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Petra Soroka     Down the elevator from Lobotomy Corporation's artificial warpgate, all the way into the deepest bowels of the facility, the Extraction Department is the same as always when Angela puts out a low-priority request for Elite assistance. Stepping out of the elevator into the main room, the shift from the florescent elevator lights and the soft green glowing tubes of Control Department to the hazy shadows of Extraction, black marble lit only by golden runes and lines inscribed into the walls and floor, demands a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. The alien architecture, rectangular pillars hanging down like brutalist stalactites from a shrouded, distant ceiling, comes into view as you get used to the dimness.

    Down another hallway is another room whose dusty gold pillar-light is overwhelmed by the sickly green of Carmen's Well, tucked away out of sight from the main room. Petra, equipped with her EGO gear with her black spear on her back, comes out of that hallway at a brisk walk, passively bobbing her head back and forth like she's trying to physically slosh the thoughts inside around so they don't settle and get forgotten. In the interest of keeping all those thoughts fresh, she barely looks at the Elites to address them, distracted by various voiceless murmurs of reminders and unintelligible gestures to count her fingers.

    "Hey, everyone. Thanks for coming. We've got a sort of weird day that's also sort of normal, so I've got some instructions on the work we've got to do, but I've never actually done them before. Follow me, you'll see."

    Her little head is sort of overloaded, so she's babbling until the task is in front of her. Petra leads the Elites down the other hallway, opposite Carmen's well, to where steel containment cell doors line the walls, and stops in front of a strange series of rolling carts you've never seen before.

    Arranged sort of like a series of buffet tables, but plated like nothing of the sort, the carts are covered with various containers of eclectic items with seemingly no relation. Some of the carts have bowls with mostly normal foods inside, like vegetables, raw and cooked meat, a tea set, salt, a bubbling vat of boiling water. Some have various flowers in vases, a carton of cigarettes, a feather duster, a bucket full of snapped bones and a blended slurry of human flesh. A deck of cards, a ritualistic knife, a camera, a preserved hand covered in golden rings and reeking of formaldehyde. The spread of mundane to grotesque covers most anything you could think to look for, as long as it's something you could carry easily yourself.

    Petra comes to a stop in front of the weird display and wheels around, gesturing at the containment cell door across from the carts. "Alright! Okay. So, you know how, so far, during the Meltdowns, you know? You've had to do Work on Abnormalities sometimes, but I or Angela or whoever's always been able to give you instructions on what to do for suppressing or working on them?"

    "Yeah. That's all, like, info *Angela* picked up during all the previous loops. All the Abnormalities so far, we've apparently gotten before, so she's had records for what to do about them. But now, I guess, since we're farther in the Seed of Light than ever before..."

    Petra waves her hand, holding a little pronged device-- an Enkephalin reader-- at the door, and it beeps, lighting up the screen. "The Abnormality we extracted today doesn't have a reading that matches anything she knows. So it's a new one. And that means we've got to *figure out* what to do about it, since Ange has been doing a ton of the work helping us manage it all up to now."
Petra Soroka     "So that's why you all come in." Petra huffs, finally unburdened from one of the series of explanations weighing on her brain. "Agents die a lot doing this kind of thing, so she says. Elites are a bit tougher. So don't die or you'll make Angela feel guilty."

    Now finally addressing the bucket of blood and bone right beside her foot with a little boot-tap, Petra continues explaining. "So what we'll be doing is: we're all going to try out a Work on the Abnormality, whatever it turns out to be. We'll see if any of you go insane, or get eaten, or get lucky with a good result, and then I'll be running through some tests on you just to check what the impacts of working on it the ways you did are. If we're unlucky, it'll breach, and then we'll suppress it *then* do the tests. Either way, after one round of that, we'll have a way better baseline for knowing what's safe for agents to keep studying it later."

    "There's four work types, generally, and Abnormalities have different, like, preferences. There's Instinct, which is, like, physiological needs. Feeding it, petting it, helping it sleep, whatever. Depends on what it's like. There's Insight, which means, improving the living conditions for it. Decorating its cell, cleaning up after it, giving it interesting smells or something like that. Attachment, which is sort of obvious what it is. That's social needs, so maybe that means playing with it-- like, Laetitia is like a kid, but Ppodae is a dog. You know to treat those things differently. It could also mean talking with it, making friends, or like, Fragments liked to listen to you guys in the radio for some reason."

    "And last is Repression. And that's, you know, *denying* the Abnormality whatever it wants. That might mean smacking it around, or yelling at it. If it's a big slug, you throw salt at it. You get the idea." Petra chews on the inside of her lip, then adds, "And that's something you might actually *have* to do. So don't worry about the morality or whatever. It's just Work."

    Thus what the weird array of objects is for: props, for whatever approach you want to take with the Abnormality. "So you should choose one, like, kind of *vibe* that you want to go for. Doesn't have to be a single thing, but the vaguer it is, the worse info we get. Any questions?"
Rufus Shinra HERE'S RUFUS

"Sounds pretty simple to me!" he says. "And Ppodae is best dog."

Also this is way better than carrion duty.

"So we pick a category, and make an attempt at that? Dibs on Insight," he says. "Which would be, um..."

He peruses the table, and picks up a LED light kit, the sort that would be put in an overpriced computer by an overpriced gamer. "Yeah, this should work."
Angela Angela probably would feel guilty and then she'd reassure herself that she has nothing to feel guilty about and that little voice inside of her would get a little quietre. Also you'd be dead which might inconvenience you!

"Repression can also mean ''not'' smacking the Abnormality around, if it's an Abnormality that likes being smacked..." Parker says, crouching down by the Containment Center, her eyes peering through the flesh mask that she always wears. "But you won't know what the Abnormality wants at first. The first one of you to go in is the one in most danger... Though sometimes, going in second or third is even worse..."

She picks up the preserved hand and ritualized knife before setting back down the preserved hand and returns to her little spot in the dark to slowly draw the knife across her leather mask. "Be sure to keep the cutie inside satisfied..."

Parker...

...Does not volunteer to go first for once. Parker usually loves rushing on in to greet an Abnormality first thing because she feels more comfortable with the monsters than the people above.

Binah is present as well though she seems to be at her little tea table and her singular eye is closed as people arrive. Is she listening or asleep? Hard to tell.

And of course to those sensitive to such things, there is this...presence in Extraction that is much easier to feel down here than up above. But she is silent so far.

"Captain...who should go in first...? An Outsider...?" Outsider to Parker means something a little different than with the others. She sees Outsider as those that don't work with Lobcorp. Ergo, Rufus and Petra are no longer Outsiders in her mind. Once you're at LobCorp, you're practiclaly family.

The mask smiles happily.

The face behind the face is also smiling.
Timespace Riders Hey, everyone. Thanks for coming. We've got a sort of weird day that's also sort of normal, so I've got some instructions on the work we've got to do, but I've never actually done them before. Follow me, you'll see.

    "Sure! We're happy to help," says Sougo Tokiwa, aspirant Demon King of Time, with a bright smile and a vibrant little rock on the heels of his defintely-not-Timbs. His oversized button-up dress shirt is a paisley study in shades of pink and purple, offset by his dark brown corduroy pants.

    Woz, dressed as he always is in that apocalyptic drab uniform (snap-button sleeve double-breasted overcoat, black close-fitting pants, zip-up ankle boots), places a hand over his heart and bows slightly at the waist to Petra, silently echoing Sougo's opinion with a small, pleased smile.

    The sight of the buffet table draws a soft 'ooh' of interest from Sougo, and an arched brow from Woz. "What an unusual spread," says the retainer. "Is that a disc--mm. Yes, it appears to be."

The Abnormality we extracted today doesn't have a reading that matches anything she knows. So it's a new one. And that means we've got to *figure out* what to do about it, since Ange has been doing a ton of the work helping us manage it all up to now.
So that's why you all come in.

    Recognition, and inspiration, flashes in Woz's eyes, both tempered with the wisdom of experience. He inclines his head in understanding, although the book in his left hand remains firmly tucked against his side.

    Sougo, meanwhile, diligently takes notes on a small spiral notepad, pencil scritch-scratching rapidly away.

    "Instinct... physiological, eat, sleep, e... t... c...; Insight... living conditions; decorating, cleaning, 'enclosement enrichment...?'" He looks up at her, over the spirals of the notepad, to confirm, before continuing. "Attachment... playing, affection, 'social enrichment...'" He frowns. "Repression... denying 'wants.' Remember: just 'work.'"

Any questions?

    Sougo's hand shoots up eagerly. "What's its name? Do you know yet?"
Madeleine Cadrasteia     Madeleine quietly oohs at the architecture in the Extraction department. Black marble and ominous columns is right up her alley. When Petra leads the Elites to the carts with their assorted paraphernalia, the huntress's eyes fall foremost on the ritual dagger - she even pulls out her own haruspicy knife to compare the two, before nodding in satisfaction that hers is still cool enough.

    She listens with visible curiosity to the types of Work practiced at Lobcorp. It's a little surprising to hear that three out of four approaches involve being approximately kind to the Abnormalities. Almost like this were a zoo, and not an energy company with a literal Extraction Department. Madeleine taps her chin as she ponders the similarity between the four-pronged Work styles and the MCRD's own work with cryptids in captivity. Every creature has some needs that ought be met (like a comfortable space for a den) and other impulses that are best not indulged (like a craving for human flesh). This comparison even brings a little smile to her face as Parker addresses the gathering.

    "I can go in first," she finds herself saying without really thinking about it. A moment later the logic catches up to her, and she continues. "If it's some kind of existential or spiritual threat, I'm well suited to handle that in ways a lotta folks won't be. And I reckon that sort of hazard will hit as soon as we open that door. And I think I'll try, uh..." Madeleine pauses to survey the implements arrayed before her. Think like a zookeeper.

    "Instinct," she finally says, picking up a bucket of water and a sponge. "Drogrung, you'll wait outside." The huntress takes her spear off her back and leans it against the wall, where it closes its single eye and ever-so-gently begins to snore.
Kukuru Among those joining the efforts to help identify this new Abnormality is Kukuru, dressed in her usually frilly white shirt and equally frilly green/brown dress, perhaps unluckily considering the contents of the bucket before her. She squints at it as she tries to identify the type of bones in there from sight alone, not because she has any particular expertise that might help with that, but because she's eaten plenty of meat before and is already trying to match those shapes up to a previous meal.

"So don't die or you'll make Angela feel guilty."

And so, Kukuru already knows what her role today will be. Smiling as she often does, she pats her chest lightly while turning slowly to address both Petra and the group gathered to help her and Angela out today. "And if you do die, make sure to do it in here, okay? Then I can put you back together, and-" She nods at Petra, clapping her hands together with a pleasant noise coming out of her throat. "-we'll try something different!"

With Rufus talking about insight, Kukuru goes to the tables full of confusing things and just stands there for several moments, trying to figure out what would help her the most at working on this mysterious new thing. She goes for the thing she's most comfortable with eventually, though, picking out the food cart wholesale.

"Are there any extra pillows around here? Maybe it'll get sleepy after..." Kukuru suggests, taking another moment to yawn, then realizes something and adds, "Ohhh. I'll be doing some instinct work, too, I guess." She giggles softly as she gives Madeleine a quick thumbs-up, then taps her chin softly a moment later. "Or... Would attachment be more useful to spread our tests out even more for...?"

A beat, and then she giggles softly at Sougo's question. "Oh, that's a good point... We need something to call it, yeeeah."
Lilian Rook     "Honestly, what an improvement over those hideous beige hallways. It feels like I can breathe in here. Why isn't the whole facility like this?" says Lilian, about an outrageously ominous floor that would be tremendously unsafe to work in. "It barely even smells like bleach, too." As if that were more of a problem than the blood it's covering up.

    Whatever capricious whim has lead to Lilian wandering in (exactly as late as necessary to not have to take an elevator with anyone) on Petra's workday must either be driven by some terrible machination, or struggling to adapt to having twelve hours a day no longer occupied by education and related activities.

    'Yeah. That's all, like, info *Angela* picked up during all the previous loops. All the Abnormalities so far, we've apparently gotten before, so she's had records for what to do about them.'

    That recontextualizes a lot. Lilian begins looking around her environment for what appears to be any sign of Angela on a tablet or screen, then settles back into a restive posture looking faintly displeased. Like she now has to carefully hold on to words she's sure she won't forget anyways. "I suppose that's what it means to explore unknown territory." she says. "I was prepared for worse than this, when I promised that there would be no more loops."

    'then I'll be running through some tests on you'

    Lilian looks at Petra like she'd just gotten left and right mixed up.

    'And that's something you might actually *have* to do. So don't worry about the morality or whatever. It's just Work.'

    Lilian's disbelieving stare level has increased.

    'Repression can also mean ''not'' smacking the Abnormality around, if it's an Abnormality that likes being smacked...'

    Lilian is still looking at Petra. "It seems I picked an informative day to come and observe." she says.

    'What's its name? Do you know yet?'

    That field trip-like sentence finally drags her attention away. "Do they 'know'? I'd assumed they'd either come up with the names themselves, or the Abnormality tells them what it's called." Lilian says.

    Meandering over to the table, Lilian rests her chin against her fingers and scans the ecclectic garbage on offer. Sighing through her nose in that stereotypically resolved way, she says "I suppose it'll be up to me to handle Repression, then.
Dark Horses      MICHINAGA raises a brow at Petra and Parker as they explain. Are they really asking random people on the street to deal with something this dangerous? He takes a second to think about it, before realizing... Why wouldn't they? Not like they've got anything to lose if one of them dies, and the fact that they're calling them 'outsiders' already confirms his suspicions about how this company thinks about them.

     There's also the somewhat important matter of if this is THE Petra, the (assumed) BL-loving girl from a radio. She sounds the same, but her demeanor seems off. Perhaps it's just because she's not dealing with idiots and playing guard dog for that Rook woman, but...

     "Pfft. Yeah. Alright. Leave repression to me, I guess."

     KEIWA honestly does not know why he accepted the more he thinks about it. He's got promises of decent pay now, so it's not like he NEEDS to risk himself like this. Perhaps it's because it was an urgent request? Who doesn't like helping people in need, after all? Well, even if he tries to convince himself of that, the life just kind of drains from his face a bit, and his eyes glaze over as Petra and Parker explain, only finding the courage to revitalize himself until after they're done talking.

     "I'll uh... Do attachment I guess? I-I can kinda do whatever, really. Anyway, I'll go fi-"

     He pauses for a second as as somebody already volunteers before him, and rather than start a fight over it, he switches what he was about to say.

     "I'll go second? Third? Errr, whatever works, honestly."
Ivy Carrow     Alex grows less and less happy with every word coming out of Petra's mouth. "Captain, maybe I should take the lead?" He tried. "If something goes wrong, you're too valuable to risk. We can't afford to have you in recovery for another mon--"

    "You worry too much!" She insisted, rubbing her hands together. "I want to see this for myself."

    "Just..." He looked pained. "Be careful." Alex pleaded, helplessly. His eyes caught on her movements. Frowned. "...Will you--"

    "I have no idea what you're talking about, Vice-Captain~" Ivy interupted, picking up a baseball in her clawed hand, tossed it idly up and down in her hand. "You don't have to worry about me at all."

    "I suppose I might just try Instinct. Keep it satisfied." Alex's frown deepened. They said nothing.

    "What will you do, after you've learned what it is? What it does?"
Lilian Rook     'Drogrung, you'll wait outside.'

    "Cute . . ." Lilian whispers under her breath, beholding the snoozy spear. ". . . if inconvenient."

    'If it's some kind of existential or spiritual threat, I'm well suited to handle that in ways a lotta folks won't be.'

    "Well you do seem to handle the spiritual threat of listening to the broadband well enough." Lilian says.

    'Pfft. Yeah. Alright. Leave repression to me, I guess.'

    Lilian seems unbelievably amused by nothing that has anything to do with Michinaga, honestly. There's really even nothing around that's funny. She probably just remembered something funny. Or put together a couple of funny facts in her head. "If you do a very good job of it, perhaps I'll switch to Insight." she says. The fingers supporting her jaw are now covering her lips instead. "But you look as if you're rather sensitive to denial yourself, you know. Is that wise?"
Petra Soroka "But you won't know what the Abnormality wants at first. The first one of you to go in is the one in most danger... Though sometimes, going in second or third is even worse..."

    "Mmm, yeah, Parker's right. First isn't necessarily the most dangerous position-- I mean, if you accidentally fuck up, usually Abnormalities don't freak out until you fuck up two or three times, so first might be the *safest* time to go in."

"What's its name? Do you know yet?"

    Petra is visibly happy to see Sougo and Woz again, a status rarely won by Elites. Sougo's note-taking is approved of too, giving Petra confidence in her little lecture as she emphasizes his mumbling with little nods and triumphant exhalations.

    "We haven't actually, uh, opened it up yet. I mean, if it's like the--" Official name 'Express Train To Hell', colloquial name-- "Fucking train, then the moment it's active, we'd have to start worrying about it, even before you guys got here. So I'll be doing that in a minute."

"And I reckon that sort of hazard will hit as soon as we open that door."

    Madeline's dagger is not only cooler than the dagger on the table, it's practically no contest. The one on the table is a generic 'ritual dagger' with no particular religious significance, merely embedded with gems for aesthestic and tossed into storage for whenever someone needs it for work or recreational bloodletting. Were there to be a ritual that involved a knife for this Abnormality, this would at best be some kind of placeholder, allowing the test without needing to be the final, quality prop.

    "Maybe? But probably not. There's some really dangerous Abnos that'll jump you right when you go in, but usually that only happens if they're about ready to breach. This one's only HE class, so it shouldn't be, like... as bad as Melting Love or anything."

    Petra says aside, only just now realizing this, "Well, if it's as bad as Melting Love specifically, then we might cause some fucked up slimegirl apocalypse by doing this."

"Then I can put you back together, and-- we'll try something different!"

    Kukuru continues to be... very convenient! Petra's grown much more capable of tolerating her lately, especially now that there's a task for Petra to do autonomously, to show how good she is at doing tasks, and requesting Kukuru's help is just another tool in her arsenal.

    "Uh huh. Thanks Kukuru. And, like, the names aren't, set in stone. I guess we probably named all the other Abnormalities on the first loop they came around, so you can come up with a name for this one if you want." A beat. "If you *actually* have a good idea."
Petra Soroka "Why isn't the whole facility like this?"

    "Oh! Lilian! Hi! Yeah, honestly, it's mostly just creepy down here because of Binah? Once I got used to the dark, it's kind of nice."

Lilian looks at Petra like she'd just gotten left and right mixed up.

    Petra is pulled entirely out of her lecture by Lilian's stare, staring right back at her with wide eyes as she runs through the words she just said in her mind. She blinks rapidly, raises up her hands, and stammers, "A-ah-- oh, y-yeah, that is kind of-- silly, right? I mean, there's-- if you want, you could-- we could switch, and you could run some tests on-- well, but-- but that wouldn't make any sense right now...."

"It seems I picked an informative day to come and observe."

    Petra presses her palms into her bright red cheeks, shielding herself from the horrors of being seen, while also babbling out far more information than anyone asked for. "Th-that's an Abnormality word. It's a work term. For work. On the Abnormalities. I'm normal, I-I'm a normal girl. I-it's informative for *Abnormalities*."

    Ever since Michinaga came in, Petra has been giving him a slightly confused look, trying to place him in her mind. She's *certain* she's seen him before, and his voice is familiar, and it's right on the tip of her tongue, but....

"Pfft. Yeah. Alright. Leave repression to me, I guess."

    Petra gasps in sudden realization. "I know who you are." Both hands clenched up in front of her chest, staring at him, Petra dispels any further doubts as to her identity by blurting out, in the worst way possible, "You're *Ace's* guy, aren't you? Er, like, the guy with him. The guy with him in the radio. Like, who-- who joined up at the same time. The Kamen Rider. From his world. Ace's."

"I want to see this for myself."

    "I guess it's kind of like discovering a new species? You guys do that a lot, right?" Comparing her work to the Warprunners in an abstract way like that makes Petra a little happy for some reason.

    Finally, Petra presses her palm to the pad beside the cell door, currently a neutral blue, then flashing to green at her handprint. The door weightily slides to the side, revealing the normal interior of a containment cell, a sterile steel cube with yellow and black hazard paint marked across the halfway point to the back. In the back, where an Abnormality would normally be, is a slab of one of those jet black pillars from outside, edges lined with gold and faces inscribed with glowing runes. "I'll keep the door open so we can all get a look at it as it opens up-- hatches? yuck.-- in case that changes what kind of stuff you want to do."

    The process by which Abnormalities make it from being loose Cogito in the Well, to being strange psychic monsters locked in cells, is finally at least partially answered. One of the golden edges of the pillar flashes and begins to *unfurl*, spilling out rank, savory-smelling grey-green fluid, like sweat and bile poured over rotten meat. Drains in the floor that you'd previously assumed were just for blood allow it to flow away while the pillar itself continues to curl away from the Abnormality inside, peeling and shriveling like a timelapsed flower, until all that's left is the thing inside.

    Which is... a mirror. A fairly simple cheval mirror, average height, with a silver frame.

    Petra frowns and peeks inside, mumbling to herself. "There's no way it's, like, an aberration of Mirror of Adjustment, right? The readings didn't suggest it was a tool Abnormality at all.... Huh, what the fuck, there's nothing reflecting in it."
Petra Soroka     That isn't true at all, from your perspectives. Anyone peeking in with Petra sees a short-haired blonde girl in nondescript grey clothing slumped on the 'floor' inside the mirror, identical to Petra's build and haircut, head hanging down so you can't see her face. When this fact is pointed out to Petra, and its similarity *to* Petra, she shifts from looking grumpy and confused, to annoyed.

    "What the fuck? Are you fucking with me?" No, that can't be the case. Lilian is here, so while that doesn't at all preclude the fact that they might be fucking with her, it means it's Petra's job to get fucked with. Petra pulls out her compact mirror and presses her hand to it, wrapping around Qetra's wrist. "Qetra? Are *you* fucking with me?"

    The moment Qetra pops out of the mirror into the cell, the Enkephalin reader on Petra's belt starts beeping with alarms. Petra lights up with worry, glances at it, then grabs Qetra by the back of the head and slams her facefirst into the compact mirror so she disappears again. "That was just a huge burst of negative Enkephalin... maybe it's telepathic and my aura's fucking with it? I'll just get out of the way and take notes. If I have to test how it deals with *that* specifically, I'll do it after you guys are done."

    With some reluctance, Petra backs up to join Binah at the tea table nearby, pulling out clipboards and little gadgets for measurements. With her away from the cell door, the alarms stop going off, and the Outsiders (and Parker, and by Parker's definition, Rufus) are free to do their little tasks, with Petra watching and available for advice.

    When the cell door closes behind each person, the mirror girl reacts the same. Jolting up from hanging her head, she immediately leaps to her feet and slams her fists against the glass, pressed up against the opposite side of the mirror as if overwhelmed with excitement. She is, however-- completely silent. Where her face should be is a smooth stretch of unbroken skin, a sealed absence of mouth and eyes, not even quite directing her head in the correct direction to be 'looking' at you.

    Once close enough to be standing 'in front' of the mirror, that changes abruptly, voice suddenly audible mid-sentence. "-ear me? Can you hear me now? Can you-- oh! Wow! There we go! Haha, oh my god, look at that! You can hear me! I can see you! You finally came to save me!"
Petra Soroka     The sudden jolt of surprise upon hearing her voice isn't just from her shouting-- it's also *your* voice, no matter how dissonant it is with her tone and appearance. Her eyes peel open through seamless skin, blinking to reveal eyes the exact same color as yours, which immediately lock on to your face with near ecstatic fixation while she talks. She stays pressed up against the reverse side of the mirror, hands splayed against the glass, though mirroring the placement of her hands doesn't let you 'reach through' like Petra does with Qetra.

    "Wow. You're so pretty. I want to know everything about you. What's that you're holding? What's your name? Where'd you come from? Sorry, haha, I know I've been bombarding you with questions, you can just answer whatever ones you like. No pressure at all. I'm just really willing to hear any of it, you know, anything you want to talk about. I think I might love you? Sorry if that's too sudden, ahaha. Do you need to vent about anything? You can to me, if you need to. If you want to. I'll listen."

    About halfway back from the hazard line in the center of the cell, that is, a quarter of the distance from the door to the back wall, her (your) face vanishes from the girl, rendering her completely mute and blind again. She's able to eat, if doing Instinct work, but the process is somewhat complicated. She's not able to interact with the food herself, but by placing yourself in a similar position to her, holding the food so it reflects in the mirror, and miming eating it as if in 'her place', you're able to feed her basically anything you want. She appreciates any bits of art or enrichment in her viewing vicinity, and can run around within her empty blank 'enclosure' inside the mirror, or mime games along with you.
Angela Binah opens a singular eye when Lilian arrives, looking at her but ultimately does not speak up or volunteer to help or cause problems.

''It's mostly creepy down here because of Binah?''

"Hah...perhaps I should be flattered." Binah takes the comment with good humor. Or evil humor, maybe.

Parker seems a little leery of going inside this one and is holding back--which is atypical for her--but she seems repulsed by a mirror like this. Binah pours Petra a cup of tea automatically and adds, "Mm...Abnormalities do 'fuck' with Agents sometimes even when they are outside the Cell but I wonder..."

Meanwhile, Lilian hears.

She doesn't like coming down here-- Carmen tells her. Though she's come down a lot more this time... Kali's next isn't she? You've always known her so well...

But despite Carmen's words, the elevators open up and Angela rushes into Extraction, taking a moment to smile at Petra before moving onto..."Dame Commander, my apologies for being late. I was making sure everything was settled with Ceri's checking in to the rehabilitation center and it took a little longer than anticipated..." It's all too plausible that she huriedly wrapped things up the moment she realized that Lilian was coming. Angela does not miss in person opportunities with Lilian at all.

It isn't private, unfortunately, so she's still limited but she can actually walk up to Lilian and stand nearby since she's not actually having to work at this right now. In her hands is a video pad that she periodically looks into and sends instructions--taking her work on the go, it seems--but she gives Lilian her undivided attention in this moment--she DOES know why everyone is gathered but that's hardly something she involves herself outside of committing how the Abnormality behaves to memory.

Angela extends her hand towards Lilian, offering it to her. Whenever Lilian comes by she always has this sense that she's coming upon an oasis after years in a desert--slightly muted wholly by a sense of self control. It's only been a week but that's still over a decade for Angela. Every new meeting is like meeting an old friend again even if many of the adventures Angela has to hold onto are solely within her own head.

This Abnormality is interesting, Lilian. it's not quite like the others.

She's very very special.

Angela looks into the cell through the cameras and frowns thoughtfully--and glances to the well, for a moment, with a glare.
Rufus Shinra Rufus is generally content to be an insider, and thus on the 'let someone else possibly die first' train. He'd have his camera out to capture the moment, if this place wasn't already wired up to the neck in Angela's cameras.

"... Well."

Rufus isn't used to hearing a pretty girl talk with *his* voice. (Girls talking with voices that he doesn't expect is fine, just not *his* voice.) It puts him off a bit, really.

"So! Someone's gonna go first, right! Before we Lobotomy Corporation veterans do, I mean," says Rufus, as if he hasn't been here only a few weeks.
Madeleine Cadrasteia     Madeleine is the first into the room as the column around the new Abnormality finishes unfurling, so she's the first to see the girl leap up and rush to the mirror's surface. The huntress startles a little, but keeps approaching, squeezing the sponge tightly in her right hand. It is only when the girl opens her eyes, revealing to Madeleine a night sky of falling stars, that Madeleine stops, and gasps, and nearly drops the bucket. For just a moment, seeing eyes like hers on a different face, she wonders how they pulled an Excrucian out of the well. Then it sinks in that the Abnormality is also mimicking Madeleine's voice, and she relaxes with a heavy sigh. Mimicry she can deal with, there's plenty of cryptids and monsters that can copy a person's voice or appearance. Another Excrucian is not something she would've been ready for.

    "Y-you probably shouldn't be copying me if you can help it," she mutters just loud enough for the other Elites to hear. "It's- it might not be good for you." Depending on what part of Madeleine the girl was echoing, there might be not enough "real" stuff to copy safely.

    The huntress rankles her nose at the sickly-smelling residue left from the Abnormality's... albumen? Amniotic fluid? Trying not to speculate about the proper classification for the stuff, Madeleine steels herself and dips the sponge into the bucket. "Let's get you cleaned up," she says, kneeling to carefully run the wet sponge over the mirror's surface. "Could someone toss me a towel for when I'm done here?" she says, to nobody in particular. "Also, uh. If I can do weird mirror stuff, I should probably be careful not to, right?" That last question is accompanied by a glance back at Petra, her being the other present Elite with 'weird mirror stuff'.
Kukuru Indeed, Kukuru is more than happy to be convenient! She knows what she's good at, and she's more than happy to leverage all that to help her family and family friends at the same time. Petra's no exception to that, of course, and she looks to be in high spirits just from those two simple words.

"I guess we probably named all the other Abnormalities on the first loop they came around, so you can come up with a name for this one if you want." "If you *actually* have a good idea."

Just as quickly as she was smiling, a complicated expression comes over Kukuru's face when she hears that. On one hand, getting to name anyone is a privilege normally reserved for parents! On the other hand, she still remembers exactly how badly getting too close to an Abnormality could get, and knowing herself...

"If I do, I'll make sure it isn't cute at all."

Soon, it's time to see the unveiling of a new Abnormality, and Kukuru nudges her glasses up onto her forehead so she can get the clearest look possible at what it is. "It smells." She notes almost immediately, wrinkling her nose at the smell before continuing to do a play-by-play of what she's seeing.

"Some weird gray stuff's draining out... Pillar is getting all shrivel-y and wrinkly, and... There's a mirror in there. You.. Um. Petra? You can't see the reflection?" She asks, taking Petra's observations in stride. Someone not being able to see what's reflected in a mirror would normally get Kukuru questioning their eyesight, but she's been here enough to know that such a thing isn't entirely out of the question!

"I see... Um. A blonde girl in gray clothes. Her hair's kinda like yours, too, but.. Hmm. Still nothing?" Kukuru asks, pursing her lips and moving towards the cart just about when Qetra appears in the cell and sets off the alarms on Petra's belt. She's not sure how to handle that sort of testing later, but she keeps her expression weirdly neutral (for her) as she turns back to the food cart.

"First... Oh. If her face is like that, maybe... Well, we'll find out what she chooses if I bring some food in." Kukuru speaks plainly, still trying to keep herself from getting too attached to someone that looks just like a girl to her, almost like she's deliberately trying not to enjoy cooking for someone that reminds her of Petra.
Kukuru Something that reminds her of Petra. She has to make sure not to think of the Abnormality as a person. Meat and vegetables are prepared, and Kukuru comes in with both raw and cooked ingredients piled on two different plates, along with a tray full of seasonings and some forks and knives to give the Abnormality in the mirror choices once she heads in. It's not until she heads in and hears the voice of the Abnormality that her evenly-forced demeanor cracks, even getting a confused noise out of her when she hears...

Herself? A version of herself that doesn't sound right, but she certainly looks Kukuru-y enough that Kukuru gets confused at first seeing herself-but-not-herself moving in a way unlike herself. She can't help but blush and giggle lightly at being called pretty, of course, and all those questions means she has to set her phone aside with the audio recording in lieu of physically writing down everything she'll be observing.

"He-llo there... My name's Kukuru." Usual pause. "That's Ku-ku-ru. Oh, this? It's food! Lots of food, so you can try aaanything you like."
"Do you like raw food or cooked food more? Which seasonings do you like? We can try aaall of them and figure it all out."

If she isn't stopped, she'll feed the girl in the mirror everything she brought in. It's a lot of it, and she's announcing the results of the taste tests. She'll even cook in the cell if she's given enough time!

"I'm from Fall, but I'm living in Grand Dorado now. I might not be able to answer eeeverything, but ask away. We've both gotta learn more about each other, you know?"
"Love? Aw, that's so sweet to say... You should be careful who you say that to, though. Some people can be really sensitive to that kind of thing."
"Schools are really expensive these days, aren't they? I wonder if I'd look weird going to college at my age... But I can't get smarter without being diligent about it, right?"
Timespace Riders I'd assumed they'd either come up with the names themselves, or the Abnormality tells them what it's called.

    Sougo nods. "I thought so too," he says--'field trip' is right. The Demon King looks very excited to be helping in this way, and his enthusiasm is easily detected as a note in his voice or a gleam in his eye. "So I'm hoping if it doesn't have one, we get to name it."

I guess we probably named all the other Abnormalities on the first loop they came around, so you can come up with a name for this one if you want. If you *actually* have a good idea.

    "Fortunately, you may all call on my expertise in the matter."

    "Expertise...? Huh... Woz, are you the person that's always giving my armor those crazy names online? You're wagamaoh78, aren't you?"

    Woz looks away. "I know not of what you speak, sire."

    Sougo doesn't buy it--his smile is a shade impish, and there will be teasing about this later.

I'll uh... Do attachment I guess? I-I can kinda do whatever, really.

    "Relax," says Sougo to Keiwa with an easy smile. "There's only four cateogories," he says, putting the pencil behind his ear and pocketing the notepad. Sougo places a hand on Keiwa's shoulder, and further adds, "You don't have to be 'the guy' for any of them--there's gonna be overlap, you know? Woz and I are probably both pretty good at Insight--but he's better at Repression and I'm better at Attachment. The goal here is to learn," he says, removing his hand and nodding encouragingly. "So anything you find out helps!"
Timespace Riders      The smell is the first thing that the Demon King and his retainer notice. Sougo grimaces, and hoarsely utters "Woz, scarf!!"

    The retainer nods and flings his grey scarf outwards. It wraps around his nose and mouth, expanding impossibly to do the same mercy for Sougo.

    The both of them can still see, of course, and their eyes each widen at the sight of the unfurling pillar despite the noxious aroma.

Huh, what the fuck, there's nothing reflecting in it.

    "You mean you don't see it?" Woz says. "I see..." A back and forth ensues, until Petra realizes that no one, not even Qetra, is fucking with her.

    Sougo is not the first to enter the room, although between himself and his retainer, he is the first.

You can hear me! I can see you! You finally came to save me!

    "Haha! Hi! I'm--" The Demon King stops in his tracks, when the voice he hears is his own. "Whoa..."

    The flurry of questions is overwhelming--so much that Sougo nearly forgets what he'd brought in. "Oh, this?" he asks, still blushing from one of the more personal questions. "It's a lava lamp! My uncle had one for a long time before the bulb burned out. It'll take a while to get warmed up, but it's really neat when it does! I thought it'd be nice decoration." He sets it up in her field of vision and turns it on.

    Woz, meanwhile, out of sight of the Abnormality (posted up against a wall), consults that book in his hand. The title seems to elude comprehension, and the clasp looks like the wristband of a watch. His brown eyes sweep studiously across pages that'd appear as blank to anyone who peeks. After a bit of research, he shuts it with one hand and locks the clasp, nodding to Petra and Binah.

    The retainer approaches the tea table. "If it please," he says, inclining his head, "I have information to share regarding the dangers posed by this Abnormality." After a pause, "Indulging her fully, or denying her too ineptly, may endanger the Agent sent to handle her. Moreover, I believe that betraying her trust is also to be avoided."
Ivy Carrow     "I guess it's kind of like discovering a new species? You guys do that a lot, right?"

    "Exactly!" She said, with a long slash of a smile. "It's always exciting."

    "But normally, you have backup."

    "And I still do! And better medical care than back home, I'd bet." She offered Kukuru a wink.

    The Vice-Captain sighed. "I hope so."

    Once it was properly extracted, Ivy made a soft, thoughtful sound. "Well, this wouldn't be much good for Instinct with this one, would it?" She set down the baseball. "Unless I was try to shatter it." Ivy goes looking through the buffet. Eventually, triumphantly, she pulled out a bottle of wine.

    She popped it open, in a moment while Madeleine had gone inside to do Work, watching the girl in the mirror. She poured it out into a glass, carefully. Tapped a metal finger against the rim of the glass.

    Beads of blood drip-dripped into the glass, vanishing into the its rich red color. "Perfect."

    "-ear me? Can you hear me now? Can you-- oh! Wow! There we go! Haha, oh my god, look at that! You can hear me! I can see you! You finally came to save me!"

    There's something a little repulsive, a little fascinating, a little distressing, about hearing that voice echo back to her. Those ordinary green eyes, staring back at her. "Yes, I'm here, at long last." She played into it, on her approach, raising the glass. "And I bring gifts, for your pleasure. Please now, drink, until you're sated..."

    Watching Kukuru made it easier to figure out how exactly to give it to her. "This? This is wine. I'm Ivy, an explorer. I travel to other worlds, far away and strange. Perhaps I will tell you of them. But now, we are here to drink, and rest. Understand?"

    And as the girl drank, Ivy tried to take a glimpse, herself. Blood bound to blood, she strove to connect with, to read the thing in the mirror. Perhaps find something inside the abnormality to take for herself.
Dark Horses     "If you do a very good job of it, perhaps I'll switch to Insight."
     "But you look as if you're rather sensitive to denial yourself, you know. Is that wise?"

     MICHINAGA glances at Lilian briefly because of her comment, before simply clicking his tongue and rolling his eyes to look away.

     "Do whatever you want, just know I'm not paying for another armchair psychologist."

     Michiniga pauses, and thinks to leave it there. It would be really easy to as well. However, he did apologize to Rook before, so he figures he shouldn't completely blow her off.

     "If anything denies me, I'll simply crush it. If that makes me weak to you, then whatever."

     "You're *Ace's* guy, aren't you? "

     His composure, however, is completely destroyed when Petra finally recognizes him, as if an invisible fist had been taken to his gut at the speed of mach 10, causing his usually cool and uncaring tone to shift to that of an exasperated man.

     "Wha- Are you- Are you sick? Do you not know reality from fiction? I hate the guy, why the hell would we- No, screw this, just go write on your blogspace about us or whatever and keep your fantasy away from me, weirdo."

     A vein on Michinaga's forehead bulges as his eyes nearly pop out of his sockets until he's able to collect himself, at which point he just shoves his hands in his pockets and promptly ignores her. The assumption was not an assumption. Michinaga is dealing with a fujoshi.

     Already in a rotten mood, the abnormality does not make it better, bombarding him with questions that he could honestly care less about answering. After all, it's just some sort of monster, it doesn't really care about anything it's asking. He doubts it even understands either. Though honestly, even if it did care and understood, and even if it was human, it wouldn't change the answer he was about to give.

     "I hate you, get lost and leave me alone."

     As if for emphasis, he pulls out his belt, not expecting it to know what it is, but hoping it can at least feel his disdain for it through the action.
Dark Horses      KEIWA meanwhile, simply looks at the abno and blinks. All these questions... Should he answer it? Wh-what if it's like one of those youkai that steals your soul if you answer its question? Maybe he should just stay silent...

     But then, what if it's like one of those other youkai that kill you if you ignore it??? That'd be just as bad. Keiwa just cups his head in frustration and confusion as he tries to figure out what to do, before simply caving in and answering it.

     "Uh, I'm Keiwa. I'm twenty-two and from Japan... Errr, I don't really love you, but we can start as friends, I think???"

     It's a lot of questions to get through, and he's pretty sure he's already missing something, but he tries to get what he can. Honestly, given how many job interviews he's done, he feels like he should probably be better at this...

     "And uh, I dunno about venting, but you know like... Sometimes I worry that I'm not pulling my weight for my sister, you uh, you know what a sister is, right???"

     Keiwa awkwardly smiles and laughs, trying to make the conversation sound natural and not like he's holding himself at gunpoint to answer these questions.
Lilian Rook     Lilian quietly mouths the word 'Abno' as soon as Petra says it. The way she's adapted to her cute little working environment is just adorable, by which Lilian actually thinks that it's gruesomely fascinating to see Petra in any context where she's surrounded by people she actually likes, and thus picks up some of their culture and dialoge, as opposed to her usual of hanging off her every single word.

    She narrows her eyes at 'slimegirl', all one word, differently. She isn't a knower, but somehow she knows what to think about Petra.

    'You're *Ace's* guy, aren't you?'

    "Oh please god no." Lilian moans under her breath.

    'I guess it's kind of like discovering a new species? You guys do that a lot, right?'

    Though the question wasn't for her, Lilian still thinks back to the last several times she could claim to have done so; Antegent excepted. "I feel as if that's more of a mixed bag." she says. "As often as not, you come across a species that is completely fine. Maybe even better than average. It's only sometimes that you end up hearing about . . ." She waves a hand vaguely. "Robot whatever."

    The sight of the pillar doesn't surprise her at first, until it begins directly resulting in the birth of an Anomaly. Though she wrinkles her nose in disgust at the vile smell, then presses a hand over her lower face while she has the luxury of not having to put up with it for the sake of a mission, she turns meaningfully back, and says, "Is this the way you did things before Binah arrived? Because that raises questions either way." Indeed, she had assumed the drains to be for the sake of blended clerk slush. The permanent design makes her wonder how often Abnormalities are born into these cells; then thinking the word 'born' strikes her in a second, more unpleasant way. Her fingernails press into her cheek.

    --in the way, Petra. Or is it because you activated it? It's only reflecting you."
    'What the fuck? Are you fucking with me?'
    "Huh? Where do you think you get off speaking to me like that? I don't mind shoving you in there and locking the door."
        So. No.
    "That seems entirely possible." arrives after a polite cough and a mental readjustment, in response to Petra's reasonable theory. Her attention lingers a little bit too long on Petra grabbing Qetra by the back of the head and slamming her into something, but she is genuinely spinning together her own potential theories as well. "I assume negative is bad, even if it's still Enkephalin." Lilian says. "That makes sense to me. What would a mirror like less than only reflecting another mirror." She shrugs.

    She doesn't like coming down here--

    "Only showing each other how empty they are, over and over and over again, digging deeper into the other and finding only their own vacuousness in the vacuum." Lilian says. "We make mirrors to show us things we can't already see ourselves, so it stands to reason showing a mirror a mirror would upset it."

    Though she's come down a lot more this time... Kali's next isn't she? You've always known her so well...

    §How rude of you to say that to me when I'm standing before an Anomaly that is a mirror. You're perfectly aware that I don't 'know' Kali that well. I'm only able to interpret; to intuit her in a way that no one else does. And even then, it's only the magic of looking to find the ways in which we're similar more than the ways in which we're different. Though I suppose you might consider that a superpower anyways.§
Lilian Rook     'Dame Commander, my apologies for being late. I was making sure everything was settled with Ceri's checking in to the rehabilitation center and it took a little longer than anticipated...'

    "You didn't need to come all the way down to Extraction just to see me, Angela." Lilian says, smiling anyways. "It's quite out of your way, and contains Binah besides. If I were in your position, I'd only come down that elevator with an empty thermos or a bullwhip."

    Lilian takes Angela's hand in both of hers, halfway between a handshake and meeting a well-liked aunt at a family meeting. Her fingertips dully glow black-gold under her fingertips, opposite her same-painted nails, and "Thank you for sending her my way. I know it's your job to be cruel to these people, so it means a lot to me that you'd go along with my selfishness, picking just a few to be kind to." occupies the next fifty seconds.

    This Abnormality is interesting, Lilian. it's not quite like the others. She's very very special.

    §She is. And the Abnormality too. If they're all recognized by Angela from countless prior loops, the chances of this one not having to do with the only thing different are very slim.§

    And yet, despite Carmen's fascination, or rather perhaps feeling no need to interpret it positively, Lilian can only withstand this particular Abnormality within her mortal limits. If it'd tried to kill her, or invade her mind, this would be very different, but approaching the mirror close enough for the girl to leap at the glass ends with Lilian completely forgetting about her tools and drawing her sword halfway.

    It's not the eyes. To Lilian stealing the colour is tacky; it doesn't look good on that girl; but she was born with those. It's--

    'Wow. You're so pretty. I want to know everything about you.'

    "Shut up. Get your own voice or stop talking; I don't care which."

    'What's your name?'

    Two more inches of sword clear sheath. Lilian regrets bringing something still carrying her treasured memories of Lycia. She should have just picked up a gun. "Get your own one of those, too."

    It's easy to imagine that she's just being mean. Prickly and standoffish in her habitual way; contemptuous for no particular reason save the mirror girl is obviously weaker and lacking considerable social graces. It's harder to notice how overly tightly she holds her weapon. Harder still to see the goosebumps on her neck.

    "Or at least use someone else's. It's not as if they'd have any right to complain. We can talk if you can at least do that much. Go on. Pick. I know they can see you, and you can see them."
Petra Soroka "Wha- Are you- Are you sick? Do you not know reality from fiction?"

    Petra turns bright pink, stiffening up and freezing halfway between an embarrassed recoil and an unconsciously wound-up punch. She clenches her fist throughout Michinaga's anger, and lets out an agonized breath at the end, voice squeakily pitched up even though she's also furious.

    "I didn't fucking *say* anything *like* that, freak! I *didn't*! I *misspoke*, because I'm *sorry* that he's just way more memorable than you, but I wouldn't even remember your fucking *face* if you didn't show up at the same time. Maybe you should just make more of a fucking name for yourself instead of only being memorable when he's around, huh? And you're always the one mentioning him, he never says anything about you, and *you're* the one who made that kind of assumption about the *totally normal* thing I said, so maybe you just need to fucking figure something out about *yourself*! Creep!"

"If I do, I'll make sure it isn't cute at all."

    Petra squints dubiously at Kukuru's sudden downturn in mood, before piecing it together. "I meant, like, a categorical name, not naming it like a *pet*. But yeah, I think, you specifically absolutely shouldn't come up with a name for it."

"I see... Um. A blonde girl in gray clothes. Her hair's kinda like yours, too, but.. Hmm. Still nothing?"

    Petra rolls her eyes at Kukuru. "Yes, Kukuru, I didn't just *miss* whatever you're seeing. I'm plenty familiar with the purple idiot who usually shows up in my reflection, and I'm also kind of *uniquely* familiar with what it looks like when there's *nothing* there, unless any of you are secretly vampires. I'm not seeing it."

    Sitting down across from Binah, Petra mutters to herself in annoyance, "Man, what the fuck, Carmen. Why does this always fucking happen?" She doesn't really expect an answer, and if Carmen tries to give her one, she's silenced anyways.

"I know not of what you speak, sire."

    "You..." Petra narrows her eyes at Woz. She won't say it out loud, but her respect for Woz just plummeted in a way that it only ever could if she already thought of him as a peer. In her mind, she's thinking, 'Caliber A II', 'Indication Eye II', 'Crash Bezel II'. *Expertise* my fucking ass. Just because there's forty fucking little details doesn't justify adding 'two' after every part you named on the Zi-O armor for the upgrade. Should've thought about that before bloating the original, dumbass.

"Huh? Where do you think you get off speaking to me like that?"

    "A-ack-- I'm sorry. I-I let that slip out without thinking. I'd never--"

"We make mirrors to show us things we can't already see ourselves, so it stands to reason showing a mirror a mirror would upset it."

    This makes complete sense to Petra, and after freaking out about talking Improperly to Lilian, she nods in agreement and holds up her compact. "That sounds right, yeah. I think Qetra might've said something like that before too, and even though she's fucking stupid, that's at least something she'd know."
Petra Soroka "Y-you probably shouldn't be copying me if you can help it,"

    The girl crouches down inside the mirror to keep close to Madeleine as she dips down to start wiping away the fluid, staring at her unblinkingly with literal stars in her eyes. Her-- still Madeleine's, but coming from her mouth-- voice quiets down, rapturously insistent. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. Is that okay? I don't have any choice but to copy from you. I'd die without you. I can stop if you want me to, but I'd die. I need you. If that's okay."

    Then her face lights up and she beams at Madeleine as she gets to work cleaning up. "Wow! You're really really sweet to me. You're so nice. Thank you, so so so much, I know I don't deserve it, but thanks for taking care of me. I'm sorry I can't help you back at all, I'd really like to."

    "Oh!" The girl turns backwards from the mirror for a second, fumbling with something, and then presents a cute plastic beaded necklace, like an oversized friendship bracelet, mostly arbitrarily colored but with a few black starry beads that match Madeleine's eyes. "I know you'll have to go soon. Everyone always has to leave me sooner or later. But can you please promise to come back? So we can be friends?"

"Also, uh. If I can do weird mirror stuff, I should probably be careful not to, right?"

    Petra calls over, still keeping herself far away and uncomfortably not accepting the tea Binah poured for her. "Probably shouldn't, yeah. I mean, it hated Qetra enough to *drain* Enkephalin reserves, but I don't know what kind of weird mirror shit you have. Definitely don't go inside it? There's not any way to know if it might hurt you."

"That's Ku-ku-ru. Oh, this? It's food! Lots of food, so you can try aaanything you like."

    "Ku-ku-ru!" The girl echoes her name with the same cadence, in the same voice, and it still somehow sounds a *little* different from Kukuru herself, due to some tiny tonal inflections and quirks you can't put conscious label to. "You're so nice to me. You're really really gentle. Are you this gentle with everyone? Is it just me? Can you be extra gentle with me, and make me feel a little special? I'm sorry to be greedy like that."

"Love? Aw, that's so sweet to say... You should be careful who you say that to, though."

    The process of setting the girl up to eat food is complicated. Tables, for some reason, don't reflect in the mirror either, so the only way to properly offer the food is by holding it herself in an exact mirror of the girl's stance, and then mimicking her motions with the real food. She absolutely gushes with praise about every dish, exactly equally, and doesn't make any comment that she's feeling full or sick or tired of eating even as a note of strain enters her voice and she starts sweating. Contextually, it's easy to assume she won't ever deny a gift that's offered to her.

    "But I am careful who I say it to! I only say it to my absolute most favorite people in the world. Even though I'm so careful saying it, will it still scare people off? Is it awful to be loved by someone like me? I can't help it. I'm just like this. I can't survive any other way. It's unbearable."

    Another necklace is offered out to Kukuru, held against the glass to be grabbed in a way the girl herself can't be. "You're not scared, are you? Do you love me? Do you promise you'll come back for me, that I didn't scare you off?"
Petra Soroka "It's a lava lamp! My uncle had one for a long time before the bulb burned out."

    "Oh... wow..." The girl presses her hands up as close as she can to the lava lamp, trying but incapable of holding it herself. She looks up at Sougo with Sougo's eyes and gesticulates around to convey that she understands the blopping motion of an active lava lamp, overexcited gestures making her voice wobble a bit as she keeps chattering. "Like this? Like this, right? Oh, those are so pretty. That's such a good gift. You didn't have to get me a gift at all, I basically never get any gifts from anyone. So I appreciate this so so so much more, because it's really special to me when someone does, and I *knew* you were special right from the start!"

    "Oh, how about this? I couldn't possibly not repay you for being so nice, I'd feel horrible and guilty forever for taking advantage of you like that, so let me give you something too! Please!" More fiddling, and the girl presents Sougo with another one of the friendship necklaces, eagerly holding it out for him to take through the glass. "Would you? Can you? I'm sorry, I'm sorry this might be ruining the gift, and I get it if you hate me for this, but you're one of my favorite people in the entire world, and if you leave I'm going to be terrified that you'll never ever come back and that you're abandoning me, all over again. Can you promise you'll come back? Please? I'll lose my mind if you don't. I couldn't handle it."

"And I bring gifts, for your pleasure. Please now, drink, until you're sated..."

    The girl's eyes widen and she giggles, squashing herself up to the glass and reaching for the glass as if she didn't learn from all the previous times that didn't work. "Wine?? For me? We'll be drinking it together, right? It's way too lonely to drink alone, and I don't want to be lonely right now, not when I finally finally finally have you around so I don't have to be!"

    'Drinking together' is practically a necessity by the way that 'drinking' functions for the Abnormality. By positioning herself in a mirror of the girl's stance and holding the glass out, the reflection of the glass can land in the girl's reflected hand, and slowly matching movements while pouring the glass back pours the wine inside into both of their mouths simultaneously. Ivy gets to drink some of her own blood-- and at the same time, she feels her hemopathic connection snap into focus with the Abnormality.

    Instantly woozy, the girl slumps against the glass with her cheek pressed up near Ivy's, Ivy's voice slurring cheerfully. "Waow... that feels so weird... hey, you know you're like, really really pretty, right? I never thought someone as pretty as you would ever be so nice to me. I want you to take something from me. You could take anything from me, but do you wanna start with just this little trinket? Next time you come back you can take more. You are coming back to see me again, right? Promise?"

    Linked with that promise is, again, another friendship necklace, offered out to Ivy.
Petra Soroka "I hate you, get lost and leave me alone."

    At Michinaga's tone, the girl in the mirror immediately recoils, flinching away from him and shielding her face. She doesn't understand what the belt in his hand is for, and uncharacteristically to the others, she doesn't ask. He also doesn't get an offered necklace.

    "A-ah... I-I'm sorry, I get it. I'm sorry for making you hate me, whatever I did." That quavering fear being in Michinaga's own voice is deeply uncomfortable to listen to, as she shrinks away. "I-if I can make up for it I will. Anything you need from me. But if not then you never ever ever need to see me again. I'm sorry, I can go."

"Errr, I don't really love you, but we can start as friends, I think???"

    Immediately, Keiwa brings her mood back up, as if she hadn't just been terrified of Michinaga. "That's okay! You can love your friends! I'd love all my friends if I had many. But since I basically have almost none at all, I have to love them so so so much more or I'll mess up again and they'll leave me. I love you! Keiwa!"

    "Oh, mhm, I know what a sister is. I could be like a sister to you too, if you want. That's what I'm really good at. A sister never leaves!" The girl nods emphatically, as if this should make intuitive sense to anyone, and then offers a necklace to Keiwa. "And... I know you'll always try your very hardest for your sister. No matter how much weight there is for you to pull, you'll be able to manage it, you're that kind of person. If you take this, and think about me when working your hardest for your sister, I'll cheer for you wherever you are, and support you however much you need to do it. I believe in you, Keiwa."

    "And then later... could you promise to come back and tell me how hard you're working? Promise? Please?"

"Shut up. Get your own voice or stop talking; I don't care which."

    Like with Michinaga, the girl recoils and clamps both of her hands over her mouth, staring at Lilian in teary-eyed fear. Hunched down and backed away from the surface of the mirror, she carefully lifts a finger just enough so a small whimper of-- Lilian's own, still-- her voice can escape.

    "I'm sorry. I-I don't have a name. You can call me..." There were only two people who gave her a name, and she grasps at one randomly. "... Keiwa. I don't have anything of my own. I'm nothing on my own. I'm nothing without you. Please."

    No necklace or promise for Lilian, either.
Angela ''You didn't need to come all the way down to Extraction just to see me, Angela.''

"I had to," Angela disagrees quietly. "You are a busy woman so I have to properly appreciate the moments we are allowed to meet in person."

She holds onto Lilian's hands with hers and she looks into her eyes for fifty seconds. It's worth coming down to this place even with the mirrors and the nearby Dad who is, fortunately, staying in his little area right now. "It was difficult convincing the Manager. Such a thing would not be possible without you--specifically--asking for it. I appreciate opportunities to act outside of my constraints. I should thank you for making it possible." She adds, dipping her head slightly. "...Besides... Having an ally amongst the Agents is a good idea." She doesn't say it, but Lilian asking Ceri to support Angela certainly made things easier on Angela's side of things. The desire to have the Dame Commander's help means she has the power to make deals like this happen.

''We make mirrors to show us things we can't already see ourselves.''

She sees herself as a reflection, something of me that I rejected-- Carmen agrees. But she wants to be born and I want to be a voice. I'd like to think we can both become what we want.

''How rude of you to say that to me when I'm standing before an Anomaly that is a mirror.''

Ahah... I wasn't trying to be rude. I just get excited when I get to talk to you. The last time seemed to go by so fast. There's an evoking of an embarrassed laugh.

''The chances of this one not having to do with the only thing different are very slim.''

Yes! With new worlds come new stories. It is so exciting to have travelers here. Usually it's just the same ones over and over...

Angela lets go when it's time for Lilian to go isnide. It's strange, she thinks, Sometimes she wishes time went even slower.

Well, she thinks, when she's free maybe the curse will be less of one. She'll be able to go and spend time with the people she loves and just appreciate it for hours days years on end. Even if she's free, that will likely stay with her after all.

''Man, what the fuck, Carmen. Why does this always happen?''

------- - ---- --- -- --- ------ Carmen tells Petra.

Binah, across from Petra, "I suppose there's just resonant themes, Captain." Binah says.

"Though we shouldn't relax too much--"

''You can call me... Keiwa.''

"Hm... Angela, should we call her Keiwa, then?"

"Stop teasing the KAmen Rider, Binah." Angela says before turning her attention to the OTHER Kamen Rider (Woz). "...hm... If you make a promise with the Abnormality, you best keep it in other words. If you perform attachment, shifting to Repression would probably..." Angela cups her thought and leans against a pillar, musing on this new family member.
Madeleine Cadrasteia     "I'm sorry. I can't help it. Is that okay? I don't have any choice but to copy from you."

    Madeleine is somewhat taken off guard by the apology, not to mention the effusive gratitude for her cleaning work. "Y-yeah," she manages to say, "I think it'll be okay if it's what you have to do. And it's nothing, really. Just what I'm here to do." The huntress is clearly warming up to the girl, in both her choice of words and her tone. She even hums a little tune as she finishes sponging and toweling off the mirror.

    The girl reaches out, extending a friendship necklace to the very surface of the mirror, the very edge of her world. Madeleine tilts her head to one side, clearly interested in the first object to appear behind the mirror that wasn't selected from Lobcorp's array of tools. She tilts her head a little to one side in curiosity and reaches for the necklace, holding it up close to her face to admire the little star-speckled beads.

    "Can you please promise to come back? So we can be friends?"

    Something about the girl's demeanor - the apologies, the gratitude, the unabashed need and vulnerability - has put Madeleine oddly at ease, despite her knowing full well the dangers Abnormalities can pose. This latest ask, however, gets a nervous glance from Madeleine over her shoulder to the other Elites. "I, ah, I'm sure I'll be back here eventually. When I am I'll see about stopping by. Sound good?" Somehow she's ended up doing Attachment work, it seems. Hopefully it's enough to placate the girl's raw anxiety. "I've gotta go soon, but if I get a chance I'll be back." Madeleine turns around right in front of the mirror, so she doesn't have to watch the girl's face seal over as she walks out of the cell.
Timespace Riders You...
...hm... If you make a promise with the Abnormality, you best keep it in other words. If you perform attachment, shifting to Repression would probably...

    Woz awkwardly clears his throat. "Indeed, Esteemed Angela," he says, latching onto any conversational thread that allows him to avoid discussing his no-longer-secret Posting persona.

Oh, how about this? I couldn't possibly not repay you for being so nice, I'd feel horrible and guilty forever for taking advantage of you like that, so let me give you something too! Please!

    Sougo's eyes light up at the offer. He smiles wide. "Sure!" he nods emphatically.

Would you? Can you? I'm sorry, I'm sorry this might be ruining the gift, and I get it if you hate me for this, but you're one of my favorite people in the entire world, and if you leave I'm going to be terrified that you'll never ever come back and that you're abandoning me, all over again.

    Worry gnaws at Sougo, enough to display as a glimmer in his eyes even if his frown weren't obvious.

Can you promise you'll come back? Please? I'll lose my mind if you don't. I couldn't handle it.

    "Hey, come on, now," he says, consolingly. "I love making new friends, and I'd be happy to come back and see you again. But you have to promise me something, too," he says, turning thr friendship necklace over in his hands. He squeezes it. It's a kind of comfort he rarely ever feels, even if these days it's somewhat more common.

    "You have to promise to be nicer to yourself," he says, taking the friendship bracelet. "When people talk about themselves like they have to justify themselves *to* themselves, it makes me feel sad. So whenever you have a thought like that--like 'they'll hate me for this,' or 'I'm being abandoned again,' I'd like you to think something nice about yourself. It's... hard to do, at first. But it's really important to try."
Ivy Carrow     As the girl began to quaver, Ivy wondered for a terrifying moment whether she'd unwittingly loosed a curse on the girl, before she got a taste of the link.

    "I want you to take something from me. You could take anything from me, but do you wanna start with just this little trinket? Next time you come back you can take more."

    The boisterous smile on Ivy's face fades to something a little more quiet, briefly, a flicker. Then, it was back. "Do take care, little mirror. Give too much of yourself away, and there will be nothing left at all..."

    She reached out, taking the bracelet from the mirror and holding it up to the light, examining it, even as she turned over the abnormalities' words. "Perhaps I will, perhaps I will, when my travels take me back to this world. A visit now and again...Yes, I think I might."

    "...hm... If you make a promise with the Abnormality, you best keep it in other words. If you perform attachment, shifting to Repression would probably..."

    Alex finds himself standing beside Angela outside the cell, disgruntled. "Is it just that? Or is my Captain bound to return to this thing, now?" He sighed. "Is everyone who made that promise bound to it, now, or suffer its curse? How often will they need to?" His eyes wandered back toward the window, unsettled. "And what could the consequences be?"
Kukuru "But yeah, I think, you specifically absolutely shouldn't come up with a name for it."

"Mhm. That's... N-no, that's a good call. Angie doesn't need more problems when we have so much unknown stuff coming up soon. I promised everyone I'd do better."

The agreement not to actually name the Abnormality after that initial exchange actually seems to put Kukuru more at ease while she's in the middle of working. Not having that one extra thing to consider means she can really focus in on her own work!

"... unless any of you are secretly vampires. I'm not seeing it."

"Oh, no. I wouldn't be to hide that even if I tried~" Kukuru admits with a light chuckle, opening her mouth to reveal rows of sharp teeth! It is not clear how she's able to chew anything like that, but she's definitely been seen chewing before.

"Ku-ku-ru!" "Are you this gentle with everyone? Is it just me?"

The girl's cheerfulness is quite infectious, and Kukuru can't help but to giggle at first as she learns how to feed her all that food. She'll eventually stop for the Abnormality's sake, too, actually being able to notice that sweating and strain response. She even mimes/actually drinks some water to help wash it down, too!

"Almost everyone, mhm! Not everyone likes it, though, so I've been learning to be more... Less? Pushy about it, so people can get used to it first and then be more comfortable if they want more, you know?"

"Can you be extra gentle with me, and make me feel a little special? I'm sorry to be greedy like that."

That creates a crack in Kukuru's gentle demeanor. How's she supposed to say no to that?! Her head knows what she has to do, and her heart knows what she has to do, but it still strikes her at the core that she can't just say yes to someone-something that's asking her to show her love. After a few deep breaths, Kukuru's smile remains, and...

"I'm sorry. I... I would if I could, but I can't." Keep it short, keep it simple, don't elaborate more than she needs to. As long as she keeps that distance, it'll be easier to focus on her Instinct work. Focusing on her Instinct work will help Angela and Petra more, and it won't risk muddling up the results with anything resembling Attachment work, and-

"But I am careful who I say it to! I only say it to my absolute most favorite people in the world." "I can't help it. I'm just like this. I can't survive any other way. It's unbearable."

Another stab right in the heart. Something in the back of Kukuru's mind starts to recognize what this Abnormality might be, but that inkling doesn't make the pain any less real to her. Her jaw tightens and her lower lip trembles as she struggles to maintain that gentle smile, although it's rather clear just looking at her that she's having a lot of trouble holding it together.

"I-is that so? Then maybe we're more..." Kukuru closes her eyes for a moment, then bites her tongue hard enough to draw blood, but not hard enough that the nanites can't stop it up seconds later. Just enough to keep her head on track.

"... It's not awful, no. Being loved is a wonderful feeling, and it's wonderful having that much love for everyone. Not everyone thinks that way, though, and... We gotta be careful about giving that love out in a way that doesn't hurt people, too. Sometimes, that means holding back our love because-"

Kukuru's mind returns to the last Abnormality that copied her appearance, and she wipes her face off with her sleeve ineffectually with how red her eyes have gotten. "... Because loving everyone carelessly means hurting the people we love the most."
Kukuru "You're not scared, are you? Do you love me? Do you promise you'll come back for me, that I didn't scare you off?"

Finally, some easier questions. Kukuru's eyes are still puffy, but she gets most of her usual smile back. "Why would I be scared? You haven't done anything scary... I couldn't be scared of you even if we both tried." She explains with a soft chuckle, holding her hand out to the mirror to take the necklace and squeezing it gently in her hands.

"Thank you. If it's okay with everyone, I'll be back again sometime. I'll make sure to bring something tastier, too." Kukuru finally says after what feels like a good half minute or so of just holding her hand up against the mirror. It takes a lot for her just to back off, deliberately avoiding that question of love among everything else that's been said even on the way out of the cell.
Dark Horses      The fact it keeps on using its voice is really pissing MICHINAGA off, but he doesn't tell the creature to stop. In fact, he doesn't say anything. He just silently glares at her, lowering his belt and putting it away once he realizes she doesn't seem to understand the threat.

     She's desperate to make him happy, and he's not about to give whatever the hell this thing is the ammunition she needs to think she's doing so. The moment he shows weakness, she's going to take advantage of him, he's not stupid.

     KEIWA, however, is rubbing the back of his neck, both a bit flustered and clueless as to what to do next. He was expecting to have his face ripped off or something like that, but he guesses the abnormality is a lot more beneign than he thought.

     "Well, you've got at least one friend now, I'm sure you'll get more once the people working here realize you aren't really that scary."

     It's probably wishful thinking, even Keiwa isn't naive enough to assume there's information he isn't being given, but it'd be nice, and being a pessimist in front of someone who's frightened isn't genuinely a good play as far as he knows.

     "My sister? You??? Well uh.... S-Sure. Y-Y-Yeah! I'm sure Sara would love to meet you too!"

     Honestly, it's weird, mostly because she's using his voice. But she might not be able to use anything other than his voice, given her nature as a mirror person, and he's too nice (and too scared) to make that the stipulation for her adopted sisterhood.

     "I..Hmmm..."

     Keiwa hesitates on accepting the necklace for a moment. What he can only assume is the rational part of his brain is yelling at him to turn it down, but he just can't find it in himself to not take it.

     "Alright! You cheer for me, and I'll cheer for you uh...Errr... Do..."

     Keiwa sheepishly trails off a bit as he realizes he probably should have opened up with the question, because now that they're so far into a conversation like this, it feels weird. But he's gotta, for her, for the company, for the tiny bit of pride he has in his name!

     "Do you have a name?"

     It is a very tiny amount of pride indeed, because he practically whispers the question.
Lilian Rook     '--I'm *sorry* that he's just way more memorable than you, but I wouldn't even remember your fucking *face* if you didn't show up at the same time. Maybe you should just make more of a fucking name for yourself instead of only being memorable when he's around, huh? And you're always the one mentioning him, he never says anything about you, and *you're* the one--'

    "Try to find it in your heart to forgive her." Lilian says, blandly, to Michinaga. "She's just awkward. And also very sensitive to noticing when someone is obviously, one-sidedly obsessed with someone they want to tear down." Wait that one was kind of not really on Michinaga's side. But then she goes and mutters 'Loser' under her breath in a way that is obviously about Petra, so . . . ?

    'unless any of you are secretly vampires. I'm not seeing it.'

    "Well, come to think of it, how often do you notice other people's reflections? If you asked me to verify that I've definitely seen everyone in this room reflected in a mirror, I'd ask you not to make me a liar." Lilian says, distracted enough to let one of her idle mental digressions slip into the verbal world. "It's like being asked what someone smells like; you don't ever think about it, you're ordinarily never in a position where you'd know, and you forget a few minutes after finding out anyways. Unless you go around examining everyone's teeth right now, it's entirely possible they could be vampires and just counting on that principle. People hide all sorts of things in plain sight like that."

    'That sounds right, yeah. I think Qetra might've said something like that before too, and even though she's fucking stupid, that's at least something she'd know.'

    "I wouldn't be surprised if she had. You're ungodly stupid as well, and you still say plenty of insightful things when it's a topic you're actually familiar with." Lilian says.

    'You are a busy woman so I have to properly appreciate the moments we are allowed to meet in person.'

    "I wonder if anyone else thinks that about me." Lilian says, then shakes her head as if to clear it. "I suppose I'm just always doing something, or, I suppose I'm always trying to do something so I don't think about the spaces between the things I really want, so I don't often contemplate how long it'll be until I see someone. I might just believe that we have all the . . . that there'll always be time later."

    '...Besides... Having an ally amongst the Agents is a good idea.'

    "I did hope that it might." says Lilian, allowing heself one syllable of laughter. "Even though I sort of hoped she'd quit as well."

    ......

    'I'm sorry. I-I don't have a name. You can call me...Keiwa.'

    "Okay. You're Keiwa. That's your name. I'm Lilian." And yet, contrasting Michinaga, Lilian's rejection is complicated.
    Out of the entire group, she is the only one who appears remotely frightened by this Abnormality; an utterly pathetic one, too.
    Out of only two people, she hadn't tried to please it at all; though out of them, she wasn't actually committed to Repression, and hadn't acted purposefully.
    And yet, having been the one to force the Abnormality to do something for her, rather then doing something for the Abnormality and receiving a gift, Lilian offers something to it anyways.
    Something it'd already asked for. Just in reverse order. Something small, given only afer Lilian can be horrible, and make it cry, and not be given a gift.

    But she wants to be born and I want to be a voice. I'd like to think we can both become what we want.

    §Don't say that. You know what those words mean. This thing wants to be someone else; not to become itself.§

    Her hand loosens on her sword by fractions.
Lilian Rook     'I don't have anything of my own. I'm nothing on my own. I'm nothing without you. Please.'

    "Everyone else is giving you plenty. You have lots of new friends. You'll survive without me." Lilian says. "So stop being so horrible. I told you not to use my voice, but you're still using it as your own. Use one of the others'. They don't seem to care."

    Ahah... I wasn't trying to be rude. I just get excited when I get to talk to you. The last time seemed to go by so fast.

    

    §I imagine that's the hard part of being a voice. If there's no one interesting to talk to, then you basically don't exist.§

    

    §. . . Oh screw you Carmen.§

    "I don't mind if you want to try to be like me, but you can't take things I . . ." Lilian glances around the room, and then thinks better of continuing in this company. "Not things like that. If you don't like their voices, just splice them together, or write on a sheet of paper or something."

    Yes! With new worlds come new stories. It is so exciting to have travelers here. Usually it's just the same ones over and over...

    §Are you doing this on purpose? I get it. I already feel sorry for that girl. But I've seen what happened to Meika for taking pity on these things, and I'm not the type of person who can pay any price for someone else's happiness. I might help, but I don't give myself away.§

    "We can be friends, if you don't steal things I need. If we can be friends, then I can help you find your own. But I mean it. You aren't going to die if I leave, and if you did, then it'd your fault for making me."

    §Have you ever had a friend you took pity on, Carmen? Someone you always wanted to see thrive, but who was always having it rough, just because she was ugly or awkward or inexperienced. Have you ever wished you could snap your fingers and fix it? Let them enjoy what you have? I'm certain you've had thoughts like that, given what you want to change about the City.§

    §I think about that like this: If I snap my fingers and let everyone less beautiful than me just as attractive as I am, then at best, I'm tied for the ugliest person in the world, aren't I? They can deserve to be happy without me being obligated to lose everything. I needed it badly enough that I made it myself; so I'll keep it.§
Petra Soroka "Hm... Angela, should we call her Keiwa, then?"

    Petra scoffs at Binah, but there's a little bit more of an edge to her voice than just finding Binah's teasing ridiculous. "That's fucking stupid. If the dumb thing supposedly looks like me, then you're not fucking calling it a guy's name. Especially not a guy that's literally, like, right here."

"Well, come to think of it, how often do you notice other people's reflections?"

    "Huh..." Petra takes a few seconds to contemplate this heavily. "That seems like something I'd be either more or less likely to notice than average. But I don't know which."

    That isn't helpful.

"It's like being asked what someone smells like;"

    "I know what--" Petra chooses life, rather than finishing that sentence.

    "But yeah, I see what you mean. It's background information even from the first time you see it, rather than something you pay less attention to over time, so there's no reason to remember it. I guess it might be important for me specifically to pay more attention to reflections? Like, what if Qetra can touch them?" Petra thinks about that for a second, and then revises her opinion. "I shouldn't let Qetra near anyone's reflections."

    For the most part, the Abnormality is satisfied by everyone-- absolutely everyone-- who was offered a necklace taking it. When turning away and leaving the cell, her face seals back over into expressionless silence again, and she falls back to the floor of her featureless mirror surroundings, but a few people reach out to her in ways beyond her begging.

"So whenever you have a thought like that--like 'they'll hate me for this,' or 'I'm being abandoned again,' I'd like you to think something nice about yourself. It's... hard to do, at first. But it's really important to try."

    "I'll try! I promise! I won't make you sad; I'll do my best to give you a reason to come back." Sougo gets the feeling, looking at that sparkling expression with his own eyes, that maybe his urging didn't quite get through in the way he hoped it would.

"Give too much of yourself away, and there will be nothing left at all..."

    The way that the girl looks deliriously overjoyed at the necklace in Ivy's hands, and then up at her face with Ivy's own eyes, is as much of an answer as her words. "I'm already nothing on my own. Any little scrap of something I can find in myself and give away to you is more important to me than everything else I am. But *you* should feel that way, that's why it's so so so important for me to repay your gifts, otherwise I'm stealing something precious from you."

"My sister? You??? Well uh.... S-Sure. Y-Y-Yeah!"

    The open mouth beaming that response gets from the girl is on a tier even above how strongly she responded to anyone else agreeing with her. She clenches her fists to her chest, unable to speak for a few seconds, then throws her arms wide like she wants to squeeze Keiwa in a hug, settling for wrapping them around herself instead and rocking back and forth excitedly.

    "Really? Really? You promise? I-I'd love to meet her! I'd love to!"

    Outside of the cell, Petra isn't able to understand every word of the conversations happening, but for whatever reason those words are clearly picked up by her ears. "What the *fuck* are you even *doing* in there??"
Petra Soroka "Do you have a name?"

    In the midst of her joy, that makes her slow down a little bit, and the answer that slowly comes out is, "... Keiwa?" So, no.

"I'm Lilian."

    Emboldened by the softening of Lilian's attitude, the girl starts to respond, but to do so she'd have to use Lilian's voice, so she hastily cuts herself off. "Hi, Lil--"

"You have lots of new friends. You'll survive without me."

    The girl pales, like this is the most terrifying thing said to her all night, even beyond threats of violence. She shudders, sweat beading on her forehead, and tries to croak out an answer that can't make it past her lips without taking on Lilian's voice, which is illegal.

"If you don't like their voices, just splice them together, or write on a sheet of paper or something."

    The girl shakes her head, coming down from her panic slowly and unsteadily. 'No paper'-- she can't even interact with anything in her own reflection-space that isn't also being interacted with by someone outside. After a moment, she widens her eyes, suddenly struck by an idea.

    She crouches down and braces her wrist against her knees, pressing her thumbnail into the soft skin of the inside of her forearm. Pressing harder, until it pierces the skin, she clumsily carves out 'I'll try! =D' in bloody letters and presents it to Lilian, awkwardly mimicking the wide emoticon smile with one of her own.

    Interacting with the Abnormality was only the first part of tonight's goal. Once the cell door slides shut, and Petra closes it off with another press of her hand to the pad, it's time for the real fun, like processing Enkephalin readings and organizing the data findings!

    In the meeting room down the hall from the Abnormality's cell, Petra and a couple clerks bustle around a series of desks spread with paper copies of measurement after measurement that needs to be taken from the Elites. A projector on the wall cycles through images with a clerk proctoring a series of questions to test for altered perception, improved or reduced, and potential memory issues. They shine lights in your eyes, take heart rate measurements, ask you to repeat your name and simple details about your life, leading questions about 'your relationship to the Abnormality', scribbling down results.

    The process takes a considerable amount of time, given the proportion of administrators to Elites, upwards of an hour. There's physical tests, followed by little pink juiceboxes of K-Corp HP medication, not that any of you feel like you took physical damage; then mental checkups and an attempt to categorize all the observations and results into proper Managerial Techniques.

    In addition to the pink juiceboxes, there's lightly aqua ones set out on another desk for mental damage, and Petra warns you they taste terrible-- the pink ones do too, but Petra's used to them, whereas she only ever needed the white damage medication after the first encounter with the Ekanamsha S2. As tedious as it all is, Petra seems to be enjoying the thorough work of going step by step through the long process and taking little notes at each step. She quietly hums to herself while writing, lightly bouncing as she ambles between clerks to check their work, absorbed into the ritual of information collection.
Petra Soroka     For the more medicalized portions of the exams, it's unavoidable that the clerks have to touch the Elites some, and Petra ensures that she's the one taking Lilian's measurements without even needing to say it out loud. Far from being excessively touchy-- well, Lilian knows her mannerisms well enough to practically smell the sin radiating off of her, but-- she's endlessly careful with her handling of Lilian, flushing pink but double checking that any touch or piece of equipment is acceptable. That isn't a courtesy extended to any of the other Elites-- when a clerk asks Petra if he should be going through the same process with the others, Petra just confusedly reminds him that it's important to get all the measurements.

    Petra is as tensely gentle with handling Lilian as a thief plucking out a gemstone in the heist of a century, like a painter lowering their restorative brush to touch up a priceless masterpiece, like a priest cradling a cross on the altar. She is also, of course, babbling nonstop, as if she's venting steam in a cartoon.

    "Yup, that's grip strength, we're testing that because, like, the *other* mirror Abnormality can drain your physical and mental ability, so it's really just about if you 'feel weaker' when exerting yourself. *Next* up is flexibility, because, uh, some Abnos turn you to stone or goop or whatever, and it can be really slow so you don't even notice, so--"

    Eventually comes the time for the Managerial Tips, the end goal of all of this work. Petra has her little clipboard with a packet of paper on it, since now that the process has gone from mere data collection, to proper agent work, she's the only one authorized to directly work on it. There's a series of checked boxes to go through, and comments she needs to write, and she mumbles out loud while doing it, clearly nearing the end of the ordeal.

    "Abnormality name... unless any of you have something better, we're going with 'The Girl in the Mirror', for obvious reasons. Those necklaces are EGO gifts, so they'll probably give you a boost of some kind, making you physically or mentally tougher, or something. Lilian's used the EGO gift I got from Fragments before, she knows how it goes. Sometimes they come with fucked up curses and stuff, when the Abnormality breaches or melts down, but you already accepted it so we'll see. 'Benefits the facility', mhm. 'Capable of Employee Alteration', yup... 'Capable of Instadeath'... I guess we'll see. Keep in mind that thing about, you know, exploding into spiders. Or glass shards."

    "Okay, so, give me a call if anything weird starts happening, or tomorrow night even if *nothing* weird happens, and we'll--" Petra is cut off by blaring alarms, including the one from the Enkephalin reader on her belt. She glances at it, and lets out a sigh. "Negative Enkephalin again. It's draining energy storages for whatever reason. Fucker."

    It turns out Lilian was right, in a way. Less malignant than bodyhopping to possess the people who promised to return, it turns out still that the Abnormality can barely tolerate an hour alone before its stress levels build to the point that it pours out Negative Enkephalin rather than the useful positive stuff. Treating it involves, predictably, letting the Abnormality see one of its 'friends' whenever it gets lonely, keeping them busy through the night.
Angela Angela bobs her head once to Woz before looking trough the camera again down to the mirror.

At least she can't see her reflection. It makes the mirror a lot easier to stand--of course ... ... that mirror would reflect in its own way if she went inside, wouldn't it? Or rather, the girl inside might.

She appreciates the way Lilian acts as a guide, splitting two concepts that seem similar to her and pushing them apart so she can see the difference. The Commander is unfailingly honest, her rebukes aren't always soft either--but she prefers it that way. She'd rather the Commander remain unfailingly honest than make their friendship seem even the slightest bit fake.

''I wonder if anyone else thinks that about me''

"If nobody does then I truly am superior in intellect." Angela says--but the tone is light. She is almost certain she is not the only one--and that's fine with her. The more people who think way about the Dame Commander the better ... ... well maybe not too many people, if she can be a little selfish about it--but at minimum enough to support the Commander.

''Even though I sort of hoped she'd quit as well.''

Angela glances to Binah for a moment. She is an AI that can lie but she'd rather not lie to Lilian which means she'd have to lie to herself first and she doesn't think she can in this case. It takes her a moment to find a true enough answer. "Ceri needs someone to fight on behalf of. That was the form of comfort she was able to find within the City."

''That thing wants to be someone else''

--Oh I was talking about Angela. Sorry, I guess it's harder to say who I mean when I can't signal them... She has taken to the idea of 'struggling to be born'.

''If there's no one interesting to talk to, then you basically don't exist.''

Carmen is quiet a moment and then responds, her mental presence softer. For better or for worse, there will always be someone to talk to.

Carmen doesn't immediately respond to the matter of being told 'screw you'. But Carmen doesn't answer immediately. Even with the small misunderstanding--it is absolutely true that Carmen does have sympathy for this Abnormality and affection for them, she has affection for all of them, even the gross ones. Sometimes especailly the gross ones.

''I've seen what happened to Meika for taking pity on these things.''

Mentioning Meika evokes a sensation of sound given formless form and another pulse of affection from the originator of L Corp. ...Meika... Why does she not love herself, Lilian? She's so beautiful but she can't stop hurting herself. I wish she could see herself the way I could see her.

She's distracted by lamentations for Meika. It's like a dull pain she had forgotten about in all the excitement coming back and pounding against the forehead she doesn't have.

''I'm certain you've had thoughts like that, given what you want to change about the City.''

...I think everyone is born beautiful, then they learn ugliness, then they learn beauty again--the beauty that is theirs and theirs alone. And sometimes they have what it takes to reach that beauty--but that race is not an equitable race. Some have to fight harder than toehrs to reach it. I don't want to make it easy--but it can still be easier, right?

She focuses her attention back to the mirror.

I don't think you could ever be ugly, Lilian. And I don't think a mirror could ever copy you perfectly. Even if they reflect you, the angle--the lighting conditions--the mirror's shape--it's bound to be itself no matter how hard it tries.

That's the tragedy, and beauty, of mirrors--isn't it? Angela's the same way. She tried to be me, but Ayin saw the lighting was wrong from the start.
Angela Angela glances to Alex as he asks that very important question. She looks up at those upside down tombs above in deep thought and then shares the frightening answer of, "I have no idea. I suppose we'll find out."

THE MANAGERIAL TIPS

Angela mostly frowns at the idea that it's draining energy storages. "If she's going to drain the Enkephalin we definitely need to figure out how to handle her quickly." Angela says. "We'll need to at least have one of her 'friends' keep visiting..." Angela has some sympathy too, at least in this part---solitude is a torture she wouldn't wish on anyone even if some solitude is necessitated by the facility's nature.

... Though one hour between visits? That is a little ... Angela elects to avoid dwelling on how that makes her feel. But all in all, nobody has exploded into glass shards yet so if they can put a stop to the Enkephalin drain short term, it could have bene a lot worse. ... ... Though they might not find out about the real worst of it until later.

Is this just the beginning? Will there be other Abnormalities based on what was found outside amongst the multiverse? ... She supposes Carmen can only tell stories based off on what she's seen but...

It's still troubling.
Kukuru Kukuru is still looking and feeling kind of down by the time everyone's brought in to watch the images from the projector, trying to focus and doing so rather badly with what she's had to confront with her own rounds of testing. The silver lining, of course, is thinking that she did an okay enough job gathering data, but she's pretty sure she forgot something important.

She won't remember specifically what is it on her own, but it's still annoying enough that it's going to bother her for a while. The juiceboxes are taken gratefully regardless (even if she does make a bit of a face tasting it), and she actually does any okay job repeating what she had told the Girl in the Mirror when it's time for the mental examinations.

She's also going to be a little clingy with whichever poor clerk happens to be handling her physical measurements.

When it comes time to come up with a name, Kukuru nods lightly at Petra's pitch. "That one sounds pretty normal, mhm. Better than coming up with something flashy before we know what her necklace does, riiight?" She eyes her necklace curiously as she says that, immediately testing it by putting it on and taking it off immediately.

Assuming she doesn't explode or something just from that, Kukuru's going to put it back on and make sure to wear it each time she returns to the Abnormality.