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( Setting) Neo Louvre Gallery
| > The hoverbus stopped and soon left again. Only three got off and as the lilim couple hasted away, the leather jacket man stood looking around. Very average in body size, his clothing seemed ancient. A silightly jagged brown leather jacket, dark alpine trousers and dark green frame sunglasses... He spotted Aethia and started to walk towards her. In all accounts he looked like a normal unaugmented human. The way he walked though had something odd. Something... feline in it.
| If you are Aethia, I have to admit this place is fancier than I was expecting.
>He smiled with a slight shrug and looked at her.
| > Turning slowly the boomer in white noticed him approaching. The white ear flaps upon her hair flicked slightly. Her gaze only subtly widened curious as if to question if he was the one she was waiting on. She offered a small smile of greeting and made note of his hair. Was it short and white?
"Evening." < Aethia would offer casually. Though not much else...She needed to confirm who he was first.
| "Ah. Then you are ACB?"
| >Indeed his hair was very short cut and white, with scatered silverlike pieces here and there.
"Airton. I don't like to use my name in a board that has danger in its name."
>He noted her ears flap and offered his hand to her while removing his glasses and looking her straight in the eyes, blinking in slow motion. Pupils definitely cat-like.
| > Aethia moved to shake his hand with a small smile.
"I don't blame you...The only reason I use my name is because I realize the futility of trying to hide myself. Being who I am I doubt I have much in the way of true privacy on principle...Though for your sake I've taken measures for that."
> As she spoke she gently brushed aside her snow white bangs and turned to look toward the gates, with a nod beckoning him to follow her. She'd made her way toward them gracefully.
| "Did you have any difficulty getting here, Mister Airton? The residual of the riots are terrifying for our kind. I do apologize for my selfishness."
| >Airton gently shook her hand and allowed her to lead the way only to catch up a second later and walk by her side.
"Are you someone famous?"
| >He shook his head.
"Not really. Not many would know what I am if I don't wish to let them know of it."
>He gently caught her arm and had her look into his eyes. She could bet that slowly they were changing shape, from catlike slits the pupils were becoming round and almost fully human. Then blinking he slightly shook his head.
"It is taxing though..."
He motioned for her so they'd keep on walking.
| "Eeh...Famous? I suppose I will be at this rate. My full name is Aethia Arlene Weiss. I'm the heiress of WhiteLightning Ventures and CEO of WL Fibers, its internet service providing subsidiary company."
> As she explained they walked through the gate and the guards among it bowed in her presence. She commented that Airton was her guest, which seemed to hold some meaning to them. The pair continued beyond a winding path framed by cyber wisteria, glowing with holographic petals.
| > Gazed still even as they walked, clearly impressed with the oddness of his body's ability to morph at will.
" That has to be quite useful all the same..."
| >Airton only nodded to the guards and they proceeded. As she spoke he kept on walking and looking around, not hiding his interest at the lifelike images of the holoprojectors.
"White Lightning? And the heiress of that empire? I think at this pace it is me the one who will become famous."
| >As they waked he waited a bit before replying to her.
"I think it is. It is a direct conseguence of what I mentioned about... that research."
>For a second there he seemed lost in thoughts but the fleeting moment passed quickly and he looked away.
| (walked*)
| > Aethia sniffed lightly as if she'd found something funny.
"Oh? Afraid a tabloid might catch us on this date?"
> After joking she grinned and gazed ahead toward the entrance of the building, which open and folded away. Powered by some kind of anti-gravital synthetic orbiting system the door deconstructed before them and created steps for them to climb into the upper balconies of the art museum. Holographic images of birds and fish immediately sway and flew across their path.
| "...Is it okay to simply bring that up now? I was hoping to reach a quieter place in the establishment before we talked about that. I was of the idea that you wanted this to be a secret well kept."
| >Airton waited for her to step up the stairs and laughed lightly.
"White Lightning princess has succumbs to be a museum tour guide for the savages. - Why, the Augmented Eye could be boasting that headline right now."
>He grinned back and stretched his hand as if wishing to catch the nearest bird that happened to 'fly' nearby.
"By how those guards treated you, I somehow think this entire place is already well guarded from prying eyes. Unless these fish are bugged."
| >He went where he thought a holoprojector might be, looking for a manufacture logo and hoping to find the White Lightning insignia there.
| > Aethia huffed softly.
"Was it that obvious..? It's true...though the security is in the illusions this place creates. This is a palace of my mother's artistic dreams. She loved the original Louvre so much and how it caused her mind to produce moving beauty that she'd invested deeply into this place."
> She watched him and smiled softly when he indeed found the White Lightning Logo..He was perceptive.
| "This place was designed to not only be one of the best showcases of high tech holo-visual and virtual art by the world's forefront cyber artists and hologram code weavers...but also a exhibition of our network's highspeed data processing techniques and upload and downloading speeds. So you could say that this is basically our imaginary castle when we decide to actually act the part society has given us."
| > Perhaps entertainingly enough...The bird Airton attempted to catch actually interacted with his motions. It flew away from his grasp and arced through the air to shoot and dart about his figure. Eventually it settled on his shoulder. Weightless. An interactive ghost. If he brushed it away it'd dismantle into hundreds of bird shaped sparkles that would swim around him and dissipate.
| >Airton looked at her as she huffed, obviously finding the gesture cheerful.
"Well, it seems a corner of Glitch City where very few can allow themselves these quiet escapades from reality."
>Going back near her he hesitated before continuing.
"You two must have been really close, I suppose."
| >While he tried to get the holobird from his shoulder to his hand, its breaking appart in the flying sparks full of colour and shine, he felt almost guilty of doing so. Looking at her he then lifted his palm up in a 'didn't mean that' fashion. Somehow he was looking at the entirety of her white silhouette against everything else that was there surrounding them.
| > Aethia smiled faintly and shrugged simply. She said nothing more on the subject..but her gaze easily stated that she felt at peace in this place powered by her mother's day dreams and imagination.
"That was the point. Indeed."
> She continued forward until she passed into the Lobby. It presented itself as a wide, tranquil ocean of silvery grey. Their every step caused a gentle ripple. Above them was a grand dark sky full of the galaxy's beauty and grace. Stars filled the ceiling.
| > The boomer in white wandered over to the reception desk and spoke momentarily with the receptionist. The desk was real. It was also made of glass that had various holographic screens splayed across it and floating about it. The receptionist nodded and handed Aethia a golden card, then offered one to Airton with a welcoming smile.
| >Airton followed and at the sight of the ocean he stared far into what would be line where the horizon met the starry sky.
"It is beautiful here."
>Pausing a few seconds he added:
"And Polaris indeed shows the true North."
>Turning to the receptionist he took the card and nodded with a friendly smile, then followed Aethia to where she was heading.
| >As they walked, he filled his lungs with air and closed his eyes for a second or two, then looking at her as she walked in front of him he spoke with eyes that seemed to look through her more than at her.
"The hall was around 50 meters long and probably 100 m wide. Now we are southwest of it and the walls here are sounproof."
>Pausing for a moment he then added:
"It is beautiful."
| (soundproof*)
| > Aethia nodded softly and turned to look back at him.
"You're ridiculously perceptive...We'll be going into the private collection once we cross the framed work section. There we can talk about whatever we like."
> After saying so she turned and brushed back her snow white strands and hummed thoughtfully.
"...I was surprised that you decided to speak with me so easily. Did you all ready know who I was? Does the matter of who I am concern you at all?"
| >Airton stopped when she turned around. He didn't comment back at her words, simply nodded at her statement.
As she turned to proceed walking, he found himself eyeing for the second time her gesture with her hair. Quite good she had her back at him leading the way or she would call it staring. But than this way it made him a stalker of a sort didn't it?
"I told you that I could use some help. You mentioned advanced computer systems and somehow I thought you could help me."
| > Aethia nodded and walked continuously through the visually never ending ocean walkway they'd chosen. That is until the sky grew smaller around them and became flat as if the wonders of outer-space were merely being shown across an LED screen. The world around them started to pixelate. Eventually they clearly came before a wall which rippled when Aethia moved to touch it. This wall gave way to her form and she stepped through it as if slipping through a liquid portal.
| He waited for her lead the last bit of the way where she was going and then continued.
"There was something in what you wrote that made me believe you don't enjoy lies. The way you put it and what you said about technology and old electronics... It is familiar to me. My, mate, she sported the same attitude."
"As of you being a princess of such an empire, this is actually quite a surprise. But then again, I need the help and you still don't know what I'll reaveal."
| > On the otherside they came to a more traditional scene. A long lavish hallway from which many giant classical paintings hung about each other in a way that seemed artistic in itself. Beyond the frames, however was life. Depiction, every scene moved and functioned as if a moment in time had been looped into the hallway's own 'keystone' existence. Aethia turned slightly to watch him curiously.
"...Indeed. I could help you if that is what you need. But what would you do with it?"
| > Aethia nodded at that and smiled thoughtfully.
"Indeed...Then I guess it bled over. I prefer honesty over anything...This world, this city already has so many skilled liars...but so few skilled truth tellers. It's horrifying to think of just how many things we don't know and merely think we know..."
| >He moved silenly behind her. He didn't hide his appreciation of what he saw around him and if anything he could think how his leather jacket and mountain trousers and winter boots were spoiling the visual harmony. She could tell he was at ease as his walking resembled less a human and more a big feline now.
"I would use it to compensate for my gherr transformations. I hope I will convince you they are not without penalties for my organism. Nothing comes without a cost."
| >He smiled and nodded.
"I can't point out where you gave yourself away at that, but you did."
>Then looking at her he took of his jacket and placed to what seemed to him a place to sit. Then he sat himself as well.
"I am not augmented. All what happens within me is entirely biologial processes. She called it accelerated local evolution and she found a way to direct it. But it is not magic, it needs stimuli and these are different in nature. A bit of chemistry, a bit of genetics."
| >He paused to fold up the sleeves of a loosly knitted shirt to reveal his arms. They were not the same, the left one had soft catlike feathers on it and the shape was also catlike. Yet she could swear he looked symetric and human when they met a quarter of an hour ago.
"I can't afford to shift more than this right now. The time is very short and you can see I am not a liar."
| (ooc: wtf, feathers? fur! Translating in English is funny for me, please bear with it)
| >Airton stretched his arm as if aligning the muscles under the skin. His lips tightened when he did, the gesture probably was accompanied by pain to some extent.
"We as cat boomers already have genetic mods in us for some feline like features. Extending over our genetic chain is way simpler than starting from scratch on a pure human. One just has to extend over what already is there as a headstart."
| >He stopped for a couple of heavy breaths before continuing.
Gherr transformations function by enzymes acting and activating second genetic copies in the body. It is not easy. The enzyme activity is mainly controlled by a combination of hormone and nervous system activity. It needs training. It roughly resembles learning to ride a bike, or meditation practice. A sort of getting to discover and command a different dimension of your body which has been hidden from you."
| >Pausing again he smiled a bit.
"It also takes time. There is an upper limit to how fast this can happen, or the tissue starts to get damaged at a cellular level."
>He finally paused to look at her. Colours around him were beginning to be sharper, the high flux of enzymes in his bloodstream had reached his brain. And she was so white, like a dream. And if only she did that hair gesture again!
Forcing his eyes to shut away from the angelic being in front of him he focused relaxing.
| >This was one rushed of a gherr, he thought. But a few minutes and he would suppress it, yes he would.
>Airton looked at one of the frames that had imprisoned a spark of life within itself, slightly nodding his head admiring it.
| > Aethia watched his actions with wonder. The expanding of his flesh, the altering of his genetics at high speeds...in real-time viewable actions. She was beyond just impressed, she was awed at it. The secondary amazement in the matter was that he'd dared to experiment on himself.
"So this is all ready possible within me as well or did this require some sort of trial run of various controlled experiments? I'm both equal parts amazed and terrified."
> She admit this with a laugh.
| " It's amazing. You must have trained for a very long time to get the hang of this..." < As she spoke she noticed his gaze and blinked slowly for some reason feeling mildly awkward. She smiled her awkward feelings.
"Did I say something silly...?"
| >Airton filled again the lungs full of air in a deep breath and shook his head. His gaze left the artistic frame and fell on her again.
"Oh, no. Don't... worry about it. It is a side effect of fast transformation. Something like this within only then minutes is not something I do everyday."
>He stopped again, Was it her laugh or her embarrassed smile and her so catlike blink the things he enjoied more?
"Yes and yes. Any catboomer can achieve it."
| "You would both need to be subjected to a treatment of a sort and the training. The easiest way to think of it is like some kind of therapy. Ela was right about finding the proper balance among those, or either I'd experience uncoscious and unwilled transformations, either we waited for nothing for days because we were too early or too late with the training for the molding effect to remain permanent."
>At the mention of the name he smiled very lightly and looked slightly away.
| >Airton stretched his arm in her direction so she could examine it close if she wanted. His gesture was in response to her genuine interest and chuckling he added.
"So then curious princess, what do you think of this? Is it worth keeping it a well guarded secret?"
| >A man in a suit and shemagh arrive at the Louvre, Hoping he is not late for his meeting.
| >He finally makes it to the specified hologram, and sits down at a bench, waiting for his client. A bird suddenly swoops down and sits on him. He tries to swipe it away but it just creates more of them...
| >The client also arrives at the same time, sitting don next to the guy in the shemagh.
"You're late. I hope you brought what I asked for."
| >Mr.Shemagh replies
"I do. But you still haven't wired the money, or given the codes to the containers."
| "Mr. AM. I hope you check your account more frequently than that. As for the container, well I'm deducting a late fee."
>The client slowly pulls his phone out, and with a smirk, sends the money.
| >AM slips a tracking bug on the client. He deserved the damn container, after all this work.
| >The client then proceeds to leave the gallery and take a car with his security detail to his hotel.
| >AM Stand up, but decides not to leave. After all, The cab fee cost so much. Why not enjoy some Holos? He can always get the client later.
| >AM, finally sick of looking at holos, heads out, thinking about how to deal with the client.
| > Aethia smiled brightly and shrugged softly.
"Considering the value of the information itself...I'd find it in poor taste to do anything short of taking the secret to the grave."
> After admitting so she slipped her hands into her bellowing bell-shaped sleeves. She turned lightly and beckoned him to follow with her chin. Then approtched a golden painting that resonated with their cards. She drew the card just barely from the darkness of her right sleeve and when Airton joined...
| > The painting fell upon them. Its frame leaving no sign of their presence to the gallery. Visually to the two of them the hallway became an empty, featureless white box. There were no picture frames. No people. No benches. Even the two men they might have glimpsed in the distance were gone. She reached outward into the gaping white abyss and pulled open a door that otherwise hadn't existed until just that moment. Then she invited Airton to step into an lxurious office-like setting
| > It was large and possessed glass windows that were quite real which exposed the truth of the holographic hallway they'd just exited. When they passed the threshold an AI spoke of identification. Aethia stood tall and waited before clearance was given...then she spoke aloud to give Airton temporary clearance. The room they had entered would then arise like an elevator into the sky. The mechanical hums implying it all being very real.
| > The door disappeared as if to be left behind by the elevating floor. Casually Aethia slipped off her fur jacket and muffler to rest it on her desk. The office continued to rise higher and higher until the beautiful outline of Neo Louvre rested beneath them to enjoy...along with the Glitch City skyline.
| "Well...Welcome to the second most secure room in the Louvre." > Aethia offered with a soft laugh.
"Unfortunately only real art is kept in here. The illusions engine for this room is built more for defense. I hope that's easy for you to forgive."
> While speaking Aethia gestured to various classical and contemporary sculptures that arose from the floor once the elevation of the office ceased.
| >Airton rolled his sweater sleeves down. Curiously he followed her with his eyes as she moved near a particular big painting, it could be any of the various there. At her gesture he got up, took his leather jacket and folding it over his left forearm he went near her. Imitating her motions he brought the card near the surface and before he blinked he realized he was the only dark shape in the middle of whiteness.
| >And soon enough in what seemed an elevator. He waited in silence as she identified herself and then cleared him as well. Getting out of the elevator and into the final room where she lead him, he looked a bit around and out of the window, at the vista of GC. It was not bad at all after all, from here it all looked fantastic, unlike the different kinds of dirt that existed in in it at various levels of life.
"Something I can actually relate to and recognize."
| > Aethia moved to have a seat at her desk and crossed her legs. She waved her hand in front of the desk's mounted sensor and a holographic screen appeared. A few careful pecks of a single finger caused a hidden projector to cause news laden screens to cross over the windows Airton wasn't viewing. It seemed she'd tuned in just in-time to hear about GC's stock market.
"So. I suppose now is a good time to give me an idea of what you need in terms of resources...How can I help you?"
| > While speaking she idly brushed her hair away from her eyes and settled her gaze on him momentarily, as long as she spoke. Eventually she leaned back in her chair and casually listened as the news anchors continued on. Waiting with more interest in his response.
| >Pointing at two pictures and a sculpture he added.
"La Giocconda, Birth of Venus, David after defeating Goliath."
>He chuckled at her comment.
"I can do that, but only if you promise me a walk into a recreation of Gustave Dore's Devil's chamber from Dante's Inferno."
>He didn't hide his admiration for what he saw.
"I hope they're man made duplicates, not machine products. That would be cheating."
| >Airton finally turned his gaze away from the art pieces. As she sat down and switched on the tv, he couldn't help but notice the gesture again, her hand freeing her face from her face. 'Three times', he counted mentally, suppressing a smile.
| (OOC: freeing her face from her hair. these errors are becoming irritating))
| > She chuckled.
"They are indeed recreations. Though one of them, David after defeating Goliath, was created by a Lilim. I still feel *that* counts though."
> After saying so she turned her chair to face him and raised a brow at his request with growing amusement.
" That's...quite a hologram. Though not at all an impossible one. You're very learned in art and clearly appreciate it besides! I'm glad I brought you here."
| >Airton looked at her and nodded.
"There are some things in me left incomplete. What you have seen today are the results of some years of work. Now she's gone and it will be all the more difficult for me to finish the current development. She was the one who came with the theory and the mathematician, I was only the bioengineer who gave life to her whole theoretical creation."
>He stopped for a bit to make sure she was listening to him and not at the news on the screen.
| > The boomer in white was actually listening the entire time. Her gaze had immediately left the news on the screen to play for itself when he spoke. She even went so far as to keep their eyes somewhere near locked and gently in the same directions. She was genuinely seeking to listen.
"...Will you be able to continue your research without such a mathematician?"
> She interlocked her fingers in her lap. Watching and listening to him she could clearly be seen thinking on his plight.
| >Me nodded and continued.
"A most immediate help I can use, is a stash of haemoglobin. I am almost out of that. While it is not a must, fast gherr transformation depletes the body from it for sheer huge ammount of it being consumed within a short time. One never knows what could happen and when I might just need to transform. I think of it as the emergency breathing gear for the astmathic, they always have it with them in case the need arises."
| >Airton didn't cower away from her gaze and it almost seemed as if he was seeking it. He now seemed the cat boomer he really was, unlike the unremarkable normal human of when they met. His neck and shoulder sported lines of muscles that one saw in the neck of a jaguar and his eyes, though fully human, didn't blink. If she found it odd that wouldn't be intentional at all... but how would he know it now, when his mind was having other priorities?
| "And what will you do once you're successful in your aspirations?"
>As she asked this she gently slipped her fingers across the air to create a small notepad sized screen that she'd scribble notes into with her finger.
"...You'll forgive me, but although so far you seem to be a good person I've grown paranoid and cautious over the years because of companies like Veriatech. I'm aware that I'm just naive enough to be tricked."
| >Airton paused as he listened her question. Shifting his stance as he was sitting he looked away for a few seconds and then back at her again.
"I think so.. I don't know. I can finish the very last bits that we were implementing. But further than that, I... I don't know. I don't know how to interpret her raw calculations. Now and then after each implementation of feature or improvement, she would go to them correcting small things here and there."
| >Airton looked at her as she was taking notes. Somehow that wasn't exactly what he was expecting her to do. Bussiness people will always remain bussiness people, he thought.
"That prospect of the future has not rally been crossing my mind. But then, Miss Aethia, what would you be paranoid about when it comes to what I would do? If I asked for your help that doesn't mean I am desperate. Like I said I have no intention of becoming neither a lab rat not a market item."
| >There was a change of tone in his voice. What before was a friendly approach and behaviour now seemed more like a self control tour de force and he got up from his seat and slowly approached the window and looked outside.
"I can always take care of myself like I have always done, miss Aethia. I can understand your worries. After all I can decide to go to Veriatech tomorrow and you'd feel bad for helping someone like me then."
| "...No I'd feel bad for letting you go t Veriatech."
> Aethia replied while setting aside the holographic notepad.
"...They'd...Even I am aware that they are not the types to hold loyalty in a very high place. Even if you fooled me for their ends, I'd regret letting you return to them without offering an alternative long before I'd regret helping you."
> She tilted her head slowly so that it'd rest gently on the back of her chair.
"As for the rest...My company is an ISP."
| "I have no place for biotech in my wares and never intend to have any such wares until the entire world decides to become Deckers that want to browse Moogle in their skulls. So you have nothing to fear there."
| "Return to Veriatech? They would put me in a cage and clone me to no end in order to see what keeps my DNA from decaying and rupturing. That is what they have been doing for the last two years and can't figure it out that they are looking at the wrong place for the solution of their problem. It not a genetic issue more than simply verifying mathematical solutions, eliminating many theoretical possibilities and keeping only those that make sense in the real world."
| >Airton turned around from the window and sat down again.
"As of your company and your gear, at this stage now you are more able to achieve completion then they are. I gather your servers and data processing units are superior in raw calculations. Given the right dataset and formulae of the theoretical model of the interactions in the body is at this point more valuable than huge establishments for growing and monitoring bioculture samples and learning by trial and error."
| > Aethia watched him thoughtfully and sat up slowly in her chair. She rested her chin in her hands and tilted her head slightly. Her snow white strands tilted with her and her loose braid dangled from her shoulders. The 'cat ear' like appendages on her head slipped closer to her skull as she thought.
" I...didn't mean to offend. Its terrifying out there, Airton. So terrifying that I don't even have to be convinced to keep your secret. Part of the reason I want to help you is..."
| > She looked up toward him directly.
"After what you've already suffered...I thought that maybe I could provide a place for you where you can grieve and work in peace. Part of having the ability to supply things, for me, has been having the pleasure to provide people what they need..."
| >Airton smiled but it seemed more to himself than as a result of her words. Gazing back straight into her eyes he flicked his own ears, which were not sharp tipped like a small cat but rather rounded as the ones that sported the big members of the family.
"I think your curiosity is fulfilled as well. Insofar like I said I can make good use of haemoglobin supplies and iron supplements. As things currently are the body is inefficient in processing these."
| "Hm. I suppose I'll have to find out where I can purchase resources like those without falling in with the wrong group."
> Aethia glanced toward the news channels and saw a report on the damages GC currently suffered.
"Would you be interested in also helping me with my Safe Zone project? You've heard about it, right?"
| >He thought for a few seconds and then added:
"If I transform too often I find myself with a very low immunity. If I am to take your offer for helping me with my research it would be to improve on these... for the moment. But I want you to be clear on one thing. It is a personal matter, miss Aethia. I appreciate your good intentions towards society, but I still feel no particular love for the public out there. I didn't come to Glitch City because of my own choosing. I am sorry."
| > Aethia smiled ruefully and shrugged.
"I figured you'd say that. I just thought maybe if I asked I might be surprised."
> She closed her eyes and relaxed. Her 'cat ears' also relaxed and she turned her body slightly to rest on the desk over her folded arms.
" Very well~. Let me know if you need anything. I'd like to be a friend to you, so feel free to even vent to me if you must. Also...Drop the 'miss'. I have enough people calling me that."
| >Airton seemed calm as well and tilting his head left and then right a couple of times he looked at her.
"I also would like to be a friend to you. Aethia".
>He smiled lightly as he stressed the fact that he addressed her without the 'miss' qualifier.
>You see... Being a princess of a sort as you are, I guess you feel the moral obligation to do something for the good of the world. It is a noble aim. Yet a friendly advice would be to not try too hard for that."
| (messed up the colouring there*)
| "I mean, in the end often it happens that you make more enemies than you make friends when you try to force the world to be the perfect place to live. True that, it is also hell out there, but still, give things a nudge only, without forcing your hand."
>He paused and then contineued.
"I can also help you in other things. For the one, with the haemoglobin and the iron supplements, you can buy it in the medical corporations that culture and produce them. And then give it away..."
| "... for help and charity. They both are very valuable in treating wounds that sport a lot of blood loss. So you wouldn't need to do all that hiding and your transanctions would be legal and justified. Hospitals will thank you."
And also, if you think you could need a bioengineer's advice for biotech and genetics, you now know there's an ear to listen to you."
>He smiled and looked at her in a friendly manner.
| "A nudge only, huh? Is that the safest way to live as a person whom desires change for the better?"
- The white boomer opened her eyes half lit and thoughtful. She sighed softly.
" I don't think I have it in me to be that cautious. But I'll keep your words in mind."
| > Looked up thoughtfully.
"Ah. I'll do that then."
| >Airton felt slightly awkward from the silence that followed. Feeling like he had to say something, he didn't know what it would be. In the end he took his jacket that he had placed near his side and raised up.
"I will fix my self in due time and I also think I will knock again at your door. I will tell you this then, that whenever I will make use of your assets to aid me in clearing out the uncertainties that still creep in Ela's work, I will share with you the results..."
| "... and why they are important. You would be able to use that knowledge in your quest for the greater good. Do we have a deal?"
| > Aethia lifted her head and gazed at him for a moment. She nodded lightly and brushed the hair from her eyes as she adjusted and sat properly in her seat.
"Of course! When you require my resources let me know. You're welcome to take that card with you, by the way. It expires and destroys its own data cache the second you leave the room and I have no use for it after that. Consider it a rare souvenir from the Louvre. Be safe out there, okay?"
> Aethia offered a smile.
| "Can you find your way outside without aid?"
| >'Stop looking'. Airton mentally spoke to himself as Aethia again did that gesture with her hair. In fluid moves he put on his jacket, slipping in it while flexing arms and shoulders like cats do when entering tight spaces.
He looked at the card and stuffed it in its pocket.
"I will do that. And thank you for receiving me at the heart of your castle. Your mother must have been a beautiful mind indeed."
| >Aethia's last comment got him in his first step towards the door. Turning, he chuckled.
"I can, don't worry about that. And remember, I'd like that tour thrugh Devil's Chambers, so I'll call you for that too. Be well and take care of yourself."
>He left and took the lift downwards. As he went through the white room he found himself unable to find the other exit, but swiftly held the card and walked with it near the walls. When it activated he went through.
| >Airton blinked into the art room again. From here it was easy, he could feel the northeast corridor and walked through it to the first hall. Greeting the guards, he passed through the gate, put his glasses on and headed to the hoverbus station. Thinking of the nearest place where he could buy an e.m-proof wallet, he waited.
'So who'd think I'd meet a princess. White Lightning. And white she was all right'.
Looking at the holodecorations he'd be gone as soon as the bus arrived.
| > She watched Airton leave quietly. Gazing back at the screens of which the suffering of those of GC were shown, she momentarily considered simply throwing open the doors of the Neo Louvre for temporary shelter until her Safe Zones were reality...But then the folly of the idea quickly came to stay her hand. She sighed softly and closed her eyes.
"Devil's chambers? Why not through our city streets?...Or perhaps through the mind of someone as indecisive as myself."
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| > Something about this place always moved her emotionally. Although its size was not as grand as its elder counter part the sprawling Museum of Virtual and Holographic Art was still just as intimidating.
>Aethia, with her long white hair in a loose shoulder hanging ponytail, stood casually in front of the bus terminal exit. Dressed in a nano-heated bell sleeved, cream sweater dress, and dolled up to perfection...she easily fit in. Her aura of importance fended off most idlers.