Here's that update I promised you. A bit later than I'd planned, but only by a few days or so, thankfully. It's also dialogue, but fortunately, it's not as detailed as the last, so it should be a bit easier on you.

Remember that character I mentioned back in chapter 18, Lateral? Well, as you might guess by this chapter's name, here's where I bring her into the fold, coupled with a bit of backstory and some plot advancement.

I hope you like her. She's my first OC, and as I hinted at earlier, she's a bit…unstable. Proceed with caution.

-Ainrhyr-

Disclaimer: See previous page.

Rise of the Chosen

Chapter Twenty

Lateral

Guardian HQ lay still and immobile. Not without good reason.

"Officially", it hadn't moved out of the main base because Silure had yet to devise a name for it, and he'd downright refused to let the thing move until it had one. He could be stubborn like that sometimes.

Of course, the unofficial reason it hadn't moved yet was a bit simpler: Lateral wasn't done with it yet.

Colbor had managed, after a long battle, to convince Prairie and Silure that the massive airship needed to be upgraded in order to survive future air battles, and that Lateral was the best one to perform them. They'd been reluctant, but they'd finally agreed.

Of course, Colbor had neglected to mention that once the disaster known as Lateral was unleashed, there was virtually no force on earth that could stop her.

Huge chunks of the outer hull were stripped off, replaced by newer, tougher composites dotted with weapon systems, sensors, and other various things, most of them designed and built by Lateral herself. Merely mortal machine guns emplacements were removed and replaced with 'far superior' miniaturized particle guns, strung together with modified computer controls and sensor arrays, allowing them to serve as automated point defense clusters. Rail cannons were elongated and received improved electromagnetic coils, increasing their launch velocity and greatly improving maximum range. The original long range weapons, the plasma cannons, were fitted with compression chambers that allowed stored plasma to be concentrated further than normal. The fire rate was somewhat slowed, but the overall damage from such a weapon was dramatically increased.

To power these new weapons, Lateral had overseen the installation of a second additional reactor, bringing the total up to three. She'd been able to fit them by extending the ship's length between the original reactor room and the engine compartments, as well as updating and miniaturizing several engine components.

Since the massive airship now weighed several hundred (if not thousand) tons more, Lateral had added several additional engine thrusters, as well as multiple counter-gravity modules to keep the ship aloft, and to top it off, she'd added in a fourth reactor just to make sure the ship had power to spare.

It might have seemed excessive, if not for the fact that the still-nameless HQ's new armaments amounted to less than 10 percent of the firepower that protected the Main Base, most of which had also been installed by Lateral anyway. In addition, what Lateral had installed on the HQ was only about 40 percent of what she could have put on there.

It had been when Lateral had tried to install a truly gigantic plasma cannon beneath the large statue on the front of the ship that Prairie had finally put her foot down. Not only would it have taken up too much space, but it would have required at least two more reactors to provide sufficient energy to make the weapon feasible, even if Lateral was willing to extend the ship further to make room for them. And that would have unbalanced the ship by too far a margin, even if Lateral put in more counter-grav modules.

Besides, Ciel had designed that statue, which was why Prairie and Silure had put it there. It was therefore taboo, and would not be messed with under any circumstance.

But the ship was still grounded while Lateral and her team made the finishing touches on the even more massive airship, and they were still adding things here and there, just because they could.

Gods alone knew what the final result would end up being.

"…Tch…"

Aile grunted as her legs threatened to give out again, and only a concentrated force of will kept her on her feet.

Despite the fact that it would take some time to construct a Sub-Tank for Aile, Aile simply couldn't stay out of the field for that long, so she and X had set off to find a temporary solution to her condition, with Colbor tagging along.

It had been decided that Muguet was too conservative to react favorably to Aile's new condition, so Aile approached Rose instead. Rose, for the most part, was more startled than reproachful of what X and Zero had done to Aile, but her medical knowledge soon proved to be exactly the asset they needed. She proceeded to inject Aile with a potent blood coagulant to enhance her blood's ability to clot, and therefore heal. It was a temporary solution, but it would suffice for the next few days or so.

Unfortunately, as X, Rose, and Colbor soon discovered, Aile didn't respond very kindly to needles.

You should get some rest Aile. X muttered tersely. He sounded a bit on edge, probably because she looked on the verge of collapsing.

"I-I'm fine X!" Aile winced as her right leg cramped up again, and she leaned against the wall. "Ugh… Why'd I have to look at the damnable thing?!" She had not had a pleasant reaction to the injections, and that coupled with the effects of the blood coagulant itself was guaranteed to give anyone a bad day.

"I still find it hard to believe that after all you've been through, you get nauseous when faced with mere needles." Colbor remarked.

"I'm trying to save the world, Colbor. I'm allowed to have my quirks." She didn't quite snarl at him, but the intent was there, and he smiled cheerfully at her expression.

A moment was spent glaring at him, then Aile finally forced herself back on her feet and continued down the hallway, watched over by a rather nervous looking X. Colbor, chuckling under his breath so Aile couldn't hear, followed in their wake.

According to physics, Momentum is equal to the Mass of an object times it's Velocity in a given direction. In other words, the faster and heavier you are, the more force you apply in whatever direction you happen to be moving.

Aile was walking rather slowly, and she was very light for her size, even with cybernetics.

Meaning that when someone came barreling around the corner ahead and slammed into Aile at full speed, Aile had no chance at all.

"Oof!!"

Aile and newcomer went flying. In fact, they hit the ground a good four feet from where they'd collided, and slid an enviable before they stopped.

"Whoopsies! Sorry."

Colbor facepalmed and sighed dramatically. "Honestly Lat. Can't you ever walk anywhere?"

"Nope! Not really, anyways. Oh, hi Colbor!"

"Well you should really learn to. And hello to you too."

Aile pushed herself upright, getting her first good look at her assailant, the infamous Lateral.

Her first thought was that she was very small. At 152 centimeters (~4.9 ft), she was actually shorter than Aile was, which was quite a feat, given that Aile wasn't very tall to begin with. Short green hair, wide hazel eyes, and a bright smile made her look almost like someone's over-cheerful kid sister. At least, until Lateral turned to look at her and Aile spotted the slightly fanatical glimmer in her eyes.

"Hey Lat, this is Aile. Remember? I told you about her before."

"Oh yea!" Lateral seized her hand and shook it rapidly. "Hi Aile!"

Aile was briefly reminded of her first run-in with Cedre, minus the rocket launcher. "Uh, hi. Nice to meet you. You're…Lateral, right?"

"Yup!" She bobbed her head. "That be Lat's name. Aile's heard about Lat, right?"

Aile blinked in surprise. Given the stories circulating about Lateral, she'd expected some oddities, but speaking in the third person was not one of them.

X decided to jump in and give Aile time to get her thoughts together. Hello Miss Lateral. I am X. I hope you've heard of me?

"Hi X! It's been a while. Lat hasn't seen X for a long while. Lat last saw X after X fought Zero. Lat thinks so, at any rate…" Lateral paused, and put a hand on her chin, the glimmer in her eyes fading. "It's been a while… I guess I don't really remember…"

Lateral stayed that way for a moment, then the glimmer returned and Lateral smiled brightly again, as if someone had flipped a switch. "Oh well! Lat doesn't really care. Lat's happy that Lat can see X again. Hi again, X!"

Uh, hi Lateral…again…

Colbor calmly stepped in before things got awkward again. "Say Lat, how are the upgrades coming."

Lateral twitched.

"Oh bugger! Lat's still got lotsa work to do! Lat's gotta go! Bye X, Bye Aile, Bye Colbor!"

And Lateral tore off like an errant plasma bolt, vanishing down the corridor.

"And there she goes." Colbor said fondly. "So, what did you think of your first meeting with the legendary Lateral, Aile?"

Aile thought for a moment. She had been caught off guard a bit. "Well, she's…nice. And enthusiastic, definitely. She reminds me a bit of Cedre, or maybe Giro." Aile paused for a moment before smiling. "I think I like her."

And oddly enough, she meant it. After all, after she'd gotten over Cedre's…enthusiasm, she'd realized that Cedre was actually pretty nice. Not only that, Cedre seemed to like her too.

Colbor blinked at her, then smiled. "I'm…glad to hear that, Aile. Not too many people can claim to be friends with Lateral. She's just too…weird for them." He growled the word bitterly. "You saw it, didn't you? Lateral was lucid for a moment when she talked to X. It's usually easy to notice when she is."

Aile nodded.

"Well, believe it or not, that's an improvement. Long ago, she wasn't…weird…at all. Not before the incident, that is. After that, she changed drastically from the Lateral I knew so well…"

"And who are you supposed to be?"

The short, green-haired girl saluted sharply. "Sir, Lateral Roamer, recently appointed assistant of Chief Scientist Cerveau, Sir!"

Lieutenant Commander Colbor, second in command of Field Operations and overall fourth in command of the Neo Arcadian Resistance Movement, merely raised an eyebrow at the tiny girl. "You expect me to believe that not only did Cerveau actually take an assistant, but he picked a little half-pint like yourself for the position?"

"Yes sir."

"…" Colbor didn't reply to that. He merely looked her over again, taking careful note of the archaic, but powerful looking rifle she had slung on her back. "I trust you know how to use that?"

"Yes sir."

Colbor sighed internally. Despite the fact that Weil was dead and everything was peaceful, mavericks were still around in large numbers pissing everybody off, and the Resistance didn't exactly have Zero to watch out for it anymore. They needed every warm body they could get their hands on, tiny or otherwise. Damn it all.

"…Alright then. I'll take you to Cerveau."

Several weeks passed, during which Lateral proved herself worthy of the position of the sole mortal being Cerveau had ever taken as an apprentice. Granted, Cerveau excelled at everything he did, whereas Lateral tended to be superior in weapons technology. But not only was Lateral one of the best and fastest scientists Colbor had ever seen, she was also superb at building anything she designed. In fact, Ciel herself had gone to Lateral for help in building something the human scientist needed for her research. And Lateral had gone and built it for her…and then promptly designed and built something better for Ciel to use as well.

In addition, Lateral demonstrated that she was adept at combat as well, and proved that she might be one of the most accurate shooters anywhere. Her weapon was a heavily customized old-fashioned mass-driver called a 'machine gun', rather than a modern plasma weapon, and was supposedly built during some ancient human war. Modified to fire tiny, needle-sharp fragments of metal at high speed, Lateral could cut apart any maverick in her way without effort.

And of course, the entire base loved her. She was smart, funny, and very level-headed, no matter the circumstances. Despite a handful of misgivings in the beginning, everyone was happy to have her.

Colbor entered the lab, and promptly ducked as something flew past his head.

"Lose something again, Lat?"

The scientist in question was digging though a pile of components. And by 'digging', we mean she was immersed head-first in the pile, tossing parts left and right as she swam through them, looking for one in particular. As the entire base had learned, Lateral did not delegate duty to any lesser being. If there was something that needed doing that she was working on, she did it, no questions asked. Her work ethic was admirable, if a bit obsessive. She rarely needed assistance, and even more rarely asked for it.

Lateral popped out of the pile. "Hey Colbor. Have you seen a plasma conduit, 152mm long, 18mm in diameter? None of these are the right diameter."

"Um…" Colbor rubbed his head. "Did you ask Cerveau to fabricate one for you?"

"I did that already, and you know what he said?" Lateral gestured to the pile. "He said, 'Just dig around in there, I'm sure you'll find something'. Honestly, you'd think he's never built a Burst Plasma Emitter before."

Colbor walked over to her. "Well, Cerveau is a systems engineer, not weapons. He always was a bit better with software than hardware, although he did pretty well with Zero's stuff. Besides, he's always gone by the principle of making do with what he has, rather than what he needs. Improvise, in other words."

"I know, I know…" Lateral dug around a bit more, and pulled out an old buster cannon. "I can improvise fine. I like improvising, actually. I just wanted to see how it would turn out if I didn't have to, for once."

She dismantled the weapon in seconds, withdrawing what components she needed, and somehow managed to put together a makeshift plasma conduit in less than two minutes.

Colbor gave a low whistle. "Nice."

She grinned at him.

"You liked her, didn't you?"

Colbor looked sharply at her, then chuckled softly. "Yes, I suppose you could say that. We got along very well, and I ultimately went to her rather than Cerveau if I needed anything fixed or made. I also got into the habit of spending time with her when I was off duty. So yea, I suppose you could say I liked her. We were very good friends."

Colbor looked a ways down the hallway, where Lateral had reappeared. She proceeded to attack the wall panel that was there, replacing it's merely modern components with her 'highly superior' ones.

Colbor sighed. "And then…the incident."

Colbor, grumbled feelingly as the small force left the Resistance Base, heading north. Ciel had noticed an unusual energy signature at an old E-Crystal mine, and had assembled a small task force to investigate.

Not that heading out bothered Colbor. He was a soldier; he was used to stuff like this. Although…

"Why couldn't we just trans there instead of walking the whole ways?"

Ciel gave him a patient look of indifference, a look she'd adopted from Zero. "I told you already. The signature might be one of Weil's leftover remnants. If we trans in there, we risk giving ourselves away. We need to keep a low profile, Colbor."

"Explain to me how sneaking in and blowing them to hell and back is keeping a low profile."

Some of the newer soldiers looked uncomfortable at Colbor 'arguing' with the leader of the Resistance, while some of the older veterans merely chuckled. Colbor was a superb soldier, but he had always enjoyed seeing how annoyed he could get Zero without the red hunter hitting him, and he'd recently upgraded his target to Ciel. However much she might disagree, Ciel enjoyed the playful bantering Colbor brought her way, and she played his game masterfully.

Alouette giggled at some of the rookies' expressions as Colbor and Ciel annoyed each other. It wasn't a long walk, only 20 miles or so, but it looked to be entertaining, at least.

They were maybe 2 miles from the Resistance Base when the bombs went off.

Colbor's head whipped around instinctively as the dull booms echoed around them. Several dozen fireballs erupted all across the structure's exterior. And then, as if in slow motion, the entire base crumbled and collapsed in on itself.

For a moment, there was nothing more than stunned silence. None of the resistance soldiers could fully comprehend what had just happened.

Finally, Ciel shook off her confusion and swiftly issued orders.

"Everyone form up! Back to the base quickly! We need to see if there were any survivors! Colbor, have your unit scout ahead and behind us; those explosions can't have been accidental."

Ciel's orders galvanized the soldiers into action, and they ran for the demolished base.

"…we managed to pull four people out of there alive, out of about a hundred people. Two of them died later from their injuries, despite everything Ciel did to save them." Colbor said gravely to his shocked audience. "One survivor, his name escapes me, left the resistance after that. Not that I could blame him; the incident had utterly destroyed his left arm, and not even Ciel could really repair it. I later found out that he died while protecting his new residence from a maverick attack."

"The other survivor was Lateral, obviously." Colbor shook his head. "Unfortunately, she almost didn't survive at all. When the base collapsed, she'd been right next the one of the explosives. At the time, she'd been carrying a large slab of Titanium-X for one of Cerveau's inventions, and it protected her from both the explosion and the collapse. Unfortunately, the same slab was deformed and superheated by the explosion itself, and some of it splintered off and impaled her."

Aile cringed at the thought. When she'd been younger, she'd accidentally put her hand through a pane of glass, and the doctor and Giro had spent several days picking shards out of her arm. That had been sheer hell for her. And Lateral had taken such damage to her entire body…

Aile shivered involuntarily.

How did she survive, if I may ask?

"…To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. The other survivor got off lightly, since he'd been stationed on guard duty around the perimeter. Lateral though…somehow she clung to life until Ciel got to her. And Ciel…Ciel labored night and day to bring her back. I think she somehow felt responsible."

Colbor looked over the odd scene with a sense of…déjà-vu. It was eerily similar to when Zero had turned up outside the base, his body battered and scarred from his long battles. She'd labored over him for days on end, even forgoing sleep at times. He himself had walked in on a rather…unusual scene with Ciel actually sleeping on the repair bench, having somehow snuck into the unmoving red warrior's arms. He'd simply spared her the humiliation of being found in such a position, covered them with a blanket, and locked the door behind him.

This was somewhat similar, if a bit less…happy. At least they'd known that Zero would live. But this…

Lateral slept on, her badly abused systems and the life support systems fighting valiantly to keep her alive. Her breathing had at least become regular again, not to mention that Ciel had finally managed to subdue the fluctuations in her power core and processor, but her body was still swathed in bandages, a reminder of the horrific injuries she'd sustained.

At least they'd managed to reach Area Zero before she'd gone completely. Neige had reacted with her customary swiftness to their desperate call for help, and they'd loaded the four survivors onto the transport ship she'd sent for them. Two of the survivors died en route, but Lateral had somehow managed to hold on until they reached the EMT building in Area Zero before her processor seized (The reploid equivalent to a flatline). Ciel, Neige, Alouette, and two human EMT personnel had fought tooth and nail for two days straight to keep her badly damaged processors running. Maybe it was an act of God, or maybe Zero was still looking out for them in a way, but they somehow managed to stabilize her.

Now they took shifts watching her, although Ciel tended to ignore that if she felt like it. Like now.

Ciel was fast asleep in a nearby chair, her head resting on the keyboard of the computer she'd been using for some purpose, most likely monitoring the little scientist's processor. The human scientist had been covered by a blanket, despite the awkward position.

"Is she usually like this?"

Colbor nodded to Neige, who merely shook her head and returned her gaze to the little scientist laboring to continue living.

"Is Lat doing any better?"

Neige shrugged. "That depends on your definition of 'better'. Physically, she should be fine. Ciel certainly seems to think she'll pull through, at any rate."

Colbor frowned. He'd been dreading this question for a while. "…and mentally?"

"…"

Neige closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of what to say. "…you'd probably be better off asking Ciel that one, actually. She's the one that seems to think she can fix it."

Colbor looked confusedly at her. Neige sighed. "I don't know the specifics, but basically, Lateral has suffered almost catastrophic personality damage. However, Ciel is in the process of modifying Lateral's memory data backup and systems recovery programming."

She gestured to the computer Ciel was laying on. Colbor noted that the keyboard had been unplugged, so as to avoid accidental input. "The way Ciel said it, I think she plans to write a self-correcting program to remove the damaged personality coding and replace it with intact coding from her backups. It really can't be done any other way, since Lateral's main system refuses to allow access given its damaged state. And we can't really do anything about that until her auto-repair systems fix the damage, which could take ages."

"So she'll be…normal?"

Neige looked at the hope in his eyes and lowered her eyes. "…no. She won't."

He gaped at her in confusion.

"Her damage is too severe. Even if Ciel manages to get the code into Lateral, it could take a long time before it completes. It could take a year. Maybe several, perhaps even hundreds. According to Ciel, Lateral might be 'normal' again, but not in her lifetime."

"I see…" Colbor found a chair and sat down, despairing at what he'd just heard, and dreading what he might hear next. "And until then?"

Neige paused to think, then turned to Lateral. "And until then, Lateral will think and act as Lateral chooses to do. Only, probably more…chaotic. At least, that's what I think."

Neige had no idea how close she was to being right.

"When she woke up, it was such a shock to us; we didn't know what to do with her." Colbor chuckled darkly. "The kind, funny little scientist managed to piss off just about everyone with her random behavior in less than 48 hours. In fact, if Ciel hadn't explained what was wrong with her, they might have just thought she was insane and tossed her in a bunker somewhere. Of course, knowing Lateral, that probably wouldn't have done much good."

Aile looked down the hallway, where the scientist in question was still wrestling with some wall plating. "And she's improved since then?"

"Like I said, she's lucid now and then. She wasn't back then. In fact, she didn't start having these lucid periods until about fifty years after the incident. Ever since then, those periods have been increasing in frequency, although the rate of them has been slowing down a bit. I think she's been…like she is now…for so long that her personality has given it a 'normal' status. Whether she'll completely revert back to how she used to be, or if she'll settle on a sort of split personality mentality remains to be seen."

Colbor looked fondly down the hallway, where Lateral had gotten fed up with a stubborn bolt or two, and had simply beaten them into submission with a wrench she'd produced from somewhere. "I used to prefer the former, to be honest, but now… I've sort of gotten used to the wilder side of Lat's personality. Whatever she ultimately settles on is fine with me. Until then, she's the slightly insane little scientist that can build just about anything better than anyone else."

Aile looked down the hallway at the little scientist, digesting Colbor's story. Sure, she did seem to have a screw loose here or there, but was it any worse than Cedre? At least Lateral tended to be lucid at times, according to Colbor. And to top it off, she sort of liked the eccentric, childish Lateral, much in the same way she liked Cedre. Maybe it was because she'd become used to Cedre before Lateral made her presence known. Or perhaps it was because Cedre liked to blow things up, whereas Lateral liked to build things.

…wait a minute…

Aile's trusted intuition, the same one that had clued her in on X and Zero's little plan earlier, suddenly came up with an ingenious idea.

Before she could stop herself, she was sprinting down the corridor towards the scientist. "Hey Lateral!"

"Hm?" Lateral spun around, curiosity aroused.

"Can you keep a secret?"

Lateral's eyes lit up, and she bobbed her head. She almost looked excited.

"Well…" As Colbor and X looked on in askance, Aile proceeded to relay to the little scientist everything about her… condition… as well as the modifications X and Zero had made.

"…and so, I can't really do anything about it, not until Prairie and Silure finish the Sub-Tank Nubtan designed."

"Uh huh…" Lateral nodded again. "And Aile is telling Lat this…because?"

Aile smirked. "Well, I really don't want to stay cooped up on this ship until they finish…and Colbor mentioned that you can build anything you want…faster than anyone else. So…"

"Ah… I see." Lateral mused for a moment, mumbling under her breath. Then, without warning, she grabbed Aile's hand and bolted, dragging the young chosen after her at some unknown velocity. Startled, Colbor and X gave chase.

"So, if we follow the blueprints exactly, it might take a week or so to-"

Prairie and Silure's conversation was abruptly ended when Lateral burst onto the bridge. Looking around, the little scientist seized a badly startled Nubtan with a cry of "YOINK!!" Then, she bolted off, dragging Aile behind her.

Prairie and Silure, not to mention the rest of the bridge, managed one startled glance at each other before the little scientist reappeared.

"SosorrytobotheryoucanIborrowthisI'mjustgoingtoanywaysthanksalotnowI'mgonnabuildasubtankforAilebye!!!"

And with that, Lateral bolted off again, leaving Colbor and X, who had just arrived, to rapidly explain what was going on before they dashed off after the two again.

For several minutes, nobody said anything, and the silence was only punctuated by numerous blank stares at one another.

Finally, Prairie groaned and went to go lay down, feeling her forehead as she left.

Aile bent over, hands on her knees, as she tried to catch her breath after Lateral dragged her all the way off the ship and halfway through the Base to reach her lab. Lateral, seemingly ignorant to her plight, looked over Nubtan's data as fast as she could. Which, in layman's terms, is really freaking fast.

Colbor and X finally showed up, and Aile gave them a tired wave, only to flinch as Lateral threw her head back and wailed at the top of her lungs.

"Lat is missing components! Lat cannot build Aile's Sub-Tank without components! Lat needs…Lat needs…" Lateral typed madly. "Lat can bypass that…don't need that…got something that'll work in place of those…"

Mumbling incoherently to herself, Lateral suddenly whirled around to face Aile. "Lat only needs two types of components, and Lat knows where to go!"

The little scientist wrote something down on a piece of paper she'd produced from somewhere, and gave to Aile. "Go to those two locations, and find those components! I can begin without them, and I only need about half an hour to finish the Sub-Tanks after you bring them!"

And then Lateral smiled softly at Aile. "And please be careful while you're there."

Turning back to the computer, Lateral cracked her knuckles and began typing at a frenzied pace that Ciel might have been proud of, leaving Aile to dash off to collect her Biometals.

After she left, Lateral shouted, loud enough for everyone within range to hear.

"Mission start!"

Colbor couldn't stop grinning.

AN: I am not normally chaotic, so coming up with this dialogue was rather challenging. Lat might just stay on as a pseudo-main character, or she might just hover around the sidelines. Either way, I think continuing to write her is going to be…interesting.

Her character's origins are almost as convoluted and interesting as Lateral herself. Lat was derived from another character I once created for one of my other projects, which ultimately would have been a sprite comic if I hadn't run into complications while doing it. This other character basically looked like the summon spirit Undine from Tales of Phantasia (small, blue hair, wielded water/ice magic, and carried a large sword), but her attitude and manner of speaking was more like Nietzsche from Yggdra Union. Nietzsche tends to refer to herself in the third person, which is where I got the idea. Ultimately, I sort of merged that persona with one of my other characters; a trigger-happy semi-psychotic soldier named Amber, and did a little tweaking. The result, as you can see, is the weird, over-enthusiastic, sometimes-lucid little scientist that I call Lateral Roamer.

As for where her name came from, I'm not sure. The word 'lateral' just came to me for some reason, and 'Roamer' is just a cool last name to have. Seriously, say it together. 'Lateral Roamer'. Doesn't it sound nifty? I guess it did to me, which is probably why it stuck.

So what do you think? Did I overdo her personality a bit, or did I get it down pretty well? Feel free to tell me what you think of her. I created a vote on my profile, so use it.