. We gotta get back to base camp. There's no way In HELL we are breaking through the mothership as is.”
Putting his hands on her shoulders, the commander looked the woman dead in the eyes, “Evelyn. We NEED to activate project adamant breaker. One of us needs to make it over. On the count of three, make a break for base camp. One”
“Two”
“Three”
Evelyn and the Commander broke out in a sprint away from the sites of the ongoing bombardment, the Commander's exoskeleton propelling him faster. Bolts of plasma flew past their heads, the ionizing air crackling around them.
An arc of lightning shot from behind them, striking a streetlight nearby. The light flashed and exploded, nearly blinding Evelyn.
Powering through, she continued to run, weaving through broken vehicles.
A searing pain burst through her arm, and she fell to the ground. A perfectly circular hole sat red and burned. A sharp feeling ran through her leg with a swoosh. A series of chilling clicking sounds spat down at her, almost laughing.
Slowly the air around her heated up as the sky rumbled. “Get. Fucked.” She said, flipping off the Inir above her.