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Septette Arcubielle
     The teleporter beacon Septette provided the coordinates for would lead to an imposingly large room with a towering, radiant pink crystal in the center- presumably the beacon itself. The walls are smooth metal, windowless, and it's brightly illuminated by bluish-white lines inset into the paneling. A moment after he arrives, a heavy-looking metal door opens vertically, one half sinking into the floor and the other retracting into the ceiling to reveal a corridor leading deeper in.

     Save for the places where an enormous tree's roots have burst through the walls, it's impressively modern-looking. When the door opens at the end of the hallway, it isn't hard to see why Sept chose this place for the 'operation': in contrast to Etria's native magic-focused hospitals, this room is stocked with more 'traditional' devices and medications, along with a few things that are more exotic. A cryo-stasis tube is set into the far wall, and several ports are available to power heavy machinery; holographic warning signs indicate distressingly large amounts of electricity are available.

     Septette and the guinea pig, a stern-looking adventurer named Ren, are waiting for Staren there- it seems they've made all the preparations that they can. Less obviously, a red-headed wallflower in a black cloak sticks to a far corner of the room, seeming rather nervous in stark contrast to Ren and Sept's calm confidence.
Staren     Staren arrives! He looks around curiously, then through the door before heading that way, letting the place lead him. Finally he comes to where the others are waiting, and smiles and nods in greeting. "Hi guys, Septette, Ren, and, um...?" He looks to the cloaked figure questioningly. Hopefully the labcoat can ease the wallflower's fears. People in labcoats know a lot of stuff including what they're doing, right?
Septette Arcubielle
     Ren pulls her long, dark-blue hair (dyed? it looks black at the roots) over one shoulder, fixing Staren with an uncannily intense gaze. "Tlachtga," she finally says, tilting her head slightly towards the cloaked figure. "She's Tlachtga. A friend of mine. Wanted to be here for this." Tlachtga nods ever so slightly, and as she comes out of the shadows, Staren would be able to see she's clutching a ragged... Teddy bear? Stuffed bunny? Some form of cloth animal, anyway. The redhead doesn't meet his eyes, but she seems a little less nervous now.

     "I'm so glad you could make it," Septette says cheerily, though she does nudge Ren with one elbow as if to say 'let me do the talking'. "We've got a sterilized environment here, plenty of power, nanomachine feedstock... hopefully this is an adequate setup." As the yggdroid speaks, Ren lays her katana on a table with some reluctance and starts to take off the bulkiest pieces of her armor. Tlachtga finally pipes up in a soft, slightly hoarse voice: "It... won't hurt her, will it?"
Staren     Staren nods as Tlachtga is introduced. "I shouldn't need to much... most of the magic, so to speak, is in the tech I'm bringing. But thank you." He draws his matter manipulator and starts setting things down. Well, there's two things really... a combination Ego Bridge/Healing Vat, which looks kind of like a sleeker MRI machine with a person-sized clear enclosed tube, which he works out how to plug into the wall. To Tlachtga he explains, "Physically, no, there should be no pain. Emotionally and mentally... well, psychologically I guess... going to sleep in your own body and then waking up in a robot... it could be a little stressful, or maybe even traumatizing if she takes it really badly. Or it might not bother her at all." he shrugs.

    Next out of the matter manipulator is a table next to the ego bridge, and then atop that table is... Ren. At least, it looks like Ren, wearing a cloak over an armored vest over a kimono that looks similar to her usual one. Any advanced scans from Septette show it's a robot, and of course it's room temperature to the touch. At a cursory touch, or even a more than cursory touch, the flesh feels real, but close medical examination with a detailed knowledge of anatomy will find some things off as if the underlying structure is not the usual flesh and bone.

    Staren lifts the morph's head up slightly to reach a port in the back of the neck, running a fiber optic cable from it to a port in the ego bridge. "Umm, so, this is a civilian model... if you wanted, like, a really heavily armored, combat-focused body, it would get less lifelike."
Septette Arcubielle
     Septette and Tlachtga both seem quite interested in the 'body' on the table, though Sept seems to quickly gather all the information that she needs from it, leaving the other adventurer to poke curiously at the inert figure. The ports on the walls are specifically built to be as flexible and adaptive to different multiversal standards as possible, so it's not difficult to get the machines operational. Ren seems strangely uncurious about her doppelganger; she sits back on the ego bridge, folds her hands, and closes her eyes. "This body's already a civilian model," she says flatly. "I won't take it poorly."

     Tlachtga squeezes her ragged bunny again. "Um, how soon can Ren get back to being... herself? If this works? I have one or two ideas that might expedite it, but..." For a moment, she looks up at Staren with big, nervous, yellow eyes, and then looks away again. Either this is how she usually is, or she's having a hard time getting used to this.
Staren     Staren nods at Ren's comment. To Tlachtga, he explains simply, "It will take ten minutes for the Ego Bridge to put her to sleep and scan her. After she's done being a robot, it will take an hour to put her back in her body. If everything goes right. If things go wrong at some stage... I think the worst concievable outcome would result in her either being stuck in a robot until we fix it, or deciding to lose her memories of being in the robot."

    Staren stares at the machine, manipulating AR controls only he can see. "When you're ready, climb in."
Septette Arcubielle
     "I understand," the redhead says very quietly, then steps back into the shadows for the time being. She regards Staren's strange motions curiously, but decides that they're likely some sort of ritual and doesn't intrude. Ren gets situated properly in the machine, seeming to have said everything she wants to, and exhales slowly before nodding. "Let's begin."

     Septette takes more interest in the invisible controls than Tlachtga did- she can't see them directly, of course, but her eyes follow Staren's fingers precisely, trying to map his actions into a mental model of the controls he must be using. After a few moments, she seems to give up on reverse-engineering his setup, and makes a mental note to ask him about it later. "If it's going to take a while," the little robot says abruptly, "I'll go and get us some snacks. I'm sorry I didn't think to bring anything in the first place." With that, she walks out, leaving Tlachtga to remain uncomfortably silent.
Staren     "See you soon." Staren smiles back at Ren. The machine rotates until the tube is horizontal, then it pushes into the machine's ring slightly so it can start the brainscan. Nanites enter her body, some assisting with the brainscan while others drug her into unconsciousness and put her in medical stasis. While unconsciousness isn't strictly required for this, Staren prefers it for testing, and Ren couldn't do much in a partially transferred state if she's not used to mesh inserts or something similar anyway.

    Staren nods at the comment about getting snacks, but shakes his head at the apology. "Nothing to apologize for."

    With everything going smoothly, Staren sits back in a chair and waits.

    After some silence from Tlachtga, he asks, "So... if I may ask, what's your relation to Ren? Friend? Sister?"
Septette Arcubielle      Ren's breathing is perfectly regular, and her heartbeat nearly so: it's below sixty beats per minute and her blood pressure is atypically low. The cardiac activity could be explained by her being highly athletic, but on top of that, she seems to be in a meditative state that shades smoothly into unconsciousness. Tlachtga plays with a little bell on a necklace inside her cloak as she waits, then startles a little once she realizes Staren's talking to her. She takes a few seconds before answering- whether to regain her composure or to decide on a response, it isn't clear.

     "We're friends," she replies in that soft alto voice. "We... adventure together. Have for years and years. Eventually, the local government relied on us more and more... now we've got an official position, mentoring newer adventurers and taking on assignments they're not ready for yet." Her eyes drift back towards the floor. "Some people... they say they look up to us. Mostly it's Ren who does the hard things, though." Another moment passes, and just when it seems like it might be a good time for Staren to speak, the flame-haired sorceress abruptly asks: "Septette... do you trust her?"
Staren     Staren nods. "So you're adventuring companions... and heroes, by the sound of it." he sums up his understanding. So, this world may be risking a lot here, with Ren... But then, all the more benefit if it's possible for her to cheat death...

    Staren blinks when Tlatchga asks him that. "Umm... Is there any reason for me not to? I mean... there are different levels of trust. She's in the Union and seems devoted to the idea of protecting others. I'd trust her to help me in a fight, which, I suppose, means I'd trust her with my life in at least some situations. The fact that she's been willing to accept stuff like this," he gestures to the machines, "and that when she's rejected ideas of mine she did it for sound reasons and was willing to explain to me why they were bad ideas, earns her more trust than most. But I wouldn't tell her, hmm, every private thought I had, and I suppose there would be a limit to how far trust can go if she started asking me to do things without explanation. But there are very few people I trust absolutely." Staren rubs his chin. "Still, I suppose if it came down to it, I'd trust her more than most of my allies. Why?" He tilts his head slightly as he looks at her.
Septette Arcubielle      Tlachtga nods. "I see. I don't know much of... Multiversal politics. That's a reasonable answer, though... thank you." She stares at Ren's unconscious body for a while as she thinks, seeming not only shy but also very careful with her words. "The more I see of Septette, the more I am convinced that nothing she- it?- does is accidental... She isn't self-interested, but she's willing to manipulate others. Like this." She gestures at the ego bridge with one hand.

     "Septette and the Radha- the elected rulers of this area- are at odds. Someday soon the Radha may call for her destruction, and we would have no choice but to obey. Ren and I are the only ones here who can plausibly accomplish such a task. I believe Septette knows this. Either this experiment will incapacitate Ren, removing an obstacle from Septette's path... or it will create a backup for her, enabling Septette to use lethal force without qualms." The young woman shrugs slightly. "Perhaps you do not believe this was intentional on her part. But she was the one who suggested Ren for this experiment. ... And she knew that, wanting to preserve her life, I could not tell Ren not to accept."

     Tlachtga looks as though she's about to say something further, but there's a distant crackle as the yggdroid teleports back to the beacon, and the sorceress abruptly falls silent and pales a little.
Staren     Staren listens curiously, then slumps with a sigh as Tlachtga explains. His comment, too, is cut off by Septette's return, though he doesn't seem afraid of her or more worried than before. He gives Septette a nod of acknowledgement and then turns back to the redhead. "So, what do you do, anyway? Are you a woman of magic?" he changes the subject, as if they were having an entirely different conversation.
Septette Arcubielle      The cloaked woman nods, quickly adjusting to the change in subject: "I am called a 'hexer'. Perhaps the longest-practicing... I am only thirty, but I started early, and hexers die young. Our magic cripples, binds, controls- but it can make us sickly too, or even kill us should we mangle a word of power." For the first time since Staren met her, she smiles ever-so-slightly, though it might not be a mirthful smile. "You see why we are good partners. When I am through with a monster, Ren and her blade seem merciful."

     Septette seems not to pay too much attention to the current conversation: she sets down a basket full of tasty-looking and (at least to Staren) exotic treats, and spreads some sort of golden-amber jam on what looks to be a frosted scone before popping it in her mouth. "Mmm. Who wants some? Staren, Tlachtga?"
Staren     Staren winces a bit when she says hexers die young. Afterward he asks, "...I wonder if this could save your life, too. Does hexing require an organic body?"

    He looks to Septette, a bit surprised. "You can eat? Huh." He decides to try one of the scone things too.
Septette Arcubielle      "Nobody knows," Septette replies cheerfully in Tlachtga's stead. "Yggdroids can theoretically practice it- I never learned how- but then, we have magical capacity as an integral part of our design. And any attempts to transfer an organic intelligence to a yggdroid's body has resulted in psychological instability at *best*." Tlachtga interjects: "The Abyssal King Seigfried managed, right? The ruler of the Deep City?" That elicits a slight wince from Septette: "Like I said. Instability."

     The sconelike treats are sweet and fluffy, like sweet potato biscuits- the jam, if he tries it, is more savory and rich. "Of course I can eat. Don't need to in order to continue running, but certain high-energy substances can convey temporary benefits. I used to have a self-repair system that could turn ingested matter into replacement parts, but... wouldn't you know it, it broke."
Staren     Staren blinks. "Wait, someone transferred a human consciousness into a yggdroid? /How/, without this?" he gestures at the Ego Bridge. Also, "Maybe we could repair your... repair system."
Septette Arcubielle      Septette frowns and folds her arms behind her back. "Yggdrasil was... the best analogy I've found is a TITAN, but without the omnicidal hostility; it was inscrutable, often seemingly arbitrary in its actions, and possessed of technical and scientific knowledge that the rest of the world has yet to catch up to. The explanation I'd heard was that it tore out Seigfried's soul with a ritual and bound it to an empty yggdroid shell. It could just as easily taken a different route, even something that we have yet to conceive of."

     "As for the repair system- it's pretty thoroughly slagged, but I can let you have a look at it. This world's resources were never enough for me to reconstruct things like that, but multiversal cross-pollination is a wonderful thing."

     Some time later, Staren would get an alert: the scan is complete. Assuming nothing is preventing it, the robotic body on the table would start to move slowly, trying to sit up almost immediately.
Staren     Staren ohs, accepting 'Yggdrasil did it' as explanation enough. He'd thought a human had done it intentionally.

    When Staren gets the notification, he does have to give an okay -- he takes just a moment to nod to the others and stand up. "It's time."

    There's nothing preventing sitting up, though Ren might accidentally yank the fiber-optic cable out of the back of her neck. Controlling the body is /supposed/ to be natural, but it doesn't always go perfectly, especially the first time. The body is stronger -- though not to a 'punching through metal and throwing cars' level, it probably puts someone like Ren up there with strongmen. Immediate signs that she's a robot on the inside might be harder to see... Vision where details too small to resolve are pixellated instead of blurred, and a lack of need to breathe are some of the more obvious ones.

    "Ren? Are you okay, how are you feeling?" Staren watches her eagerly and curiously.
Septette Arcubielle
     The blue-haired warrior blinks out of habit as she touches her face with one hand, meeting the stares of Tlachtga, Septette, and Staren in turn. At first her gaze is dull and unfocused, but it sharpens after she takes a moment to collect herself. "I feel still. No heartbeat. No coursing of blood. Otherwise... it feels the same." She swings her legs over the edge of the table and tries to stand- she manages, albeit shakily and with her partner's help.

     Tlachtga narrows her eyes in concentration, and her shadow shifts subtly as something rustles the edges of her cloak. Then her expression brightens, and she ruffles Ren's synthetic hair in an unusual display of affection. "Hah! It really is you... it worked!" Septette is smiling too, though she's considerably more restrained in her excitement. "Excellent work, Staren. It's going to be slow going, but... maybe we can improve life here after all."
Staren     Staren nods, watching, scrutinizing... he smiles when Tlachtga deems it a success. "Excellent! Though I'm curious," he looks at the hedhead, "What did you just do? Some kind of spell to check who she was, or something?" If she says 'yes' without further explanation, Staren will further pry as to how it works, though he won't press if she doesn't want to talk about it.
Septette Arcubielle      "It's like... umm..." Tlachtga glances to Septette for help explaining, and the yggdroid promptly picks up the conversational slack. "It's like a magical cryptography system. Tlachtga sends a pre-determined magical signal to Ren; it 'bounces' off of Ren's mind, resulting in a specific response. If the response is precisely what Tlachtga has memorized, it's Ren; if not, either it isn't Ren or there's substantial magical interference going on. It can't be used to positively identify people you don't already know, but it has the benefit that the 'recipient' needs no magical training!"

     "So..." the hexer starts somewhat nervously. "I know you're both really excited about this, but... could we start on getting her back to her normal body, please?" Ren nods her assent. "Thank you, Staren. Should reverse the process, however. It's not the same not being able to bleed." She's kidding- probably. With a face like that it's hard to tell.
Staren     "Ahhh." Staren nods. "That's an interesting trick. I wonder if it's hard to learn?"

    He nods as Ren expresses a desire to return immediately. "Very well. Just, uh, lie down and say when I guess. No need for knocking you out or stasis, I'll simply, uh, turn you off when you're ready and then put you back in your body." Specially configured for this test, Staren has administrative access to the body and brain of the robot. A scary thought, perhaps, thus he doesn't explain it fully so as not to frighten either of them.

    When Ren says she's ready, Staren cheerfully quips, "See you in an hour!" and she turns off. And then his attention is on the ego bridge as he starts the download process, before sitting back in his chair.

    Yeah. An hour. This is probably some awkward waiting.
Septette Arcubielle      "It's not difficult to learn how to send a signal like that, but it's considerably harder to acquire a good 'ear' for the response," Septette replies. If she realizes the implications of the fact that Staren can turn off Ren's body- and presumably manipulate it in other ways- it doesn't show; the two adventurers don't seem to twig either.

     More scones and cookies are had, but eventually- or very quickly in Tlachtga's case- they run out of small talk. The yggdroid walks out to stretch her legs for a bit, giving Staren an opportunity to speak to the hexer in private again if he wishes; she returns precisely on the hour mark, just in time to see Ren awaken. The samurai-like adventurer sits up again, almost perfectly mirroring her first awakening, and Tlachtga puts one hand on her shoulder. "Still her... you're taking this better than I would, Ren." She's answered with a noncommittal muttering.
Staren     Once the Yggdroid is out of earshot, Staren picks up the conversation as if no time had passed. "If it's any consolation... as Septette is allied with the Union, if you were ordered to destroy her, there'd be no shortage of people like me trying to stop you. You might be this world's greatest heroes, but there are a number of such folk among elites. Although I suspect Septette might push for peaceful resolution -- most of us would certainly prefer it. The idea that you've been manipulated... heck, by being part of this /I've/ been manipulated too, if you're right -- is disconcerting, but... while manipulating people is a skill I lack, it doesn't necessarily mean it's evil. She wants to be able to go on protecting people, and has as much right to exist as anyone else. We can't begrudge her that. It's frustrating to be outplayed, but aren't we on the same side? Isn't this what we call an 'everybody wins' situation?"
Septette Arcubielle      Tlachtga shakes her head, perhaps a bit sadly. "That isn't the point. The point is that... her motivations are opaque. Her thought processes are less human than she tries to portray. Many yggdroids, especially those that saw long service, numbed themselves by excising many of their own emotions- a way to cope with the trauma, but one that ultimately made them amoral and unfeeling. To some extent, they could all self-reprogram. In other words, to use terms you might be familiar with... they were all very, very slowly-developing Seed AIs. If she started to lose her attachment to humanity- if she already had- I wonder if we'd find out."

     The hexer stays remarkably quiet during the rest of the visit, though she does smile warmly at Staren as she walks out the door supporting Ren. One they're gone, Septette extends a hand to the catboy, a cheery expression on her face: "You've been more of a help than you know. Thank you, Staren.."
Staren     Staren sighs and slumps forward a bit, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he looks over at Tlachtga. "She may be. But as long as people can agree she's /helping/ people, it's not really a problem. There can be... monsters, you might say... that are useful to have around. If she goes rampant and becomes a problem, we'll find a way to kill her. Wouldn't be the first time..." He stands with a sigh and paces about the room for a bit, before gently banging his fist against the wall, once. "There's also the possibility of trying to help her strengthen her attachment and get a more humanlike mind. Maybe we can save her. That would be better, if you really think she's at risk."