I walked in on a conversation.

"I only have a limited time to get back. So this is goodbye Misty, and tell that old dog, Vik to lay off the boxing."

A silver haired lady dressed in leather pants and a tunic was waving goodbye to another woman who reminded me of a character in a movie I saw a long time ago. Poofed out blonde hair, and rocking a Goth look. Nice.

"Bye Ciri, we will miss you around here. Be safe." They shared a brief hug.

When the silver haired lady, Ciri turned around and saw me.

Let's just say both our eyes went wide. There was a spark of recognition. The twisting of fate.

She was radiating potent mana, different from any I had felt before. It seemed darker somehow, almost broken.

She stalked over to me. Patted my shoulder and said, "Good Luck." Before dashing out the door. Avoided the Probe I noticed.

I half turned to follow her and find out more.

"She has that effect on people. Hi, I'm Misty."

I turned back toward the blonde lady. She herself was emanating a little bit of mana. What were the odds?

"Hello Misty, I'm Ryan. I came to see about getting a consult with Dr. Vektor, but now I'm a little more interested in your shop."

The Brass multi armed statue behind her, for a start. Giving off something similar to the Psi energy of Khalai Pylons.

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"That's great! I offer Chakra cleansings and Tarot readings." It was nice to see her smile. She seemed like a decent person.

"I've never had my Chakras cleansed, so let's do that." What the hell was a Chakra?

To be honest, I don't know if that did anything for me. However, I did feel a little more relaxed, after resting in that cushy chair. So all's good.

The crystals were a little odd though, and the incense was a bit pungent. Hey, nothing's perfect.

I paid her with $100 and let her keep the change.

She told me I could see the Doc. Out the back and down the stairs.

The alley held another surprise.

It was a cat, an Egyptian Hairless. Was it called a Sphinx or was that a different breed?

I sat down and it crawled in my lap, and I gave it scritches. It's purring was a comfort in this dark land.

"Hey Misty! I thought there weren't anymore cats?" I called out gently.

She stuck her head out, saw me with the kitty and grinned. "There aren't, that's not a cat."

"What is it?" Meowed like a cat. Purred like a cat.

"If you figure it out let me know. I just know it's not a cat." She ducked back into her shop.

"You seem like a good kitty to me." As I petted the cat more. It gave me a happy cat stare. Not to be confused with an indifferent cat stare, though I wouldn't blame you.

I only stayed another minute, before I got up and went down the stairs. Things were really looking up.

The way was blocked by a sliding metal wired gate. I could see a man watch a monitor, it seemed to be a boxing match. "Hello?"

"Hey, come on in." He kind of reminded me of my Gramps, I always got along with ol' Gramps.

Build like a boxer, rugged looking, like he'd been through a few things. Yeah, I liked him on sight. A good dude.

I closed the gate behind me, after I went in.

"Manners. That's a sight." He chuckled.

"Dr Vektor, I needed a consult on getting Chipped, at least the basics."

"100% Ganic. This will be tough. You'll want a neural port, a chip socket, and at least one eye to fully interact, but I'd recommend doing both or it'll really throw of your balance."

My eyes? My eyes. That seemed insane. My eyes were perfectly good.

They didn't think anything of doing this? It was just normal?

It was normal. Heavens help these poor fucked up people. Heavens help me for what I was going to do.

"If you'll hop up on the chair, we'll take a full scan. Then I'll be able to make suggestions as to what would work best with your meat."

As the scan started I wondered if I was really going to do this.