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[payback]

[Doop doop doop... just in the castle lobby, but you know, it's Paradisa. There's always a journal open somewhere when things happen.

For a few minutes the journal picks up dictation of... mostly nothing. Rin talking quietly to someone, apparently Tad, from her tone and how there's no response back. This continues for a few minutes before she suddenly cries out sharply.]

Ouch!! Oh - jeez...

[There's silence for a moment. Whatever just happened, from her reaction it sounds like this was painful! But when she speaks she sounds... hesitant, and kind of nervous. A little more normal for her at this point.]

What's this...?

Comments

[payback]

Okay, we can do that!

[gunslinger]

Where are you at?

[payback]

In the lobby. Should I just wait here?

[gunslinger]

That's fine. It'll just take me a few minutes.

[payback]

Okay... I'll be here! [And she will be.]

[gunslinger]

[ And he'll be walking through the entryway after about five minutes, car parked outside. It's not like she even knows what he looks like anymore, so Jr. waves to catch her attention when he walks over. LOOK HE HAS NUMBERS TOO but they are not fancy magic timers. ]

Hey Rin. I'm Jr.

[payback]

Oh, hi!

[A pause. Just a kid...? But he seems to know what he's doing...]

Um, what do you wanna do?

[gunslinger]

[ He goes by Jr., are you THAT surprised?

Out of his pocket he pulls free what looks like a small, oddly shaped industrial remote. When he hits a specific button, though, a holographic screen and keyboard both appear. ]

Well if you wanna go ahead and get started, just hold out your hand.

[payback]

[Hesitationnnnnnnnnnnnn...]

Will it hurt?

[gunslinger]

Don't worry, I said it wouldn't.

[payback]

[She holds out her hand, anyhow. Watching closely.]

[gunslinger]

[ Jr. reaches out to let his hand hover over hers. ]

Ether Drive.

[ Instantaneously, a white glow covers her hand and his for a moment, followed by his own eyes seeming to glow a brighter blue as he observes the numbers. It passes quickly, though, as the information is scanned into the connection gear he's still holding with his other hand.

At the beep, his gaze moves to the translucent screen to see a big red Connection Error. Please scan again. typed across the screen. With a shrug, he turns it around so she can read. ]

It's definitely castle related.

[payback]

... I guess this thing doesn't happen that commonly, huh?

[gunslinger]

Haven't heard of it yet. Something's probably going to happen in three days.

[payback]

... How did you do what you did? I mean, what was that?

[gunslinger]

Those were nanomachines. They can analyze just about anything, unless the castle is making trouble or it doesn't have any record of certain compounds. I update it regularly with everything I find here, though, so it doesn't botch often.

I can use myself as a medium to increase the potency, which is what I was doing. The Connection Gear is just to present it as optical data.

[payback]

What's a nanomachine anyhow? How do they analyze things then?

[gunslinger]

It's a microscopic robot. It has advanced Artificial Intelligence, and just like any machine, it does what it's specifically programmed for.